Gulf of Mexico

This Tuesday, Food & Water Watch applauded as two separate lawsuits where filed in Florida, challenging the legality of a recently finalized program known as catch shares that would privatize access to tilefish and grouper – public fish stocks – in the Gulf of Mexico.

One challenge came from the 90,000 member-strong Coastal Conservation Association, a recreational fishing group based in Texas. The other came from an independent small-scale commercial fisherman with a strong backbone named Brian Lewis, based in Clearwater, FL. Both legal complaints cite the unfair (and likely illegal) process used to develop and finalize the privatization plan, and the unfair intended outcome: creating a program that makes a "free market" tradeable commodity of the ability to catch fish – principally to enable a handful of businesses to control public fish resources.

Titled the Amendment 29 to the Gulf of Mexico Reef Fish Fishery Management Plan, the plan was approved by National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) despite glaring problems – including the failure to conduct a social impact assessment; the awarding of the bulk of the catch shares to fishermen who use a gear type known as longlines, which might not even be allowed in the Gulf in the future due to the fact that they are suspected of killing ten times the number of sea turtles allowed; and a sham referendum that excluded 70 percent of commercial fishermen whose jobs were at stake if the plan passed.

In June 2009, Food & Water Watch provided NMFS with an 18-page comment letter outlining problems with the plan, including the privatization aspect and violation of the national and international laws.  Food & Water Watch also conducted its own re-referendum surveying the fishermen who were excluded from the initial vote and found that the nearly 90 percent of respondents opposed the privatization plan. Had these fishermen been included in the initial vote, it is questionable whether the plan would have passed the referendum hurdle. Still, NMFS proceeded to approve the plan seemingly without regard for this clear opposition and the risk of massive job loss.

The legal challenges by Brian Lewis and the CCA will hopefully result in an end to fishery privatization in the Gulf. Food & Water Watch is opposed to privatization of public resources and is calling for Congressional oversight hearings to raise the matter to a national level.

See our Fair Fish campaign and fact sheet for more information on the issue and on ways to help protect our oceans and give fish and fishermen a fair chance.

I don’t think any oil company deserves to have an environmental rating, but when I saw that Greenopia rates British Petroleum (BP) as #1, I was really outraged.

I guess a huge PR budget and pretending to be post-petroleum works.

As an oil company, BP comes close to being criminal. It has repeatedly skirted the law, most recently in developing the Atlantis project, which has the potential to cause a catastrophic accident that could shut down the oil, fishing and tourism industry in the Gulf of Mexico. The deepest moored semi-submersible oil and gas platform in the world is precariously positioned in “hurricane alley,” 150 miles of the coast of New Orleans. Under the management of Minerals Management Service, lapdog of the oil industry, BP has been allowed to get away with what may end up being murder. Not only is most of the required documentation proving the platform is safe to operate missing, there is evidence that if a hurricane hits the area, an accident bigger than the Exxon Valdez could be the result. But, it shouldn’t be a surprise that BP cuts corners.

BP’s crimes include 15 deaths and hundreds of injuries in the Texas City Oil Refinery explosion of 2005, for which the company paid a $50 million fine as part of a federal felony plea. In Alaska, BP had two major oil spills in 2006—including the largest spill ever to occur on the North Slope—a result of corroded, unmaintained pipelines. In 2002 and 2003, BP was also fined for safety violations and violations of leak detection standards in Alaska. In 2000, it paid $15 million for dumping hazardous materials on the North Slope. This year, BP entered a consent decree for $175 million for violating an earlier Clean Air Act consent decree. In 2007, BP paid $300 million in fines and penalties for its manipulation of the propane market and it was fined in Michigan for leaking underground storage tanks.

Greenopia had better reevaluate its oil page. But, more importantly, Congress needs to hold oversight hearings on how the Minerals Management Service allowed BP to drill for oil and natural gas from the Atlantis before BP submitted the necessary paperwork. This is just one of perhaps many accidents waiting to happen off our coasts. Before the administration approves any additional drilling projects, it must ensure that the existing ones are operating safely and were approved according to regulations.

Support hearings to protect the Gulf from another disaster: Sign the petition.

Wenonah Hauter
Executive Director
Food & Water Watch

If you happened to be driving past the Pershing Park area in Washington, D.C. the other day and noticed a group of noisy people in aprons and chef hats - no, we were not baking the world’s largest pie – you caught a glimpse of Food & Water Watch’s Chefs’ Rally for sustainable seafood. 

Wednesday at noon we congregated across from the U.S. Department of Commerce – the department that is now considering the controversial Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council ocean fish farming plan – to say loudly and clearly that chefs and consumers alike are saying “NO” to industrially farmed fish. 

