A surge of parasitic sea lice is disrupting salmon farms around the world. Scientists and fish farmers are working on new ways to control the lice, although so far it has been an uphill struggle. (Sept. 18)
I recently was in one of the national chain warehouse stores and wanted to pick up a salmon fillet to throw on the grill for dinner. I found a vacuum-packed nearly 2-pound skin-on fillet of Atlantic salmon in the cooler in the seafood section.
It looked delicious sitting there. My mouth watered thinking of it with some lemon juice, butter, rosemary, thyme and, of course, a sprinkle of garlic salt.
That's when I saw it. The label read "product of Chile."
Geography whiz
Now I'm a small-town kid from Jensen Beach, and no geography whiz. However, it dawned on me Chile is a long way from the Atlantic Ocean. In fact, the South American nation is bordered by the Pacific Ocean, not the Atlantic.
Being a smart aleck, I shared my observation on social media. Fortunately, in addition to experts on politics, education, immunology, water management, parenting and pretty much every important social issue of our time, I also am "friends" with dozens of aquaculture experts.
They quickly informed me "Atlantic" salmon describes the species being raised in pens, or fish cages, in Pacific waters off Chile. I'm pretty sure all of them finished their posts with, "ya big dummy."
I since have seen aquaculture-raised Atlantic salmon labeled from Norway in the same store. At least the labelers got the ocean right on these.
More: Oceans and Great Lakes contributed $373 billion to U.S. in 2018
In a recent article by USA Today Network-Florida colleague and environmental reporter Karl Schneider of the Naples Daily News, I learned that open-ocean aquaculture may be coming soon to the waters nearby the continental United States. His article, "Public comment period opens for offshore aquaculture in U.S. waters," explained that a Hawaii-based aquaculture company, Ocean Era, is working to obtain permits for a pilot project in the Gulf of Mexico about 45 miles off the coast of Sarasota.
The project, named Velella Epsilon, will hold about 20,000 almaco jacks in net pens.
Aquaculture jobs
The project is a direct product of an executive order signed in May by President Donald Trump. The "Executive Order on Promoting American Seafood Competitiveness and Economic Growth" mandates the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration, a division of the Department of Commerce, identify two locations in U.S. waters to begin trying offshore aquaculture.
Offshore fish farming is a controversial subject. Supporters see a viable, profitable business that can help be part of a $5.4 billion U.S. seafood sales economy. In 2017, according to a report provided by the National Marine Fisheries Service, "farm-raised fish and shellfish was about 633 million pounds and worth about $1.5 billion."
More: Fishing access leads to job creation
That was all from land-based fish farms, mostly catfish and tilapia. Proponents say more aquaculture is needed to complement the nation's demand for seafood. In 2018, U.S. consumption increased to its highest level since 2007, with 16.1 pounds of seafood per person. However, the Fisheries report estimated 85-95% of that seafood is imported and 55% of it is one of three types of seafood:
- shrimp
- salmon
- canned tuna
Imported fish
What I find puzzling is most Americans are getting the majority of their seafood from overseas sources — such as my Chilean salmon — when U.S. commercial fishing landings combined for 9.9 billion pounds in 2017. I guess much of that is going to the world's consumption of about 44 pounds of seafood per person, led by China's 79 pounds per person.
But fish farming offshore presents other problems. Opponents point to three major issues:
- Adding excess nutrients to the ecosystem
- A potential increase in fish diseases and pests
- Escapees, which wind up competing with native fish for food or prey on them.
The idea of 20,000 almaco jacks hanging in pens off Sarasota makes me wonder what could go wrong. Have you ever seen a school of jacks feed on prey?
Jack attack
My son and I recently were kayak-fishing in the Indian River Lagoon near Bear Point, south of Fort Pierce. Suddenly, hundreds of panicked silver mullet were leaping out of the water and swimming as fast as they could, right at our kayaks.
I was sure I was going to get a mullet smack right in my ear as they fled the blitzkrieg of a school of jack crevalles.
More: Mullet have all the fishing targets fired up
Jack crevalles are cousins of almaco jacks, but every fish in the jack family is a predator pretty close to the top of the food chain. Only sharks, dolphins and birds eat jacks.
Almaco jacks can grow up to 15 pounds, occasionally as large as 30 pounds, and live naturally on the reef systems throughout the Gulf of Mexico, including near where the Velella Epsilon project is proposed.
I'm not sure what kind of impact a jailbreak of almaco jacks would make, but I'll bet the sardines and herrings there would object.
There is reason to worry about escapees. According to a 2017 report by The Guardian, as many as 250,000 salmon were released when a cage came apart near British Columbia. Another report claimed 2 million salmon have escaped from a Norwegian farm over 10 years.
Fish poop
Waste is a larger problem than escapees, however. Wild fish create waste, but their movement is not confined. Caging tens of thousands of fish creates a lot of nutrients from the fish and from the leftover feed, all concentrated in one spot.
The Gulf of Mexico, in my opinion, is a bad place to try this. There are already massive inputs of nutrients entering the Gulf via its many river systems, including one of the Northern Hemisphere's largest, the Mississippi River. But nutrient loads are also, in part, responsible for the persistent and problematic red tides and algae blooms observed in Florida's coastal waters in recent years.
It will be interesting to see where this issue winds up after the public comment period. The measure already has received bipartisan support from Florida Commissioner of Agriculture Nikki Fried, a Democrat, and U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, a Republican.
I think offshore aquaculture one day can be an important tool to feed a seafood-hungry nation and world. Many important wild fisheries are facing collapse because of overfishing, degrading water quality and habitat loss. However, I believe more technology is needed to mitigate the nutrient problems produced by these offshore fish farms before we start corralling species headed for our tables.
Webinar
NOAA will host two online listening sessions in the coming weeks. The Gulf of Mexico listening session will be from 1-3 p.m. Nov. 17. The public comment period opened Oct. 23 and will close Dec. 22. For more information, go to Fisheries.NOAA.gov.
Ed Killer is TCPalm's outdoors writer. To interact with Ed, friend him on Facebook at Ed Killer, follow him on Twitter @tcpalmekiller or email him at ed.killer@tcpalm.com.
The Link LonkNovember 12, 2020 at 02:32AM
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Ed Killer: Open-ocean fish farms may need to wait for better aquaculture technology - TCPalm
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