This past week, the Don’t Cage Our Ocean Coalition, of which RecircFarms is a founding member, hosted a briefing for Congressional members, staff, and media on climate change impacts and fisheries. Our Executive Director, Marianne Cufone, participated in the event, the first in a series on responsible seafood. Other speakers included:

• Swinomish Indian Tribal Community’s elected senator and Vice Chairman JJ Wilbur;
• Executive Director of the Alaska Longline Fishermen’s Association, Linda Behnken;
• Gulf of Mexico commercial and recreational fisherman and President of the National Association of Charterboat Operators, Captain Bob Zales, II;
• Gulf of Mexico commercial fisherman and Executive Director of Florida Commercial Watermen’s Conservation, Captain Casey Streeter; and
• moderator Mike Conroy, Executive Director of the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen’s Associations.

Participants were very interested in discussing solutions, including development of land-based recirculating aquaculture and aquaponics systems. A lively Q&A followed the panel presentations.

The major takeaway was clear: given the serious challenges our domestic seafood industry is already facing, the last thing the federal government should be doing is supporting the expansion of offshore finfish farming. If you would like to access a video recording of the event, please email mcufone@recirculatingfarms.org.

Stay tuned for the next event in our Responsible Seafood series coming in June, which will cover other challenges beyond climate change for our seafood and shoreside food producers and ways to address them.