NOAA-USDA Alternative Aquaculture Feeds Initiative - Public Comment

February 20, 2008 Alternative Feeds Initiative NOAA Aquaculture Program 1315 East-West Highway, Rm 13117 Silver Spring, MD 20910 NOAA.Aquaculture@noaa.gov Dear Sir or Madam: For more than 12,000 years, humans have developed agriculture systems that optimize nutritional value, minimize the cost of food, and are more or less sustainable. Ocean fish are the last wild food that we eat regularly. Now, globally, forces are aligned to continue or increase the rate of growth of aquaculture as a food production system. These forces include the widely acclaimed health benefits of eating seafood; global depletion of wild fish stocks with dire warnings for the future; and, in the United States, the huge negative contribution of seafood to the trade deficit. While the development of economic and sustainable marine aquaculture faces significant hurdles, lessons have been learned from land-based agricultural systems that must guide development of the ocean ecosystem. For more than 15 years, U.S. soybean farmers have invested in developing soy-based feeds and sustainable production methodologies primarily for land-based omnivorous and herbivorous fish. Worldwide, our organizations work with fish farmers to improve their production capabilities with sustainable production methodologies and soy-based feeds. Today that commitment to aquaculture remains strong. Through the American Soybean Association (ASA), the United Soybean Board (USB), and the U.S. ...