Thursday, June 09, 2005

Bush Administration pushes offshore aquaculture

This week, the Bush administration sent its national offshore aquaculture legislation to Capitol Hill for Congressional action. The President pledged to propose this bill as part of his U.S. Ocean Action Plan, which outlines near-term and longer-term actions to protect the oceans and marine resources.

The bill grants the Secretary of Commerce authority to issue permits for marine aquaculture operations in federal waters, which cover about 3.4 million square miles from three to 200 miles off the coasts of the United States.

This makes a lot of sense. Such an effort could free up the industry from local restrictive red-tape, while giving more control to the federal government. Before the bill should be made into law though, further efforts need to be made to develop federal standards and guidelines for the industry. This would help with legal confusion and provide a knowledge base for safe and financially viable aquaculture business.

e.l.