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Bill casts hopes of aquaculture industry
By Molly Parker
Staff Writer
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s June announcement that it was seizing a slew of drug-contaminated seafood imported from China may end up being the push needed to grow an aquaculture industry in America’s federal waters.
For years, the United States has lagged significantly behind other countries in seafood production, in spite of the fact that demand for shrimp, salmon, crab, lobster and a host of cold-blooded sea-dwelling delicacies is on the rise.
“If we are going to feed the world with healthy seafood, we need to look at aquaculture. And if aquaculture is going to feed the world, the United States should be the leader,” U.S. Rep. Henry Brown, R-Hanahan, said in a statement, announcing the mid-July Congressional hearing on the National Offshore Aquaculture Act of 2007.
Despite the fact the Bush administration is not only backing but actively peddling that proposition, it’s still an upstream battle.
More than 80% of seafood consumed in the United States is imported largely from China, the world’s farmed seafood export leader, followed closely behind by Thailand, Vietnam and other Southeast Asian countries. About half of the imports into the United States come from places that heavily subsidize seafood farming and that rely on the industry as a major
economic crown.
But skilled politicians, like fishermen, know when to cast. Aquaculture proponents are trumpeting their case while seafood-loving Americans are squeamish from the tainted-food headlines.
“There’s never been a need or demand for this industry because (consumers) could get a reliable cheap source overseas. It’s only now people are realizing the health and environmental concerns and the need for a blueprint for a domestic industry,” said Chris Berardini, deputy chief of staff to Brown, the ranking Republican on the Natural Resources Subcommittee on Fisheries, Wildlife and Oceans.
The aim of the legislation, over a decade in the making, is to establish clear guidelines for farming federal waters, generally those defined as three miles off a state’s coast. It also includes money for research and development and economic incentives for existing and potential seafood farms.
The only marine seafood farming in the United States is taking place in a handful of state-owned waterways, though fresh-water fish and shellfish farming is a small, but viable, industry in the United States.
Combined, the roughly $1 billion U.S. fish-farming industry accounts for about 500,000 tons of seafood, or about 1% of global aquaculture production, said Michael Rubino, aquaculture program manager for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, an arm of the U.S. Department of Commerce.
“I think it has widespread support and some momentum, but there are a lot of questions about doing something new,” Rubino said.
No doubt, the American public takes pride in home grown products, so much so that Congress passed a country-of-origin labeling law for meat products several years ago.
Still, China, despite its recent troubles, has cornered the market when it comes to seafood production, making it difficult to gain traction in an industry that requires a significant amount of research and technology to meet environmental and health concerns.
“When an industry is barely hanging on because of the dumped imports, it’s very difficult to be competitive and do our research the way we need to do it,” said Eddie Gordon, Wild American Shrimp’s executive director.
His organization certifies only shrimp caught in the wild and has no position on the legislation, but “as an American,” Gordon said, “it’s better to have aquaculture grown here than overseas.”
It’s that better-here-than-there attitude that’s driving Brown, his aide said.
“It’s very parallel in terms of the energy crisis, except it’s a fish crisis,” Berardini said.
Brown is pushing for inclusion of two pilot projects in the bill, one off the shores of South Carolina that would operate in conjunction with researchers from Clemson University’s Department of Agriculture, he said.
While the bill is getting more attention than past efforts, it appears a long way from ranking as a Congressional priority.
Also slowing the push are environmental groups such as the Ocean Conservancy and the World Wildlife Fund, which are not against marine aquaculture in the United States, but have concerns about the impacts large fish-farming operations have had on wetland habitats in Southeast Asia.
Tim Eichenberg , director of the Ocean Conservancy’s Pacific Regional Office, said the legislation is necessary, but shouldn’t be rushed through without rules prohibiting the introduction of foreign seafood or without safeguards for pollution and diseases that can impact the wild population.
The vast amount of wild fish required to feed seafood farms—less desirable to the human consumer, but necessary for oceanic sustainability—also is a concern. One pound of farm-raised salmon, for instance, requires about four pounds of wild fish such as anchovies for feed, Eichenberg said.
“In the years ahead, more and more seafood will be consumed from fish farming,” Eichenberg said. “It’s a trend that’s inevitable and will continue to increase, and that’s why it’s so important we get this bill right.”
Molly Parker is a staff writer for the Business Journal. E-mail her at mparker@charlestonbusiness.com.
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