A cohort of environmental groups, including Friends of Animals, petitioned the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to further review Ocean Era’s permits, which are needed for pollution discharges into waters of the United States.
“We filed the petition because we were concerned about the facility and thought the government had not done a thorough review,” said Jennifer Best, the assistant legal director for Friends of Animals. “We’re concerned that the aquaculture facility in the gulf could harm or kill marine life, as well as really be detrimental to the environmental and coastal communities.”
Environmental advocates have argued since 2019 that Ocean Era’s facility will feed harmful algal blooms, present dangers to the genetics of native species if the fish escape and degrade the nearby ecosystem by polluting the Gulf with fish waste and pharmaceuticals.
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