Thursday, October 22, 2020

Calling all fish harvesters, restaurants, tourism/entertainment industries, retailers and more!

If you are a business owner/operator in the Gulf of Mexico, we hope you will consider signing onto this letter from coastal businesses to public officials demanding that they prioritize Gulf businesses, support your recovery from coronavirus devastation, and call on the government to halt the development of new industrial aquaculture facilities in the Gulf of Mexico. You can sign on and read the full letter here. Deadline is Thursday, November 2. 

The looming threat of industrial ocean fish farming in the Gulf of Mexico is growing. EPA just issued the first permit needed to construct Velella Epsilon, a finfish aquaculture facility just 45 miles off the coast of Sarasota, FL. The US Army Corps of Engineers is about to close a commenting period on the second and final permit necessary to build the first of what will likely be many of these destructive operations throughout the Gulf of Mexico.

Industrial aquaculture facilities push external costs of operation onto the ocean ecosystem and coastal economies, from direct discharge of toxins to privatization of the ocean. 



For the Gulf of Mexico, this means extra nutrients to feed the red tide and increased competition for limited marine space (and much more). The industry has its sights set on the Gulf of Mexico as the first place it wants to operate in the U.S. – starting with the Velella Epsilon project off the coast of Sarasota, to be followed by a larger “Aquaculture Opportunity Area” to host up to 5 facilities in the region. This could devastate Gulf businesses that have already been struggling to recover from recent natural disasters and devastation from the impacts of COVID-19.

Join us in telling public officials to support local and coastal businesses in the Gulf, and stop pushing a harmful new industry in the region! Sign on and read the full letter here. Deadline is Monday, November 2.

Please feel free to spread the word and contact htempleton@foe.org with any questions.


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Hallie Templeton

Senior Oceans Campaigner

(434)326-4647

htempleton@foe.org

Friends of the Earth

    


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