World Aquaculture Magazine - June 2020

WWW.WA S.ORG • WORLD AQUACULTURE • JUNE 2020 35 ( C O N T I N U E D O N P A G E 3 6 ) Policy endeavors to advance offshore marine fish farming in cages or pens has consistently reached a dead end for an array of reasons. Several federal Acts have been proposed between 1994 and 2018, including the Marine Aquaculture Enhancement Act (1994), the National Sustainable Offshore Aquaculture Act (2009) and the Advancing the Quality and Understanding of American Aquaculture Act (AQUAA 2018). The chronic delays are commonly based on concerns about marine aquaculture impacts, includig water quality deterioration, seafloor degradation, escapes into the marine environment and disease transfer to other species outside cages/ enclosures. The fear of escapes became a reality in 2017 when escape of non-native Atlantic salmon occurred from a net pen belonging to Cooke Aquaculture (Blank 2017). Sound policy directed to the protection of the environment remains elusive, not acted upon, and in a virtual state of suspension. Often, the movement toward the expansion of commercial marine aquaculture to offshore cages/pens through a congressional act such as AQUAA is thwarted by disinformation and misinformation campaigns that are well orchestrated by non- governmental organizations (NGOs) such as Friends of the Earth. An example of their passionate, indefatigable effort is demonstrated by the following statement fromHallie Templeton, Senior Oceans Campaigner of Friends of the Earth: “The AQUAAAct affords no meaningful protections to the environment or our fishing industries. Instead, it allows corporations to commercialize and destroy our ocean ecosystems. Congress should support sustainable wild-caught fishing and seafood production methods. With sound policy, we can meet consumer demand without devastating our planet or harming local fishing economies.” In many other countries in the world, particularly in Asia, development of offshore marine fish culture is well supported and embraced. The extensive marine water resources that are available and underutilized is recognized as an essentially untapped frontier for expansion of the seafood industry. Weaknesses also include disappointing conditions that do not inspire increases in domestic aquaculture production. As of 2017, 70.2 percent of all seafood consumed by Americans consists of shrimp, salmon, canned tuna, catfish (including pangasius) and tilapia (Fig. 2). Except for tuna, all the other groups are substantially products of aquaculture. Retail costs of products of US aquaculture most often cannot compete with farmed and imported counterparts. American consumers are more attracted to lower price rather than higher quality that is reflected in higher prices when making seafood purchasing decisions. Therefore, expected increases in American per capita consumption of seafood would seemingly be a weak argument for the need to increase domestic aquaculture production. Threats Threats to the expansion of freshwater aquaculture in the US are principally based on competition with terrestrial animal production systems for land and water resources. The public perception of aquaculture in the US is perennially based on drawing attention to issues that principally “expose” environmental degradation and lack of consideration of animal welfare that include questionable culture conditions that result in poor health and corresponding high mortality. The perception itself is often derived from well-planned campaigns that commonly focus on the implementation of strategies of pervasive disinformation and misinformation. Unfortunately, the information derived from these criticisms is not sufficiently countered. The response has not always included candid acknowledgment of past shortcomings and that they have been fundamentally replaced by efforts with an overriding consciousness devoted to achieving the long-term goals of environmental, economic and social sustainability. With land and water resources being so critical to aquaculture development, climate change will undoubtedly adversely affect operation of current production systems. Obvious and well- documented climate changes that have been occurring globally will foster re-evaluation and ultimately require some different or modified management strategies (D’Abramo and Slater 2019, Barange et al. 2018) due to changes in water quality and site characteristics such as temperature increases, pH decreases, sea level rise and increased incidence of disease. Resulting adverse effects on the biological characteristics of farmed species may require substitution of a different species. Preparation for the changes would ideally be based on studies that have identified regions that will presumably be faced with greater challenges and a higher probability of reductions in production (Froehlich et al. 2018). Ideally responses will be planned through changes in management designed to at least maintain levels of production. Nonetheless, a temporary reduction in meeting production goals may affect market availability for a significant time. In addition, availability of imported product will also be subject to fluctuation. Changes in climate could result in shortages of certain plant- derived feedstuffs used as ingredients in feeds. Thus, qualitative and quantitative substitutions of feed ingredients may be required to sustain equivalent rates of growth and a comparative cost of production. Needs and Opportunities to Advance Sustainable Expansion The prospect of increasing aquaculture production in the US is founded on an array of opportunities that can change weaknesses to strengths and diminish threats. What needs and opportunities exist FIGURE 2. The top ten seafoods consumed by Americans (2003-2017). Source: Shamshak et al. 2019.