August, 03 2020, 12:00am EDT
![Center for Food Safety](https://assets.rbl.ms/32012637/origin.jpg)
For Immediate Release
Contact:
George Kimbrell,
gkimbrell@centerforfoodsafety.orgÂ
Sylvia Wu,
swu@centerforfoodsafety.org
Victory! Court of Appeals Upholds Decision to Prohibit Offshore Aquaculture in Gulf of Mexico
Fishing and Public Interest Groups Applaud Reversal of Unprecedented Industrial Aquaculture Program
NEW ORLEANS
Today, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit held illegal the Department of Commerce's federal regulations that would have permitted, for the very first time, large-scale industrial aquaculture operations offshore in U.S. federal waters. The appellate court affirmed a 2018 federal district court decision throwing those regulations out. The Trump Administration appealed the lower court's ruling, and recently reiterated the Administration's commitment to developing commercial offshore aquaculture in federal waters. The 5th Circuit heard the case in January 2020.
"This is a landmark victory protecting our oceans and fishing communities," said George Kimbrell, CFS legal director and lead counsel in the case. "Allowing net-pen aquaculture and its environmental harms in the Gulf of Mexico is a grave threat, and the Court properly held the government cannot do so without new and proper Congressional authority. Aquaculture harms cannot be shoehorned under existing law never intended for that purpose."
CFS filed the case in 2016 on behalf of a coalition of environmental and fishing organizations, shortly after the Department of Commerce issued regulations permitting industrial aquaculture in the Gulf of Mexico, as the test region for similar permitting schemes in all U.S. ocean waters. In 2018 the Federal District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana ruled that the Department of Commerce did not have the authority to permit aquaculture, holding that existing fisheries management law were never intended to regulate aquaculture (the farming of fish in net-pens), which presents different types of harms than traditional fishing. Today's appellate decision upholds the lower court's decision that industrial aquaculture, with its potential harm to commercial and recreational fisheries, and environment and imperiled species, will not be permitted in the U.S. federal waters of the Gulf under existing law.
Repeatedly utilizing fishing puns to good use, the majority decision held that the Commerce arguments for establishing aquaculture do "not hold water," ran headlong into a "textual dead zone," and became "hopelessly snarled." Accordingly, the Court "would not bite" on Commerce's "slippery basis for empowering an agency to create an entire industry the statute does not even mention. If anyone is to expand the forty-year old Magnuson-Stevens Act to reach aquaculture for the first time, it must be Congress."
"We applaud today's vital ruling, which protects our ocean resources from the many threats posed by offshore aquaculture," said Cynthia Sarthou, Executive Director at Healthy Gulf, a plaintiff in the case.
If not struck down by the courts, the federal permitting scheme would have allowed up industrial facilities in the Gulf to collectively house 64 million pounds of farmed fish each year in the Gulf. These industrial aquaculture cause many serious environmental and health concerns, including: the escape of farmed fish into the wild; outcompeting wild fish for habitat; food and mates or intermixing with wild fish and altering their genetics and behaviors; the spread of diseases and parasites from farmed fish to wild fish and other marine life; and pollution from excess feed, wastes and any antibiotics or other chemicals used flowing through the open pens into natural waters.
"The appeals court correctly affirmed that there is no authority to develop a new offshore aquaculture industry under existing laws that regulate fishing." said Marianne Cufone, Executive Director of the Recirculating Farms Coalition, local counsel on the case. "Now, hopefully the administration will move forward with supporting our struggling fishing communities and work collaboratively with other agencies and the public on modern, sustainable methods of additional seafood production, like recirculating farming."
In addition to ecological and public health risks, industrial aquaculture can also come with significant socioeconomic costs. Large aquaculture structures often attract wild fish away from their usual habitats, but the buffer zones adopted by the Department of Commerce to protect aquaculture facilities would have prevented fishing near the farm facilities, depriving fishermen and women from accessing the displaced fish. Offshore aquaculture also creates market competition that drives down the price of wild fish, and results in the loss of fishing and fishing-related employment and income. Less money for fishermen and women means less money spent in coastal communities too, hurting other businesses.
"Today's decision makes clear what we have said all along: Congress never intended for the federal government to allow massive factory fish farms in federal waters," said Wenonah Hauter, Executive Director of Food and Water Watch, another of the plaintiff organizations. "The Court recognized that the agency that is supposed to protect the environment could not defy the will of the people by giving away our public resources to another polluting industry."
The plaintiff coalition CFS represents in the case are a broad array of Gulf of Mexico interests, including commercial, economic, recreational, and conservation purposes: the Gulf Fishermen's Association; Charter Fishermen's Association; Destin Charter Boat Association; Alabama Charter Fishing Association; Fish for America, USA, Inc.; Florida Wildlife Federation; Recirculating Farms Coalition; and Food & Water Watch.
