I know two things about Sarasotans, # 1 – we eat, and #2 - we care about our environment. Of course, there are 7.7 billion other people on earth who also eat and impact the environment, with another 2 billion expected by 2050.  So, we are going from around 8 billion people now, to 10 billion people on the planet soon. That’s a 25% projected population increase, which means we will also need well over 25% more food in the years ahead.   

When it comes to feeding the masses, the best ancient and social wisdom we had may have been the Chinese Proverb: “If you give a man a fish, he will eat today, but teach a man to fish and he will eat forever.”   Well, today’s reality is that there aren’t enough fish left to catch to feed everyone who eats fish, as evidenced by 50% of the worlds fish supply now coming from fish farms, with caught fish and farmed fish being shipped every which way around the world.  I’ve been paying attention to this for some time because I try to cook fish at least a couple of times a week. It’s my best dish, but it is getting harder and harder to find “wild caught” fish in our local markets. Nonetheless, America's annual fish consumption continues to rise.    Hence, companies are striving to provide more fish to respond to market opportunities.  

Now for the environmental and Sarasota part. The EPA is currently taking public input on whether or not to permit the very first aquaculture fish farm in America, proposed to be located in the Gulf of Mexico, just 45 miles west of Sarasota Bay. Kampachi Farms seeks to experiment in the open waters of the Gulf by penning up and raising 20,000 fin fish each year called Almaco Jack. Up until now, most of the worlds fish farms have been inland pond like operations.  Some countries have tried open water fish farms but now ban them. It is possible to raise fish in land-based systems where the water is recirculated and filtered, reducing the risk of disease transfer, pollution, and escapes. 

While it sounds like fish farming in open and natural waters is logical, many fear that the concentration of fish in netted pens, will create more problems than it solves by dumping large amounts of fish food into the fish farm pens, disrupting the natural order of things.  Another concern is that large amounts of concentrated fish waste from the fish pens will pollute areas of the gulf. An additional concern is that dousing the open water fish pens with fish antibiotics is akin to opening pandora's box in the gulf, and we haven't even factored in RED TIDE yet.    

The EPA will take Public Input on the Fish Farms Industrial Waste Permit application next Tuesday, January 28th, from 5:30 – 9:30 p.m. at Mote Marine on Lido Key. You can also email your comments, pro or con, to the EPA at  wahlstrom-ramler.meghan@epa.gov  

That plant-based diet my sister in law keeps pitching is starting to sound like it might be worth a try.

Tom Barwin is Sarasota City Manager.