Donning chef apparel and carrying big signs with phrases like “OOA = Fishy Business” and “Say NO to industrial fish farming,” we were joined by local chefs from such great restaurants as Central Michel Richard, Patowmack Farm, The Reef, and Majestic. And of course, our wonderful FWW liaison chef Rocky Barnette was there to speak to the energetic crowd.

After some inspiring words from Chef Rocky we grabbed our loudspeaker and marched the perimeter of the building, chanting until lots of faces appeared in windows. 

Chefs, FWW staff, and activists communicated clearly to them, calling “Whose oceans?  OUR oceans!” 
Again, thank you to all who turned out!  We couldn’t do this without you. 

Learn why open ocean aquaculture is the wrong choice for the environment, human health, and sustainability, and then take action by signing our petition to end industrial fish farming.

- Becca Londner

It’s time for the government to take action to prevent one of the world’s largest oil and gas platforms from causing a catastrophic accident in the Gulf of Mexico. Atlantis, owned by British Petroleum (BP), lacks many required certification documents and poses a dire threat to the Gulf’s communities.

Located about 150 miles off the coast of New Orleans, Atlantis runs 7000 feet deep and produces 8.4 million gallons of oil and 180 million cubic feet of gas every day. Without engineer-approved documentation for 85% of its piping, instrument and safety shutdown systems, there is concern that Atlantis may have serious design problems. These deficiencies could increase the risk of devastating operator errors and would cause harm to platform workers, the marine environment, and local fishing communities.

Atlantis is dangerously positioned in “hurricane alley” where ocean and weather experts predict a 70% chance of nine to 14 tropical storms this year. These storms, with potential to turn into hurricanes, can wreak havoc on energy platforms in the Gulf. Sixty platforms were destroyed in 2008 alone as a result of two hurricanes. The resulting oil spills harm the plants and animals at the base of the marine food chain, affecting everything that relies on them, including the $32 billion commercial fishing and $60 billion coastal tourism and recreation industries.

The Department of Interior’s Mineral Management Services (MMS) is responsible for regulating offshore drilling but has not responded to concerns about Atlantis as we continue further into hurricane season. Atlantis began operating in October 2007 during the Bush Administration, and Food & Water Watch urges the MMS to suspend production in order to investigate the reasoning behind the platform’s operation without proper safety documentation.

Fear of an unprecedented disaster due to incomplete documentation arose last fall during the near sinking of BP’s Thunder Horse Platform. The repercussions of damage to Atlantis would be too great to risk letting BP continually evade the law. Food & Water Watch, along with its activists, is calling on the government to take action while there is still time to prevent a terrible disaster.

In a refreshing display of dedication towards fish safety, Fairmont Hotels & Resorts, owner of the Savoy chain, have promised to serve sustainable seafood as part of their Green Cuisine program. Specifically, they are removing Chilean sea bass and bluefin tuna from their menus, and are looking into forming partnerships with “reputable seafood watch organizations.” We hope that they give Food & Water Watch a call!

A commitment to serve sustainable seafood is something that other restaurant and hotel chains should follow.  In addition, while Fairmont should be commended for taking this step, there are many other seafood choices to include, or exclude, for the sake of safety and sustainability. We encourage them to look at our Smart Seafood Guide to see what recommended alternatives there are to popular seafood choices, and to observe the following guidelines when buying their seafood.

With our Food and Drug Administration looking the other way when it comes to inspecting the majority of seafood imports – in 2006 they inspected less than two percent of 860,000 of these imports for contaminants – it is essential for individuals and organizations to take it upon themselves to seek out the safest options they can find. With farmed fish potentially on the rise, as shown by the Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council’s decision to allow ocean fish farms in U.S. waters, it is all the more vital for restaurants and other food providers to show their commitment to sustainability by choosing wild-caught or domestic-farmed over imported and farmed.

Restaurants and specialty seafood stores are also exempt from country-of-origin labeling (COOL) – therefore, it’s up to these places to follow Fairmont’s lead and actually make an effort for their customers by providing seafood choices that are greener and safer. COOL regulations themselves need to be changed to remove this exemption. Processed fish is also outside the COOL regulation requirements – this means canned, smoked, or cooked seafood, or that which is mixed with other ingredients need not be labeled. These types of seafood has a higher risk of contamination, therefore labeling is essential so that consumers can be aware of where their fish comes from and can choose accordingly.

Consumers can do their part to get other restaurants to follow Fairmont’s lead, such as by printing out a copy of our Seafood Restaurant Card and dropping it off at their favorite restaurant.

- Sofía Baliño

Change. It’s the promise that propelled our new President into office. Recently, however, I watched the state of our fisheries change for the worse as the Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council approved a plan to allow industrial fish farming in Gulf waters.

