RE: Public Comment on Draft PEA Aquaculture Research and Development

Don’t Cage Our Oceans is a coalition of 26 diverse organizations representing 4.3 million people, working together to stop the development of offshore finfish farming in the United States through federal law, policies, and coalition building. DCO2 uplifts values-based seafood systems led by local communities. We and our members firmly endorse Alternative 1, the “No Action” Alternative.

While aquaculture programs beneficial to the public have been advanced through various programs administered by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) – the Office of Atmospheric Research Sea Grant, the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) Saltonstall-Kennedy Grant program, and Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program – great harm has also been caused and endorsed by these very same programs. Too many millions of dollars have already been wasted by NOAA in its misguided attempts to prop up unnecessary and troublesome factory fish farms in U.S. waters, and the agency has demonstrated an utter failure to heed the urgent pleas of the vast majority of stakeholders, who oppose such taxpayer giveaways to companies that actively harm our fishing and coastal communities, and marine ecosystems.

Read the entire letter here.