Senate Passes Marine Aquaculture Development Act | Eastern North Carolina Now

Press Release:

    Raleigh, N.C.     The state Senate unanimously concurred to the amended changes from the House on Senate Bill 410 (Marine Aquaculture Development Act) sponsored by Senator Bill Cook (R-District 1), Senator Norman W. Sanderson (R-District 2) and Senator Jerry W. Tillman (R-District 29) yesterday, June 28, 2017. Next, the bill will be sent to the Governor.

    Marine aquaculture is one of the fastest growing food production methods in the world, and SB 410, the Marine Aquaculture Development Act, is designed to attract global seafood companies. In October 2015, the annual BioMarine International Business Convention was held in Wilmington, N.C. Approximately 300 business executives, researchers, entrepreneurs, and economic development officials from more than 16 countries attended the convention. This was the first time it had been hosted in the United States, and the focus of the convention was how to meet global demand for aquaculture commodities to feed a growing population.

    "With a large abundant natural water resource along our state's coastline, North Carolina is a prime location for deep water aquaculture facilities. Aquaculture is, indeed, among one of the fastest growing segments of food production worldwide, and with this bill North Carolina will be appropriately positioned to join the market," Cook said. "This bill opens a new frontier in the harvesting of popular seafood species in our own state. It puts in place the permitting structure necessary to support an enhanced use of our marine waters. Our state is blessed with the second largest estuary system in the United States and the largest contained in one state. We have excellent potential - North Carolina has much clean water and many potential sites for deep water fish farming. I owe a debt of gratitude to Representative Beverly Boswell and Representative Chris Millis for leading this bill in the House."

    According to current estimates nearly one-half of all fish consumed globally are harvested from aquaculture facilities, and by 2030 over 145.5 million metric tons of aquatic food will be needed to meet global demand.

    "We are confident this bill will help increase production of North Carolina aquaculture commodities, and we will be happy to promote them through our Got to Be NC Seafood program," said N.C. Agriculture Commissioner Steve Troxler.

    In 2015, Cooke Aquaculture, a global seafood company with significant US assets in the fishery and aquaculture sector acquired Wanchese Fish Co., a 440 employee seafood company founded in the Outer Banks. Cooke Aquaculture is the 18 largest producer of seafood / aquaculture commodities with operations in 44 countries - employing thousands of jobs.

    "We're very pleased and delighted by the passage of Senate Bill 410, and are very grateful to the leadership and dedication of Senator Bill Cook for spearheading this legislation in North Carolina," said Ross Butler, CEO of Cooke Seafood USA and Wanchese Fish Company. "We believe the abundant & fertile fishing waters of the Gulf Stream off North Carolina offer significant potential for ocean aquaculture and ocean ranching. Seafood from Wanchese and eastern North Carolina, distributed across the United States through our global distribution system, has the potential to be a major contributor to the economy and provide job growth and stability for the State and Eastern North Carolina."

    The United States is the second largest consumer of seafood in the world, yet it ranks tenth in aquaculture production. Thus, in 2016, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration issued the first-ever federal regulations for large-scale fish farming in federal waters of the Gulf of Mexico. The State of Maine also has aquaculture production facilities including: Atlantic salmon, Eastern Oysters, Blue Mussels, Cod, Halibut (experimentally), Green Sea Urchins (experimentally), Soft Shell Clams, Scallops, Rainbow Smelt, Golden Shiners, Redfin Shiners, Fathead Minnows, Suckers, Emerald Shiners, Brown Trout, Rainbow Trout, Sand Worms, Shad, and several species of tropical marine fish that are raised for aquariums.

    "SeaGrant is definitely supportive of aquaculture development in the state. There's a lot of potential here in North Carolina for aquaculture. This bill will help realize that potential by streamlining efforts to build up the industry in offshore and inshore areas, particularly with Finfish," said Dr. Chuck Weirich, N.C. Sea Grant marine aquaculture specialist.

    The bill includes the following provisions, but not limited to:

• Authorize the Secretary of Environmental Quality to grant marine aquaculture leases.
• Directs the Division of Marine Fisheries (DMF) of the Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) to:
• Requests the Mid-Atlantic and South Atlantic Fishery Management Councils develop a Fishery Management Plan for regulating offshore aquaculture in federal waters offshore from the North Carolina coast.
• Petitions the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to initiate rule making proceedings to implement a comprehensive regulatory program for managing the development of an environmentally sound and economically sustainable aquaculture fishery in federal waters offshore from the North Carolina coast.
• Directs the DMF to provide an interim report to the Joint Legislative Oversight Committee on Agriculture and Natural and Economic Resources regarding their progress in implementing the marine aquaculture permits.
• Directs the Marine Fisheries Commission to establish official e-mail accounts for all Commission members. Use of the official e-mail accounts would be considered public records, unless protected by any common law or statutory privilege. Failure to comply with these requirements would subject a member to investigation by the State Ethics Commission for unethical conduct and to removal from the Commission for misfeasance. This provision is in response to a state audit report.
• Provides relief for Eels imported from Virginia or South Carolina in an aquaculture operation from onerous regulations.
• Authorizes DEQ and the State Property Office to negotiate with our federal partners in regards to an agreement for acquiring dredged material easement sites. This approach is currently used in South Carolina, where they have an agreement in place between the State and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

• Contact: Jordan Hennessy
•     jordan.hennessy@ncleg.net