What: Public hearing on proposed industrial ocean
fish farm permit
When: Tuesday, January 28, 5:30 – 9:30 PM
Where: WAVE Center @ Mote Marine Laboratory
1600 Ken Thompson Parkway, Sarasota, FL
34236
Unprecedented red tides outbreaks in have
ravaged our coastline over and over again but instead of cracking down on industries
that pollute our waters, Trump’s
EPA wants to open up the Gulf to industrial ocean fish farms! They want to give Kampachi Farms a
permit for a floating factory farm 40 miles off our shores – a sure way to further
distress the balance of our ocean ecosystem, negatively impact our public
health, and threaten our local economy!
Industrial ocean fish farming—or offshore
finfish aquaculture—is the mass cultivation of captive finfish in net pens,
pods, and cages that:
- Discharge toxins such as untreated fish waste, excess feed, agricultural drugs and pesticides, heavy metals and chemicals.
- Contribute to the spread of disease and pests that threaten wild fish stocks and other marine wildlife.
- Threaten marine mammals, sea turtles, sharks seabirds, and other marine life by entangling them in netting and cages.
- Risk the wild fish stocks upon which that sustainable seafood producers rely.
- Release fish food and the waste it becomes that contributes to nutrient pollution that fuels algal blooms and red tide outbreaks.
Industrial fish
farm operations across the world have been linked to
all of the above. With overwhelming evidence of the devastating
effects that off -coast industrial fish farming has, Washington
state and Denmark have taken action to ban these practices. The hearing
in Sarasota is especially significant
as it would be the first license requested from the EPA for federal waters. The
outcome of this permit decision could set a dangerous precedent for our state
and country that would pave the way for more fish farms off our coasts and in
public waters. This is why we need to make a stand now.
Industrial ocean
fish farms are not the answer to meeting seafood demand. If anything, our
government should be building more support for sustainable seafood production
alternatives to meet our nation’s food security needs. Offshore fish farming endangers our way of life, our tourist
economy, and our wildlife.
Will you stand with
us? The time is now.
Tell the EPA to keep floating factory farms out of our
public waters!
What: Public hearing on proposed industrial ocean
fish farm permit.
When: Tuesday, January 28, 5:30 – 9:30
Where: WAVE
Center @ Mote Marine Laboratory
1600 Ken Thompson Parkway, Sarasota, FL 34236
Pre-register here. You are encouraged to pre-register at
least 72 hours in advance but you may also register to speak when you arrive at
the hearing.
Need a ride? Want to carpool? Contact Michael McGrath at michael.mcgrath@sierraclub.org
