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Stop the Dangerous Privatization of Oceans!

Target: Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council
Sponsored by: Food and Water Watch

It’s hard to imagine there is an entire industry out there dedicated to privatizing the vast, wild oceans, and threatens the livelihood of Gulf Coast fishing families.

How? The Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council is trying to set up the path for a dangerous new industry: commercial-scale fish farming in our oceans.

This largely untested industry threatens the safety of our food, hurts the marine environment, and endangers the livelihood of fishing communities that depend on healthy wild fish to make a living.

The council has been operating under the radar. Let them know they are being watched and that you care about our oceans and our health.

Tell the Fishery Management Council that fishing communities and the public need more time to weigh in. Sign the petition and help stop the giveaway of our oceans!

deadline: 10-18-2008
goal: 15,000

10,831
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Dear Gulf Council:

I am very concerned about the developing plan for commercial ocean fish farming in the Gulf of Mexico. As-is, the plan does not adequately address the effects of industrial ocean fish farming on public health, the Gulf environment, and local fishing communities.

I strongly urge you to provide the American public the opportunity to engage on this important issue by providing another comment period and holding regional workshops so people will better understand open ocean aquaculture and what it will mean to their lives. While open ocean aquaculture has been a topic of discussion at the Council for some time, the current plan was only first debuted in January 2007, and has been whisked through the Council process in less than a year, with little publicity.

In particular, I am worried that the Council plan does not:
- Have strict environmental requirements about pollution and harm to habitat and wildlife
- Prevent farming of endangered or threatened species and species of concern
- Protect essential habitat and fishing grounds by requiring buffer zones around special or fragile places
- Require compensation for exclusionary use of public resources for private profit
- Prevent using oil rigs for aquaculture
- Talk about how increasing aquaculture can hurt other marine wildlife by using more prey species in feed

These are all extremely important issues that must be addressed before any aquaculture permits are even considered in the Gulf of Mexico. I strongly urge the Council to review the developing plan for ocean fish farming very carefully before moving forward, and to provide another comment period and regional workshops. A poorly or hurriedly designed open ocean aquaculture plan could have unintended consequences. There is no reason to rush to finalize an incomplete plan.

[Your comment]

Sincerely,
[Your name]
[Your address]

We signed the “Stop the Dangerous Privatization of Oceans!” petition!

# 150:

7:14 am PDT, Oct 24, Name not displayed, United Kingdom

# 149:

7:08 am PDT, Oct 24, Paige Smith, Connecticut

# 148:

6:59 am PDT, Oct 24, Aaron Chia, Singapore

# 147:

6:56 am PDT, Oct 24, Sinikka D., Finland

# 146:

6:46 am PDT, Oct 24, Wendy Horn, California

# 145:

6:21 am PDT, Oct 24, Name not displayed, Colorado

# 144:

6:17 am PDT, Oct 24, Maria Watkins, California

# 143:

6:13 am PDT, Oct 24, Kathy Franklin, Tennessee
One takes care of their home, generaly, in order to have a clean living environment. How ironic it is then that they do not do the same for their overall home, this planet.

# 142:

6:08 am PDT, Oct 24, Elfmagic Taylor, Australia
THE LAW OF ONE We are all One. When one is harmed, all are harmed. When one is helped, all are helped. Therefore, in the name of Who I AM, and I am One with All, I ask that only that which is the highest good of all concerned, happen here. I give thanks that this is done.

# 141:

5:53 am PDT, Oct 24, Steven Conti, New Jersey

# 140:

5:41 am PDT, Oct 24, Carrie Filter-jones, Ohio
thee ocean is not for anyone to own .. with out it the earth will perish, and that includes what is in it .. i think this idea should be quashed alltogether .. we are already own places that never belong to us in the first place.... and certainly does not have a price

# 139:

5:29 am PDT, Oct 24, Michael Seefeldt, Oregon
Anythime something is privatized, it is subject to being driven by only one goal: profit. Once profit becomes a part of the equation, fisheries will not care about the bio-diverse balance and overall health of the oceans. We must do everything within our power to stop privatization and restore a delicate balance, and then support and strengthen that balance.

