SARASOTA, Fla. — Kampachi Farms, a Hawaiian seafood farming company, wants to place a fish farming pen 45 miles off the coast of Sarasota in the Gulf of Mexico.
Kampachi Farms says this pen, which would raise about 20,000 almaco jack for human consumption, would start a sustainable way for the United States to become its own seafood producer. The proposal would anchor a fish farming pen to the ocean floor, requiring permits from the Environmental Protection Agency, the U.S Coast Guard and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
Environmental groups say this fish farming project would have a negative impact on the local ecosystem.
"Here in this area, we know the devastating effects of red tide. Something like this would just devastate our way of life, our waters," Sierra Club organizer Cris Costello said.
Costello is one of several environmental group organizers putting together a demonstration ahead of Kampachi Farms' EPA hearing at Mote Marine Aquarium scheduled for 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday.
The co-founder and chief security officer of Kampachi Farms, Neil Anthony Sims, says with the pen so far off the coast and with a deep enough current, the environmental impacts of the fish pen are barely detectable. Sims says the pen creates tourism opportunities for divers and a marine-rich environment for fishermen.
Sims says if permitting goes as planned, the fish pen could be put in place by the end of 2020.
Environmental groups will host a demonstration ahead of the meeting outside of Mote from 4:30 to 5:30 p.m.
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