I am writing to you regarding the Advancing the Quality and Understanding of American Aquaculture (AQUAA) Act. The AQUAA Act embodies a complete lack of regard for the public health risks posed by raising animals in large numbers and in close confinement, for the struggles that small fishing and coastal communities face, and for a planet that is suffering under the pressure of destructive human activities.

Offshore operations exacerbate pressures that marine ecosystems and fisheries already experience, and expose the public to health dangers. Offshore fish farms could contaminate our waters with drugs, other chemicals, untreated waste, and create a breeding ground for pests and diseases. Net pens in the open ocean often fail, and lead to mass escapes of farmed fish into the surrounding waters, threatening wild fish and the larger ecosystem. They threaten the health and vitality of marine mammals by entanglement and aggressive behavioral changes.

The negative socioeconomic impacts on fishing and coastal communities, seafood markets and tourism, as well as related businesses, far outweigh the subsidized revenue and sparse number of jobs that offshore fish farming may generate. Due to the projected increase in pollution and other ecological damage caused by offshore aquaculture, the value of wild-caught fish and fish populations could decline. Overall, the goal of increasing domestic seafood and jobs through offshore finfish aquaculture could instead simply replace existing traditional jobs and fish supply, leaving the U.S. with a mess, and no benefit.

Aquaculture can play an important role as part of a sustainable food system, but there is simply no way to conduct open ocean finfish farming without jeopardizing the ocean ecosystem, tourism, fishing economies, and coastal communities. Rather than promoting outdated and dangerous fish farming methods as in the AQUAA Act, we should focus on supporting responsible seafood production, including encouraging more domestic seafood to be kept and sold in the U.S, promoting working waterfronts, supporting values based aquaculture, such as bivalves and seaweed, and facilitating properly scaled and sited recirculating aquaculture on land, which recycle waste and water.

I respectfully urge you to oppose this legislation - The AQUAA Act.