# 138:

5:11 am PDT, Oct 24, Brad Miller, Kansas

# 137:

5:05 am PDT, Oct 24, Jill Knight, Canada

# 136:

4:29 am PDT, Oct 24, Caitlin Summers, United Kingdom

# 135:

4:26 am PDT, Oct 24, Name not displayed, Florida

# 134:

4:18 am PDT, Oct 24, Kelley Dickinson, United Kingdom

# 133:

4:18 am PDT, Oct 24, Arlene Braswell, Florida

# 132:

3:51 am PDT, Oct 24, Sarah Shantti, Belgium

# 131:

3:34 am PDT, Oct 24, Roanne P., Singapore
Save the oceans and the marine creatures! Privatation of oceans is a selfish action, as it endangers many marine species and my cause extinction to some mirine creatures that are already endangered. The privatization of oceans will also cause a great loss to the small fish companies that solely depend on the wild fish to survive.

# 130:

3:11 am PDT, Oct 24, Beatrice Barberis, Italy

# 129:

3:10 am PDT, Oct 24, Juliana Farah, Lebanon

# 128:

2:30 am PDT, Oct 24, PamelaLyn Kemp, Pennsylvania

# 127:

1:46 am PDT, Oct 24, Timothy Bruck, Ohio

# 126:

1:44 am PDT, Oct 24, Mark Daniels, Armed Forces Pacific

# 125:

1:32 am PDT, Oct 24, Jennifer Cribbs, Ohio

# 124:

12:20 am PDT, Oct 24, Kaytie Irvine, California

# 123:

12:15 am PDT, Oct 24, Nancy Stamper, Indiana
The dangerous practices of Marine Corporations of recklessly over-fishing our oceans is enviromentally irresponsible and threatens the delicate eco-balances of our oceans. Allowing countries to section off huge areas of international waters for their corporate use must be stopped. We have only one earth to share, we must all be responsible to the Earth and each other.

# 122:

10:47 pm PDT, Oct 23, Cornelia Jerviss, Washington

# 121:

10:43 pm PDT, Oct 23, Rick Albee, Connecticut
The oceans belong to all people. Air, water,food,shelter should be declared human rights and the insidious privitization of the planet should be stopped at all cost.

# 120:

9:59 pm PDT, Oct 23, Name not displayed, New Zealand
Oceans belong to everyone, just as this world does. We need to learn to share.

# 119:

9:50 pm PDT, Oct 23, Nicole Hardin, Alabama

# 118:

9:33 pm PDT, Oct 23, Natalie Leigh Williams, Washington
This is one more example of the fact that corporations run our governments. Anyone wonder why only the rich get elected and only the rest of the rich have access to those people? Makes me wonder . . .I'm not at all surprised to see them owning the oceans too . . .why not? They already own everything else they can get their greedy little paws on.

# 117:

9:18 pm PDT, Oct 23, Jaclyn Maloy, Arizona

# 116:

9:17 pm PDT, Oct 23, L. Sarch, New York

# 115:

8:54 pm PDT, Oct 23, Meridith Sheridan, New York

# 114:

8:46 pm PDT, Oct 23, Ashley Scott, Texas

# 113:

8:46 pm PDT, Oct 23, Elizabeth Oehrn, Sweden

# 112:

8:39 pm PDT, Oct 23, Name not displayed, California

# 111:

8:38 pm PDT, Oct 23, Sandra M Zwingelberg, Colorado
Why don't you privatize the 2XTexas~ sized plastic trash dump in the Pacific Ocean and work on that, instead of taking every last ocean creature left and killing it so we humans don't have anymore food in the near future? And this could be very soon, all of us hungry and thirsty due to greedy, shortsighted Governments and Corporations.

# 110:

8:02 pm PDT, Oct 23, Name not displayed, Canada

# 109:

7:59 pm PDT, Oct 23, Kim Waddell, Kentucky

# 108:

7:58 pm PDT, Oct 23, Name not displayed, Maine

# 107:

7:57 pm PDT, Oct 23, Larry Mix, Florida

# 106:

7:53 pm PDT, Oct 23, Name not displayed, Texas

# 105:

7:41 pm PDT, Oct 23, S. Thiessen, Canada

# 104:

7:01 pm PDT, Oct 23, Kayleigh Wilson, Canada

# 103:

6:59 pm PDT, Oct 23, Susan L. Arday, Maryland

# 102:

6:57 pm PDT, Oct 23, Barbara Schoen, Oregon

# 101:

6:54 pm PDT, Oct 23, Name not displayed, Maine

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