Ocean fish farming, also known as offshore aquaculture or open-water aquaculture, is the mass production of fish in large floating pens or cages in ocean waters. With the U.S. already dealing with issues such as run-off pollution, loss of wildlife, and overwhelming coastal development – what incentives would there be to worsen the situation through aquaculture? The answer lies in personal profits. Proponents of offshore aquaculture on the Council have already received over $10 million in financial support from the federal government for aquaculture research and endeavors – which explains why the 16,000 letters and e-mails protesting the Council’s plan fell on deaf ears.

The National Marine Fisheries Service, tasked with the conservation and management of natural marine resources, has been feverishly pushing to allow offshore aquaculture in U.S. waters for years. This is clearly a poorly disguised way for NMFS to excuse their own poor stewardship of marine resources. The agency projects that domestic ocean fish farming will provide new jobs, reduce pressure on depleted wild fish populations, and lessen our dependence on seafood imports. However, the opposite is far more likely.

Fish farms will probably reduce jobs, causing economic problems for coastal communities. In British Columbia, Scotland and Norway, the salmon-farming industry dramatically expanded production without creating new jobs, in some cases decreasing employment. U.S. ocean fish farms are also likely to outcompete and replace traditional fishing, causing widespread job losses and harming support businesses in the process.

Farming fish could increase fishing pressure on wild fish and disrupt ecosystems. Ocean farms in U.S. waters will need fish for use as protein in feed – likely local wild fish. These often are the same that wild fish and marine birds eat, leaving less food in the wild and disrupting ecosystem balance. In addition, because ocean fish farms allow free flow of water between the cages and the ocean, concentrated amounts of fish food, wastes, diseases, chemicals or antibiotics can flow directly into ocean waters.

These farms are unlikely to eliminate our seafood deficit. Currently, the U.S. exports about 71 percent of its domestic fish production, including tilapia, tuna, salmon, crab, and some shrimp – which are also among its top seafood imports. The U.S. exports its fish to fetch a higher price, serving cheaper, often industrially produced, lower-quality, imported fish in domestic restaurants and markets. The same may occur with domestic farmed fish.

For now, we wait for a final decision on the Gulf aquaculture plan, and hope that the new administration demonstrates the change that was promised by fighting it. Then we ask them to focus on better management of wild fish and explore truly sustainable sources of aquaculture to benefit the entire nation, not just a few self-interested people.

 - Marianne Cufone

Food & Water Watch's fish team is currently in the Gulf of Mexico region, working to bring out a variety of local voices to the Gulf Council's public hearings on aquaculture. Marianne and Sascha, two of our fishy fighters, send dispatches from their work in the north Gulf region.

We hit the ground running on Wednesday, having meetings with various local allies in Mississippi to plan our week. In the evening, we were invited as guest speakers for the local Mississippi Sierra Club chapter. We had a great discussion about ocean fish farming, and in particular concerns with use of wild fish in feed for farmed fish. About 1 billion pounds of Gulf Menhaden are already taken annually from the Gulf of Mexico – and these fish are important in the wild as food for larger wild fish, birds and other marine wildlife. The chapter is very interested in Gulf of Mexico issues, and a group of people from the meeting agreed to attend the Gulf Council public hearing Monday night! They plan to carpool down to Mobile. We also had an interview with a reporter from the Associated Press by phone. That night, we headed up to New Orleans to stay with friends.

Thursday, we spent the day hanging flyers announcing the meeting at New Orleans colleges, including Loyola and Tulane, two schools with well-known environmental programs. We contacted some professors to get the students up on the Gulf fish farming issue. A number of students have already committed to attend the Council’s comment session Monday night, so we have arranged free transportation to and from the meeting for them, and are hoping more will join us. We also spoke to a Times-Picayune reporter who expects to come to the Council meeting in Mobile from New Orleans.

Friday was a very busy day! We headed out early to drive down to the bayou – through Galliano, La Rose, Cut Off and more to meet up with some of our local fishermen friends.  We had an hour at radio station KLRZ with Ken Friedlander, the “Rajun’ Cajun,” on Talk on the Bayou, to let people know about the upcoming Council meeting and the final decision on fish farms for the Gulf. Margaret Curole from Commercial Fishermen of America joined us to talk about how ocean fish farming in the Gulf can hurt Louisiana’s coastal communities. She also detailed the horrible conditions she’s seen in fish farms while traveling internationally. We had a number of callers tell us they are very worried about fish farms in the Gulf and that they are planning to come to the Council meeting to voice their concerns. It’s sounding like the Council meeting is going to be very interesting with the various types of people planning to attend.

