Number: 2016-11
WHEREAS, there has been recent interest in the permitting of commercial net-pen aquaculture (net pens) in Michigan’s public waters of the Great Lakes; and
WHEREAS, the public waters of the Great Lakes support a recreational fishing economy that generates $19 billion in total economic output (nearly $3 billion in direct spending by anglers) and supports nearly 250,000 jobs; and
WHEREAS, the proposed gain of 44 jobs in Michigan, adding a mere $4.3 million in annual gross domestic product by the addition of commercial net pen aquaculture in the Great Lakes pales in comparison to the economic impact of wild fishery put at risk by the proposed pens; and
WHEREAS, aquaculture has been responsible for 39 percent of nonnative species introductions in the recent past; and
WHEREAS, it has been estimated that the aggregate negative effects of introduced aquatic invasive species to the Great Lakes states exceeds $100 million annually; and
WHEREAS, domesticated rainbow trout are the primary species targeted for commercial production in the Great Lakes and are the same species as found in the Great Lakes’ steelhead rainbow trout fishery; and
WHEREAS, escapes of commercially domesticated or transgenic fish into the environment from commercial net-pens will result in undesirable cross-breeding and a potential reduction in genetic fitness in wild fish populations; and
WHEREAS, releases of excessive fish waste and unused fish foods from commercial net-pen facilities can cause high biological oxygen demand in surrounding and/or downstream public waters, reducing the water’s dissolved oxygen content and thereby negatively affecting native fish and wildlife populations; and
WHEREAS, any commercial net-pen aquaculture enterprise on public waterways will restrict the public use of such waters and thereby diminish recreational use via use of bottomlands, reduction of surface water access, negative effects on local fish communities (algal blooms, nutrient-related anoxic zones); and
WHEREAS, the concentration of fish in confined commercial net-pen environments within the Great Lakes pose serious fish disease and health management risks for the region’s public fisheries through the introduction of new diseases, transference of diseases between captive and wild fish, and escalation of the virulence of wild stocks of aquatic organisms; and
WHEREAS, piscivorous birds such as osprey, bald eagle, kingfisher, and various species of mergansers and herons are attracted to the artificial concentration of prey present at net pen aquaculture facilities and their predation of those fish often results in “nuisance wildlife control” actions resulting in the lethal removal of individuals among these species of native, migratory birds; and
WHEREAS, at present the regulatory framework in Michigan is wholly inadequate to begin to address the concerns outlined in this resolution.
THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the National Wildlife Federation, in its Annual Meeting assembled June 16-18, 2016 in Estes Park, Colorado, opposes commercial net-pen aquaculture in the Great Lakes; and
BE IT FINALLY RESOLVED that NWF supports the need for state-based natural resources management agencies to have a strong and effective voice in the permitting and regulation of aquacultural practices which may be injurious to public natural resources – especially the waters of the states, aquatic organisms and sport fisheries upon which the fishing and boating industries depend.