{"id":34929,"date":"2018-08-31T17:23:00","date_gmt":"2018-09-01T00:23:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/news\/alaskans-worried-by-prospect-of-deep-sea-fish-farms\/"},"modified":"2026-03-24T16:48:14","modified_gmt":"2026-03-25T00:48:14","slug":"alaskans-worried-by-prospect-of-deep-sea-fish-farms","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/2018\/08\/31\/alaskans-worried-by-prospect-of-deep-sea-fish-farms\/","title":{"rendered":"Alaskans worried by prospect of deep-sea fish farms"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In a Centennial Hall listening session, Alaskans raised concerns about federal plans to boost open-ocean fish farms under a new strategic plan for the U.S. Department of <\/a>Commerce<\/a>.<\/p>\n

On Friday afternoon, Tim Gallaudet, acting undersecretary of commerce for oceans and atmosphere, hosted a listening session at the end of a weeklong gathering of National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration experts in Juneau<\/a>.<\/p>\n

NOAA is an agency of the Department of Commerce, and Gallaudet is among the figures hosting meetings across the country as part of the process that creates the strategic plan.<\/p>\n

In a speech opening the listening session, Gallaudet said the strategic plan is an “initiative to grow the American ‘blue economy.’” <\/p>\n

That phrase is used as an umbrella term that includes fisheries, oceanic tourism and other aspects of the national economy that relate to the oceans.<\/p>\n

Gallaudet echoed the familiar refrains of the Trump Administration, saying the department is interested in deregulation and “reducing the seafood trade deficit.”<\/p>\n

President Donald Trump’s trade war<\/a> with China has resulted in Chinese tariffs on Alaska seafood exported to that country, and American tariffs on processed Alaska seafood products imported from China.<\/p>\n

“There’s some growing pains, but it’s about a free, fair and reciprocal trade policy,” Gallaudet said.<\/p>\n

Several invited panelists gently prodded Gallaudet, and by extension the Trump Administration, to stabilize trade issues.<\/p>\n

Among members of the public who offered their opinions, the issue of aquaculture was paramount. One of the goals within the strategic plan is “increase aquaculture production.”<\/p>\n

”We will help it grow faster by reducing regulatory burden and driving aquaculture research,” the plan states.<\/p>\n

“A strong U.S. marine aquaculture industry will serve a key role in U.S. food security and improve our trade balance with other nations.”<\/p>\n

Alaska bans fish farms, but its jurisdiction extends only to waters 3 miles offshore. Beyond that limit is federal waters, and the state ban does not apply.<\/p>\n

“We are very concerned about the aquaculture activities,” said Frances Leach, director of the United Fishermen of Alaska and a member of the invited panel Friday.<\/p>\n

She went on to ask Gallaudet that any National Marine Fisheries Service guidelines in that area allow an opt-out clause.<\/p>\n

Chris Oliver, assistant administrator for NOAA Fisheries<\/a> and former director of the North Pacific Fishery Management Council, said concerns about aquaculture are somewhat misplaced.<\/p>\n

“In terms of finfish, I think we’re talking about very contained operations, as opposed to hatchery operations,” he said.<\/p>\n

That didn’t assuage the audience, which repeatedly expressed concerns about the idea that NOAA could allow deep-sea fish farms off Alaska’s coast.<\/p>\n

“We already see kind of the questionable outcomes fish hatcheries have had,” said Kristine Trott, a member of the Alaska Department of Fish and Game’s Juneau-Douglas advisory committee.<\/p>\n

Don Habeger, a candidate for the City and Borough of Juneau Assembly, asked Gallaudet if he would commit to shifting Alaska Fisheries Science Center staff from Washington state to Alaska, a long-held dream of Juneau residents.<\/p>\n

“I cannot commit to a specified increase in employment anywhere,” Gallaudet replied.<\/p>\n

Other speakers urged Gallaudet to take action that will help Alaska fisheries deal with the impacts of climate change and ocean acidification.<\/p>\n

“I would encourage you to invest in science,” said Michael LeVine, senior Arctic fellow for the Ocean Conservancy.<\/p>\n

\n

\u2022 Contact reporter James Brooks at jbrooks@juneauempire.com or 523-2258.<\/b><\/p>\n