Early on Saturday, we met up for breakfast with some of our local allies in Gretna, a historic community on the outskirts of New Orleans. We then went downtown to catch up with our fish team colleagues Christina and Justine, who had been working in the southern Gulf. They came north for VooDoo Fest, a local music event. Our fish mascot is going to VooDoo to tell people about the Gulf Council’s plan to permit offshore aquaculture in the Gulf and collect signatures on a petition. We had a quick collective chat, then split up again – our team headed back to Biloxi, and Justine and Christina to VooDoo Fest. Our plan for Biloxi was to stop at the various docks and bait shops to tell people about the Council meeting. We hung a number of flyers and handed out many packets of information. Some people told us they hadn’t heard anything about the fish farming plan, and were very concerned.

The Gulf coast seems to be slowly rebuilding from the storms in recent years. There were a number of new houses and docks, and there were noticeably more boats in the marinas than last year at this time. One area we stopped still had no parking lot – just some gravel and sand. We learned that in such cases, we should park the car elsewhere and walk to the docks – we got the car stuck in the sand for a while, until some of the fishermen noticed and came to help push us out (it was a great ice-breaker!).  We stopped at the local TV and radio stations, then at the Sun-Herald newspaper office. We had a late dinner at a local seafood restaurant, then drove back to New Orleans. We are going to VooDoo tomorrow!

– Marianne Cufone and Sascha Bollag

On October 11th , our fish team ate their way through Taste of Georgetown in Washington, DC, while promoting the new Smart Seafood Guide. We had a great time working with Sea Catch Restaurant & Raw Bar and Executive Chef Chris Sgro who prepared two gourmet dishes using Food & Water Watch’s seafood recommendations from the guide. 

Chef Sgro served jumbo Gulf Shrimp wrapped in pastry & bacon with boursin cheese, along with wild Alaskan salmon tartar – both huge hits with the crowd, making it easy to talk to people waiting in the long lines about clean, green and safe seafood. Just take a look at how these delicious dishes are a feast for the eyes!

Also on-site was our soon-to-be-named fish mascot (link) who was posing for pictures and getting people to sign the “Holy Mackerel! This Plan Stinks!” petition. What exactly “stinks”? The Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council is voting on a plan in less than two weeks to allow industrial fish farming in Gulf waters. But their plan doesn't protect fishermen, consumers, coastal communities or the environment from the potential negative impacts of a new big industry. Our fish team is making its way down to the Gulf region to keep this bad plan from going through, and is arranging carpools to take people to the council meeting for a question and answer session for the public with the entire council.

So if you live in the Gulf, make sure to sign up and make sure your voice is heard! And for those of you who live in other parts of the country, you can still make a difference by signing the petition.

- Erin Greenfield
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You want safe shrimp to eat; restaurant owners want a good product to sell; chefs want delicious ingredients from which to create a winning menu; and domestic shrimpers need our business to survive as an industry. It’s one big circle – and our choices in one area impact others. This circle was made obvious by voices raised in New Orleans at the 2008 Women Chefs and Restaurateurs National Conference.

The attending women were eager to hear from Food & Water Watch, who sent me to get out the word about the health and environmental price of cheap imported shrimp. Chefs and restaurants got tips and important information about how they can improve their shrimp purchasing practices in the panel, "There’s Something About Shrimp."

 "The only way to make sure that we are getting safe seafood and that we continue to have a domestic industry to supply us with it is to shift demand. "

A lot is at stake for shrimp, and audience members got a well-rounded perspective on the issue from our esteemed panel. Panelists included moderator Leigh Belanger from the Chef’s Collaborative, local New Orleans shrimper Ray Brandhurst, chef of Commander's Palace in New Orleans, Tory McPhail, and Brennan Group operations head Haley Bitterman.

Giant shrimp buffets and growing portion sizes are just two reasons why demand for cheap, imported shrimp has grown immensely (learn more in our report Suspicious Shrimp). The safer, sustainable domestic shrimpers have lost and gone out of business. In addition, natural disasters such as hurricanes have wreaked havoc on shrimpers' boats and the industry’s infrastructure.

Ray, an innovative entrepreneur, talked about how the direct-purchasing relationships that he established with local restaurants have kept him afloat. He’s even begun shipping his shrimp directly to restaurants throughout the country via FedEx.

The overarching message from the panel was clear – eat domestic shrimp. The only way to make sure that we are getting safe seafood and that we continue to have a domestic industry to supply us with it is to shift demand. And we all have a part to play in that – whether we’re consumers, shrimpers, or chefs. To find out more about industrially produced shrimp and why you may want to avoid it, check out our Suspicious Shrimp report.