On February 8, Recirculating Farms, along with the Center for Biological Diversity, Center for Food Safety and allies issued a formal notice of their intent to sue the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for failing to ensure that Nationwide Permits reissued during the final days of the Trump administration will not jeopardize endangered species and critical habitat across the country. These Nationwide Permits allow for streamlined industrial development such as oil pipelines, coal mines, and marine aquaculture facilities through waterways across the country, resulting in the destruction of tens of thousands of acres of streams, rivers and wetlands.
This will also allow corporations to speed and scale up the development of industrial fish farms. This form of aquaculture uses large, floating net pens and cages that permit pollution, like excess feed, fish waste and chemicals, to flow freely into open waters, damaging marine ecosystems and harming the local fishing communities and coastal economies that depend on them. Read more about this and find RecircFarms’ statement on this here.
Marianne Cufone, Recirculating Farms’ Executive Director, said, “We are very disappointed that the Army Corps moved forward with nationwide permits on such a controversial issue, when science and experience tells us that offshore marine fish farming comes with significant risks for people and our planet. Our hope is that the new administration will reverse this decision in the coming months, but meanwhile, we are pursuing legal challenges to protect our communities and ecosystems.”
The full press release on the Notice of Intent to Sue is available here.