Members and friends of Don’t Cage Our Oceans are noticing a pattern. The industrial aquaculture trade association “Stronger America Through Seafood” (SATS) has been picking up a few Congressional co-sponsors on their “AQUAA Act” - legislation designed to open our public waters to widespread factory-farm style raising of fish. What these Congressional members have in common is that several hail from parts of the country dominated by big-ag behemoth Cargill, a company whose (dis)reputation is well known and is the largest private company in the US, by revenue.

Cargill is a member of Stronger America Through Seafood, and already has a global reach on the aquafeed business. Its aquafeed division marries two areas of its operations to create yet another sellable commodity - combining (ecosystem-critical) forage fish species with genetically modified (GMO) corn and soy to create pelleted feed for warm and cold water farmed fish. With all of that money to be made selling fish feed to industrial-scale factory fish farming enterprises, it is no surprise that Cargill strongly supports legislation that would create open season for large-scale fish farming in federal waters.

So it should come as no surprise that the head lobbyist of Stronger America through Seafood has left her position to join Cargill as their new Director of Federal Government Relations. Doing the bidding of SATS and working for Cargill in this case was the very same thing. And she made Cargill proud by winning over Members of Congress who live far from the coastal waters these farms will contaminate.

What Cargill and its friends seek to do is to take their cutthroat business practices on land and apply them to the sea. Just ask family farmers what they think about Cargill’s impact on their way of life, livelihoods, and the environment. Corporate control of the oceans is next, and family fishermen and small-scale seafood farmers are already feeling the squeeze. Multi-generational fishing cultures could be replaced with industrialized mono(aqua)culture. Struggling marine ecosystems could be further strained by excess nutrients, leading to deadly algal blooms, as well as the spread of parasitic diseases and chemical toxins. And, Cargill will further its corporate agenda by having more control of the food system - both land and sea based. 

It’s time to tell Stronger America through Seafood and Cargill - two sides of the same coin - that we see through their fluff, and that Americans don’t want billion dollar agribusinesses calling the shots. Act now and tell your Members of Congress No to Big-Ag, No to Industrial Fish Farming, No to the AQUAA Act.