Hawai'i Aquaculture Latest Target for Activist Attack
Food & Water Watch (FWW) has launched an attack on Hawai'is aquaculture industry in a scathing report, launched in Honolulu today. Anyone who is familiar with the group's agenda should not be surprised: FWW executive director, Wenonah Hauter made the group's position on open ocean aquaculture clear, when in September she accused the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) of failing to protect fishing communities and the marine environment by allowing "an unpopular and potentially harmful ocean fish farming plan for the Gulf of Mexico to pass into effect". She said the agency had allowed the development of "what are essentially factory farms of the sea–dirty, crowded mass-production facilities that can harm the environment and produce lower-quality fish for consumers".
In this latest report, "The Empty Promise of Ocean Aquaculture in Hawai`i - Lessons on factory fish farming from an industrial testing ground", FWW said that for the past 10 years, Hawai`i’s state-controlled waters have been a testing ground for the industrial ocean fish farming industry. "After a decade, and an investment of millions in taxpayers’ dollars, it is clear that the industry has not lived up to its promises of both economic and environmental sustainability. Instead, industrial fish farming damaged ocean ecosystems, infuriated Native Hawaiian rights groups and contributed little to the local economy".
A backgrounder providing the organization's position on Ocean Aquaculture in Hawai'i was published to the FWW website in February here.
Download the advance copy of "The Empty Promise of Ocean Aquaculture in Hawai`i - Lessons on factory fish farming from an industrial testing ground" (PDF) from the link below. The report will also be available from the FFW website in due course.
