Stop the Dangerous Privatization of Oceans!

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.

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Sincerely,
[Your name]
[Your address]