July saw some of the hottest temperatures ever recorded, with a “marine heat wave” in Florida making national headlines by recording ocean water temperatures exceeding 100℉. Climate change – exacerbated by astounding levels of corporate greed – continues to push the Earth’s life support systems and ability to maintain balance to the limits. And often, the ocean bears the brunt of the significant impacts, from acidification, to biodiversity loss, to now, shockingly hot ocean temperatures.
This latest ocean warming event caused apocalyptic-levels of coral bleaching in the Florida Keys, to the point where scientists were racing to rescue coral from the ocean to place in controlled lab environments to save some from dying off entirely. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) scientists in charge of coral recovery have referred to it as a “last-ditch form of insurance policy,” and the New York Times article on this mass die-off is filled with quotes from scientists in this field, no strangers to bad news, arriving to even more dire predictions on the fate of coral reefs in the U.S. and worldwide.
Despite living through the devastation of a changing climate in real time, federal agencies are caving to corporations with development plans that will worsen the environmental crisis. Instead of honoring the climate goals of the Biden Administration and the goals of their own agency scientists trying to save marine species like corals, NOAA is supporting, and even helping to promote industrial aquaculture companies to build factory fish farms in the region.
These facilities consist of net pens that raise thousands of fish in cramped quarters. While it feels inhumane to cage marine carnivorous fish species that need open waters to thrive, it seems even more cruel to trap them in place when the next marine heat wave occurs. With industry mortality rates already at around 15% on a good day, it isn’t difficult to foresee a scenario where, like fixed coral, most if not all of the caged fish go belly up in a giant fish boil, unable to move to cooler waters when the ocean heats up.
Industrial aquaculture facilities also discharge enormous amounts of untreated waste, pathogens, and toxic chemicals into the ocean, which can wreak havoc on marine life like coral. To make matters even worse, this form of fish farming requires inputs of fish feed that are globally sourced and emit enormous amounts of waste and greenhouse gasses along the supply chain – from sourcing, to processing, to transportation. Corporations pushing these facilities conveniently omit that they’re upping global pollution when they’re talking about their environmental impact. This pollution doesn’t even help put food on families’ tables: ultimately, when the forage fish stocks are used to provide inputs for fish meal, there is actually a net loss in animal protein, usually taking fish from the Global South to feed carnivorous fish in the Global North’s fish farms.
As we continue to wrestle with the ongoing devastating impacts of climate change, let’s at the very minimum not make things worse. The oceans have had enough; to pretend that industrial-scale offshore fish farming will help in any way is to reject science, embrace arrogance, and succumb to industry (and agency) greenwashing. Now more than ever, we must invest in the sustainable and community based options that we know work. Independent fishermen and Indigenous communities have created a blueprint for fishing without exploiting the ocean. Smart designed land-based aquaculture can also create responsible opportunities for fish production. The Administration must support these promising avenues, and put an end to industrial fish farm development. Our food chain, our coastal communities and our corals depend on it.