Contrary to claims that farmed fish production will alleviate pressure on wild fish stocks, industrial aquaculture has actually exacerbated the population declines of wild fish. This will be especially true in offshore aquaculture facilities that farm carnivorous fish, which require a diet often derived from wild-caught fish such as menhaden, mackerel, herring, and anchovies. The industry's ever-growing demand for fish in feed jeopardizes the survival of wild fish and disrupts the balance of the marine ecosystem.
Center for Food Safety's mission is to empower people, support farmers, and protect the earth from the harmful impacts of industrial agriculture. Through groundbreaking legal, scientific, and grassroots action, we protect and promote your right to safe food and the environment. CFS's successful legal cases collectively represent a landmark body of case law on food and agricultural issues.
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Groups Demand Probe of Israeli Influence Operations Targeting Americans
"The administration must work to defend our democracy fully, and ensure that no foreign state has a green light to inappropriately target American citizens or manipulate our democratic process."
Jul 24, 2024
Over two dozen organizations on Wednesday demanded that the Biden administration launch a multi-agency investigation into recent reporting that "the Israeli government is engaging in illicit social media influence operations targeting U.S. elected officials and U.S. civil society."
Pointing to June reports by The New York Times, Haaretz, and The Guardian, the groups—including the Center for International Policy, CodePink, Democracy for the Arab World Now (DAWN), National Iranian American Council (NIAC), U.S. Campaign for Palestinian Rights (USCPR) Action, and Win Without War—wrote to President Joe Biden and the departments of Homeland Security, Justice, and State.
As Israel began waging war on the Gaza Strip in retaliation for the Hamas-led October 7 attack, the country's Ministry of Diaspora Affairs "allocated about $2 million to the operation and hired Stoic, a political marketing firm in Tel Aviv, to carry it out," the Times reported June 5, citing related documents and unnamed Israeli officials.
"Unfortunately, what has been reported thus far could just be the tip of the iceberg."
Although the Israeli ministry denied involvement in the campaign and Stoic didn't respond to requests for comment, the newspaper noted that "at its peak, it used hundreds of fake accounts that posed as real Americans on X, Facebook, and Instagram to post pro-Israel comments. The accounts focused on U.S. lawmakers, particularly ones who are Black and Democrats."
As The Guardian reported on June 24, "That effort is only one of many such campaigns coordinated by the ministry."
The newspaper detailed "a sprawling relaunch of a controversial Israeli government program initially known as Kela Shlomo, designed to carry out what Israel called 'mass consciousness activities' targeted largely at the U.S. and Europe."
"Concert, now known as Voices of Israel, previouslyworked with groups spearheading a campaign to pass so-called 'anti-BDS' state laws that penalize Americans for engaging in boycotts or other nonviolent protests of Israel," The Guardian explained, referring to the Palestinian-led Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement.
"Its latest incarnation is part of a hardline and sometimes covert operation by the Israeli government to strike back at student protests, human rights organizations, and other voices of dissent," according to the newspaper. "Voices' latestactivities were conducted through nonprofits and other entities that often do not disclose donor information."
The coalition calling on Biden to launch an investigation wrote that "it is incumbent on our government to protect its citizens from efforts by foreign governments to inappropriately interfere in our democratic process by spreading disinformation, targeting U.S. elected officials, and seeking to intimidate members of U.S. civil society."
Highlighting previous action "to punish and deter such nefarious behavior" by Russian firms, the groups argued that "as an administration that has defined itself as defenders of American democracy against threats from both domestic and foreign state actors, the news of the Israeli government's attacks on our democracy must be addressed."
NIAC president Jamal Abdi said, "What this letter asks for is very simple: that President Biden and his administration treat reports of inappropriate Israeli influence operations with the same seriousness that it has allegations of Russian and Iranian influence campaigns."
"Unfortunately, what has been reported thus far could just be the tip of the iceberg," he continued. "The administration must work to defend our democracy fully, and ensure that no foreign state has a green light to inappropriately target American citizens or manipulate our democratic process."
The U.S. government has provided weapons and diplomatic support for Israel's war on Gaza, which has killed at least 39,145 Palestinians and injured another 90,257, according to local officials, and is the subject of an International Court of Justice genocide case.
"The United States has failed to protect Palestinian communities, putting them at risk of harm to continue emboldening Israel," USCPR Action policy manager Mohammed Khader said Wednesday. "As the Israeli government and its foreign agents attempt to undermine our collective efforts on Palestinian rights, we strongly urge for the federal government to impose sanctions to hold Israeli officials and institutions accountable for violating the law."
