DCO2 has a Campaign Director and Legislative Director on staff. We also coordinate with our members to organize in the regions. DCO2 is led by a steering committee of individuals representing a member organization. We also collaborate with our members to organize in targeted regions. Each member organization has a primary and secondary contact. We operate with Circles to focus on specific work areas. Currently, we have three active circles: Science, Communications, and Policy.

If your organization is interested in joining or working with DCO2, please review our membership signup form. If you have questions, please contact us. We look forward to working with you.

Offshore finfish farming crams thousands of fish into massive net pens in open waters. They do not benefit the United States as whole, but would siphon benefits from our shared resources to profit a few corporations in the industrial seafood and agriculture lobby. These mega-corps are working to advance the same land-based food production models that pollute waterways, contribute to poor nutrition and human health problems, and force farmers to sell their land. Expanding their influence to our Federal waters is a serious threat to the health and wealth of U.S. coastal and fishing communities that are already struggling.

Industrial offshore fish farms would contaminate our marine waters with drugs, chemicals, and untreated wastes, while creating a breeding ground for pests and diseases. Due to the projected increase in pollution and other ecological damage caused by these farms, the value of wild-caught fish and wildlife populations could decline. This could decrease seafood production, or replace wild caught fish with farmed fish, thus undermining historic fishing communities and offering the public low-quality fish.

Finfish farms can spread diseases and/or parasites to wild fish and other marine life, as most cages allow natural waters to flow in and out. Because most fish farms densely stock fish in cages/pens, stress from being confined and cramped can make farmed fish more susceptible to illness. When marine wildlife come near the cages, or when farmed fish escape or are released, they can significantly harm the ecosystem and wild fish by transferring diseases or pests.

Domestic factory finfish farmers have a whole host of toxic chemical cocktails at their disposal. Many use organophosphates (OPs) to handle sea lice outbreaks; OPs can harm the nervous and reproductive systems, and are highly toxic to various aquatic species. As the pests develop resistance to certain chemicals, the companies may rely on more toxic solutions. A 2021 study found that as the sea lice become resistant to OPs used in fish farms, they spread into the ocean and flourished into stronger, OP-resistant populations far away from the fish farms. This OP-resistance has inspired industrial-scale finfish farmers to try cypermethrin. This cancer-causing insecticide is 100 times more toxic than OPs to aquatic animals like lobsters, crabs, shrimp, and oysters.

Farmed fish escaping from their containment can harm ecosystems, particularly when farmed fish of the same species interact with wild fish. Farmed fish can outcompete wild fish for habitat, food, and mates. These fish may also not be adaptable for life in the wild, so they could pass on their compromised genes and behaviors when they mate – weakening (and thus reducing) wild populations over time. In August 2017, a Cooke Aquaculture facility in Washington State spilled more than 263,000 farmed Atlantic salmon into Puget Sound, threatening local wildlife.

Captive fish, and their waste and feed, attract fish and other wildlife. Fish attracted to the cages might get eaten by other predators that are likewise attracted to the cages. This could harm the long-term health of wild fish populations. Marine life attracted to the cages - such as whales, dolphins, predator fish, and birds -  might become entangled in lines, nets, and other equipment. Finfish farms come with various lines, anchors, nets, and even support structures, like platforms or large vessels with their own equipment, that can entangle, harm, drown, and kill marine wildlife. In March 2017, an endangered Hawaiian Monk Seal died due to entanglement in net pens at Blue Ocean Mariculture, which is a National Marine Fisheries Service research farm.

When finfish farms have buffer zones (no fishing areas) around the cages, this displaces both commercial and recreational fishing. Buffer zones also concentrate fishing pressure in certain areas, and increase fuel costs as fishermen have to go around to avoid the industrial finfish aquaculture facilities. The existing multi-billion dollar recreational and commercial fishing industries, and others who rely on healthy marine waters and habitats, will bear the unintended consequences of offshore finfish farming. It is irresponsible and unnecessary to create a new industry that is likely to endanger existing industries and cause ecological harm to our marine ecosystems.

Coastal communities don’t benefit from these offshore finfish projects. Instead of being community-driven and for the benefit of the community, offshore finfish farms feature distant and sometimes foreign-backed investors looking to find an ideal spot to situate an operation to produce large-volume, high-value fish for typically an export-oriented market, leaving the locals with little more than a mess.

Unfortunately, sourcing the feed needed for this scale of fish farming places enormous strains on marine ecosystems and agrarian landscapes, both here in the U.S. and abroad. Converting vast sums of forage fish into fish feed pellets could hurt the long-term stability of existing recreational and commercial fisheries, such as Gulf menhaden. These small fish are a critical part of the food chain, and depleting a food source can hurt the health of other marine wildlife. Depriving people of their primary source of protein could threaten food security in coastal communities, especially in the Global South. Fish feed sourced from corn and soy may contain genetically modified organisms and contribute to the land grabs that feed the global commodity markets.

Unfortunately, the offshore finfish aquaculture industry will likely lead to a net loss of jobs, primarily of fishermen and fishing-related businesses. Developing offshore finfish farming would seek to replace a historic and traditional industry - commercial fishing - with an increasingly automated industry with fewer employees, that would redirect control of food away from rural, coastal, and indigenous people, as well as independent businesses, and toward a large, international, corporatized industry.

Offshore finfish farming will not be used to feed our communities. Offshore finfish farm proponents argue that the U.S. imports about 90% by value of the seafood eaten domestically, so growing more fish locally would help the country rely less on imports. However, this figure is misleading. It includes a significant amount of seafood we catch here in the U.S. that is shipped elsewhere for less expensive processing and then re-imported for sale and consumption. Also, much of the fish caught or produced in the U.S. is outright exported – because other countries are willing to pay more for better health, environmental, and labor standards. Offshore aquaculture is an expensive endeavor, and these fish will likely follow the same existing trajectory – exported to earn more money, instead of feeding communities in the U.S.

Pollutants originating from inside the net pens readily flow into natural waters. This is especially concerning in places with fragile and threatened areas, such as the widespread coral die-off and algal blooms off the coast of Florida. Uneaten food and fish waste exacerbates and contributes to prolonged algal blooms. Tourism is negatively impacted because no one wants to recreate in the ocean in the midst of a noxious algal bloom.

Of course! Many of our members are seafood farmers themselves, but they place a value on community-driven and appropriately scaled forms of aquaculture, such as responsible bivalve farming, sea kelp farming, or land-based recirculating systems such as aquaponics.