\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\n

In a Centennial Hall listening session, Alaskans raised concerns about federal plans to boost open-ocean fish farms under a new strategic plan for the U.S. Department of <\/a>Commerce<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":503,"featured_media":34930,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,1083,1077],"tags":[104,355,448],"class_list":["post-34929","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-outdoors-recreation","category-top-news","tag-fishing","tag-noaa","tag-state-legislature"],"yoast_head":"\nAlaskans worried by prospect of deep-sea fish farms - Juneau Empire<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/2018\/08\/31\/alaskans-worried-by-prospect-of-deep-sea-fish-farms\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Alaskans worried by prospect of deep-sea fish farms - Juneau Empire\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In a Centennial Hall listening session, Alaskans raised concerns about federal plans to boost open-ocean fish farms under a new strategic plan for the U.S. Department of Commerce.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/2018\/08\/31\/alaskans-worried-by-prospect-of-deep-sea-fish-farms\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Juneau Empire\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-09-01T00:23:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-03-25T00:48:14+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2018\/09\/5980195_web1_tease180831NOAA_Town_Hall.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1895\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1263\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"James Brooks\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"James Brooks\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/2018\/08\/31\/alaskans-worried-by-prospect-of-deep-sea-fish-farms\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/2018\/08\/31\/alaskans-worried-by-prospect-of-deep-sea-fish-farms\/\",\"name\":\"Alaskans worried by prospect of deep-sea fish farms - Juneau Empire\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/2018\/08\/31\/alaskans-worried-by-prospect-of-deep-sea-fish-farms\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/2018\/08\/31\/alaskans-worried-by-prospect-of-deep-sea-fish-farms\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2018\/09\/5980195_web1_tease180831NOAA_Town_Hall.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2018-09-01T00:23:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-03-25T00:48:14+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/#\/schema\/person\/e89ff759f8487df6d2e27d1d5c87c564\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/2018\/08\/31\/alaskans-worried-by-prospect-of-deep-sea-fish-farms\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/2018\/08\/31\/alaskans-worried-by-prospect-of-deep-sea-fish-farms\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/2018\/08\/31\/alaskans-worried-by-prospect-of-deep-sea-fish-farms\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2018\/09\/5980195_web1_tease180831NOAA_Town_Hall.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2018\/09\/5980195_web1_tease180831NOAA_Town_Hall.jpg\",\"width\":1895,\"height\":1263,\"caption\":\"Alaskans worried by prospect of deep-sea fish farms\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/2018\/08\/31\/alaskans-worried-by-prospect-of-deep-sea-fish-farms\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Alaskans worried by prospect of deep-sea fish farms\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/\",\"name\":\"Juneau Empire\",\"description\":\"The Voice of Alaska's Capital Since 1912\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/#\/schema\/person\/e89ff759f8487df6d2e27d1d5c87c564\",\"name\":\"James Brooks\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d50c50a76add68c1d7174f9ccdf86b1eda4190352d836f7a0dce1285b534d8bb?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d50c50a76add68c1d7174f9ccdf86b1eda4190352d836f7a0dce1285b534d8bb?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"James Brooks\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/author\/james-brooks\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Alaskans worried by prospect of deep-sea fish farms - Juneau Empire","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/2018\/08\/31\/alaskans-worried-by-prospect-of-deep-sea-fish-farms\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Alaskans worried by prospect of deep-sea fish farms - Juneau Empire","og_description":"In a Centennial Hall listening session, Alaskans raised concerns about federal plans to boost open-ocean fish farms under a new strategic plan for the U.S. Department of Commerce.