In addition to the reported covert operations, there have been overt actions by Israel's leaders. As Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir on Wednesday endorsed former U.S. President Donald Trump for the November election, saying that he believes the Republican "will receive the backing to act against Iran," Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was invited to address a joint session of Congress, despite protests from American lawmakers.
Trump, Biden, and Vice President Kamala Harris—now the presumed Democratic nominee for the November election—are all set to separately meet with Netanyahu while he is visiting the United States.
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One in 11 people globally went hungry in 2023, the latest U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World (SOFI) report revealed.
"The report shows that the world has been set back 15 years, with levels of undernourishment comparable to those in 2008-2009," according to the FAO. "An alarming number of people continue to face food insecurity and malnutrition as global hunger levels have plateaued for three consecutive years."
"Hunger is not something natural. Hunger is something that requires a political decision."
The agency noted significant variation in regional trends as "the percentage of the population facing hunger continues to rise in Africa (20.4%), remains stable in Asia (8.1%)—though still representing a significant challenge as the region is home to more than half of those facing hunger worldwide—and shows progress in Latin America (6.2%)."
"If current trends continue, about 582 million people will be chronically undernourished in 2030, half of them in Africa," FAO said, warning that "the world is falling significantly short of achieving Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 2, Zero Hunger, by 2030."
FAO Director-General Qu Dongyu said in a statement that "transforming agrifood systems is more critical than ever as we face the urgency of achieving the SDGs within six short years. FAO remains committed to supporting countries in their efforts to eradicate hunger and ensure food security for all."
"We will work together with all partners and with all approaches, including the G20 Global Alliance against Hunger and Poverty, to accelerate the needed change," Qu added. "Together, we must innovate and collaborate to build more efficient, inclusive, resilient, and sustainable agrifood systems that can better withstand future challenges for a better world."
FAO argued that "achieving SDG 2 Zero Hunger requires a multifaceted approach, including transforming and strengthening agrifood systems, addressing inequalities, and ensuring affordable and accessible healthy diets for all."
"It calls for increased and more cost-effective financing, with a clear and standardized definition of financing for food security and nutrition," the agency added.
The new report comes ahead of this November's scheduled G20 Global Alliance against Hunger and Poverty Task Force Ministerial Meeting in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. On Wednesday, Qu praised Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva—who currently chairs the G20—for centering food security in the bloc's agenda.
In the 2000s, Lula's leftist government implemented plans including Fome Zero (Zero Hunger) and Bolsa Familia (Family Allowance) that significantly reduced malnutrition and poverty in Brazil.
"We need to build on the progress achieved in this region, and share this experience with other regions, especially Africa," Qu said.
Speaking in Rio de Janeiro on Wednesday, Lula said that "hunger is not something natural. Hunger is something that requires a political decision."
Cindy McCain, executive director of the U.N.'s World Food Program (WFP), said Wednesday that "a future free from hunger is possible if we can rally the resources and the political will needed to invest in proven long-term solutions."
"I call on G20 leaders to follow Brazil's example and prioritize ambitious global action on hunger and poverty," she continued. "We have the technologies and know-how to end food insecurity—but we urgently need the funds to invest in them at scale."
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"Trump's promises to Big Oil would sacrifice good-paying jobs that are driving an American energy and manufacturing boom," said the campaign.
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U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris on Wednesday seized on Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump's close ties to oil executives, taking aim at the promises Trump has directly made to billionaires who have contributed nearly $26 million to his campaign.
Responding to a report from The Wall Street Journal about the record-breaking donations Trump has received from oil magnates for his 2024 campaign as he's pledged to help them "make an absolute fortune" by continuing to drill for planet-heating fossil fuels, Harris' newly launched presidential campaign put it bluntly.
"Oil barons are salivating because climate denier Donald Trump promised to do their bidding while asking them to bankroll his run for the presidency," said Joseph Costello, a spokesperson for the campaign.
The spokesperson noted that Trump has offered oil billionaires the chance to all but control his energy policy should he win a second term, telling them directly at a dinner in May that he would dismantle the oil and gas regulations introduced by Harris and President Joe Biden if the industry raised $1 billion for his campaign.
The Democratic vice president launched her campaign this week after Biden, who had faced pressure to step aside due to his age and health, endorsed her.
"These Big Oil donations solicited by Trump are being investigated as a 'blatant quid pro quo' by Senate investigators," noted Harris in an email to supporters.
In addition, said Costello, "Trump's promises to Big Oil would sacrifice good-paying jobs that are driving an American energy and manufacturing boom, and instead give billion-dollar handouts to corporations at the expense of working families and a healthy future for our children."
"These Big Oil donations solicited by Trump are being investigated as a 'blatant quid pro quo' by Senate investigators."
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