Regulatory Framework

The US aquaculture industry is developing in an unprecedented environmental and food safety climate. In many respects, this helps ensure the aquaculture industry is environmentally sustainable, while still providing needed rural employment and income. This situation also places a unique challenge upon aquaculture because it must experiment with new species production techniques under close scrutiny. Most other forms of agriculture developed over the past 200 to 300 years and became profitable prior to current constraints. Nevertheless, aquaculture is thriving because it can fit the environmental, social, and economic needs of the communities where it is located.

Clean Water Act (CWA) programs provide regulatory oversight to ensure discharges from aquaculture facilities are compatible with the environment. Because many forms of aquaculture are considered point sources, each source must be covered by a National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit. Discharge permits are developed by a state’s environmental regulatory agency or by the EPA if the state does not have permitting primacy. Permits developed by EPA must receive a state’s approval (401 certification) indicating the federally permitted discharge will comply with the applicable provisions of the CWA and state water quality standards will not be violated. It is incumbent on the state or the federal government to adequately enforce existing environmental requirements since these are often adequate to meet environmental quality standards.

Concerns about human impacts on water quality are prevalent throughout the US. Many water bodies (not impacted by aquaculture operations) throughout the US have been declared “water quality limited” signifying failure of a water body to satisfy water quality standards and attainment of full designated beneficial uses. For these water bodies, a total maximum daily load (TMDL) is developed. The TMDL attempts to limit pollutants from both point and non-point sources depending upon what a particular water body can assimilate and still meet standards. This is called the water bodies assimilative capacity. Assimilative capacity is determined by a number of physical, chemical and biological factors. Physical factors include river or lake water volume, flow rate management, and sediment volumes. Chemical factors may include nutrient levels (such as phosphorus) and toxic chemicals from industrial discharges. Biological factors include plant composition and abundance, and fish composition. Because these characteristics are peculiar to each water body, the assimilative capacity for each is determined on a site specific basis. National standards must reflect the site specific nature, the integration of these processes and allow considerable flexibility in implementation.

Maintenance and improvement of water quality to meet the fishable and swimmable goals of the Clean Water Act require everyone’s involvement. This is in recognition that both point (e.g. factories) and non-point sources (e.g. farms and other diffuse pollution sources) as well as hydromodifications such as dams and channelization, all impact water quality and the ecosystem. Recent presidential initiatives (i.e., the Clean Water Initiative) identify non-point pollutant sources as a significant cause of reduced water quality in 70 % of impaired rivers and streams, and 49 % of lakes.

Food safety efforts may also benefit the environment. The FDA has recently (Dec. 1997) instituted a mandatory processor seafood safety program. This program relies on the Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP) process to help ensure all seafood’s are wholesome for consumers. As part of this program, aquaculturists must ensure their use of therapeutants for aquatic animals are safe. The FDA also carefully scrutinizes drugs to ensure they are safe for the environment before they are approved for use. This is in compliance with the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act. Any water treatments or algaecides used by an aquaculturist must be approved by the EPA and are regulated under the NPDES permit system. Compounds approved for use by US aquaculturists are listed in the document “Guide to Drug, Vaccine and Pesticide Use in Aquaculture” written in 1994 by the Quality Assurance Working Group of the federal Joint Subcommittee on Aquaculture. This document is currently being revised.