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/2018\/08\/31\/alaskans-worried-by-prospect-of-deep-sea-fish-farms\/","og_site_name":"Juneau Empire","article_published_time":"2018-09-01T00:23:00+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-03-25T00:48:14+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1895,"height":1263,"url":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2018\/09\/5980195_web1_tease180831NOAA_Town_Hall.jpg","type":""}],"author":"James Brooks","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"James Brooks","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/2018\/08\/31\/alaskans-worried-by-prospect-of-deep-sea-fish-farms\/","url":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/2018\/08\/31\/alaskans-worried-by-prospect-of-deep-sea-fish-farms\/","name":"Alaskans worried by prospect of deep-sea fish farms - Juneau Empire","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/2018\/08\/31\/alaskans-worried-by-prospect-of-deep-sea-fish-farms\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/2018\/08\/31\/alaskans-worried-by-prospect-of-deep-sea-fish-farms\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2018\/09\/5980195_web1_tease180831NOAA_Town_Hall.jpg","datePublished":"2018-09-01T00:23:00+00:00","dateModified":"2026-03-25T00:48:14+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/#\/schema\/person\/e89ff759f8487df6d2e27d1d5c87c564"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/2018\/08\/31\/alaskans-worried-by-prospect-of-deep-sea-fish-farms\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/2018\/08\/31\/alaskans-worried-by-prospect-of-deep-sea-fish-farms\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/2018\/08\/31\/alaskans-worried-by-prospect-of-deep-sea-fish-farms\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2018\/09\/5980195_web1_tease180831NOAA_Town_Hall.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2018\/09\/5980195_web1_tease180831NOAA_Town_Hall.jpg","width":1895,"height":1263,"caption":"Alaskans worried by prospect of deep-sea fish farms"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/2018\/08\/31\/alaskans-worried-by-prospect-of-deep-sea-fish-farms\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Alaskans worried by prospect of deep-sea fish farms"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/","name":"Juneau Empire","description":"The Voice of Alaska's Capital Since 1912","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/#\/schema\/person\/e89ff759f8487df6d2e27d1d5c87c564","name":"James Brooks","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d50c50a76add68c1d7174f9ccdf86b1eda4190352d836f7a0dce1285b534d8bb?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d50c50a76add68c1d7174f9ccdf86b1eda4190352d836f7a0dce1285b534d8bb?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"James Brooks"},"url":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/author\/james-brooks\/"}]}},"acf":[],"parsely":{"version":"1.1.0","canonical_url":"https:\/\/juneauempire.com\/2018\/08\/31\/alaskans-worried-by-prospect-of-deep-sea-fish-farms\/","smart_links":{"inbound":0,"outbound":0},"traffic_boost_suggestions_count":0,"meta":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","headline":"Alaskans worried by prospect of deep-sea fish farms","url":"http:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/2018\/08\/31\/alaskans-worried-by-prospect-of-deep-sea-fish-farms\/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"http:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/2018\/08\/31\/alaskans-worried-by-prospect-of-deep-sea-fish-farms\/"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2018\/09\/5980195_web1_tease180831NOAA_Town_Hall.jpg?w=150&h=150&crop=1","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2018\/09\/5980195_web1_tease180831NOAA_Town_Hall.jpg"},"articleSection":"News","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"James Brooks"}],"creator":["James Brooks"],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Juneau Empire","logo":""},"keywords":["fishing","noaa","state & legislature"],"dateCreated":"2018-09-01T00:23:00Z","datePublished":"2018-09-01T00:23:00Z","dateModified":"2026-03-25T00:48:14Z"},"rendered":"<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"wp-parsely-metadata\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@type\":\"NewsArticle\",\"headline\":\"Alaskans worried by prospect of deep-sea fish farms\",\"url\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.juneauempire.com\\\/2018\\\/08\\\/31\\\/alaskans-worried-by-prospect-of-deep-sea-fish-farms\\\/\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.juneauempire.com\\\/2018\\\/08\\\/31\\\/alaskans-worried-by-prospect-of-deep-sea-fish-farms\\\/\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.juneauempire.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/12\\\/2018\\\/09\\\/5980195_web1_tease180831NOAA_Town_Hall.jpg?w=150&h=150&crop=1\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.juneauempire.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/12\\\/2018\\\/09\\\/5980195_web1_tease180831NOAA_Town_Hall.jpg\"},\"articleSection\":\"News\",\"author\":[{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"name\":\"James Brooks\"}],\"creator\":[\"James Brooks\"],\"publisher\":{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"name\":\"Juneau Empire\",\"logo\":\"\"},\"keywords\":[\"fishing\",\"noaa\",\"state & legislature\"],\"dateCreated\":\"2018-09-01T00:23:00Z\",\"datePublished\":\"2018-09-01T00:23:00Z\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-03-25T00:48:14Z\"}<\/script>","tracker_url":"https:\/\/cdn.parsely.com\/keys\/juneauempire.com\/p.js"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34929","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/503"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34929"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34929\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":131647,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34929\/revisions\/131647"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/34930"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34929"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34929"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34929"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}