Dear John,
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Don’t let Trump pollute our oceans with massive floating factory farms: Donate $10 or more to Friends of the Earth today.
If you've saved your payment information with ActBlue Express, your donation will go through immediately:
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Trump just issued a disastrous Executive Order to fast-track floating factory farms and bypass environmental reviews. Protect our oceans from pollution by donating to Friends of the Earth today.
Mega-corporations have been trying for years to take over our public oceans with industrial ocean fish farms, which threaten marine life and coastal communities by pumping untreated fish waste, disease, toxic chemicals, and antibiotics into our water. That’s why it’s especially galling that Trump is exploiting the public health crisis to help an industry known for its risks to our public health.
For years, Friends of the Earth has led on this issue, exposing the industry’s abuses, suing bad actors, blocking dangerous legislation, and organizing communities against local projects. A national rubber stamp would be truly catastrophic, so we’re jumping into action, securing media coverage and driving thousands of messages to the White House. But we can’t stop this without your support.
Protect ocean habitats, coastal communities, and public health from industrial fish farming: Donate $10 or more to Friends of the Earth today.
If you've saved your payment information with ActBlue Express, your donation will go through immediately:
With support from Friends of the Earth members like you, we’ve helped build sweeping opposition to this destructive industry.
Industrial ocean fish farms cram thousands of fish into enormous floating net pens and cages, exposing wild native fish to pests and disease, while risking massive farmed fish spills that outcompete native fish for food and mates.
These net pens discharge untreated fish waste and chemicals directly into the ocean. Packed with fish, these floating cages can become a breeding ground for parasites like sea lice and fatal diseases. In response, industrial farms use toxic pesticides and agricultural drugs, which further pollute the ocean and harm nearby marine life.
In addition, by unfairly driving down the cost of fish and privatizing our public waterways, these floating factory farms also threaten the livelihood of local fisherfolk and coastal communities -- which are already facing economic downturns from the coronavirus.
On top of the public health risks mentioned above, a new study of how viruses are spread shows that escaped salmon from aquaculture facilities carry pathogens, putting wild salmon at risk. Just this week, we learned that one operation in Scotland is dumping cancer-causing formaldehyde into their net pens as a disinfectant. Especially during a global pandemic, we can’t allow this dirty industry to pollute our ecosystems.
So as Trump exploits the COVID-19 crisis to open our coastal waters nationwide to these floating factory farms, we’re fighting back.
Can you chip in today so we can stop this together?
Defend our oceans from industrial fish farming, John: Please donate $10 or more to Friends of the Earth today.
If you've saved your payment information with ActBlue Express, your donation will go through immediately:
Here at Friends of the Earth, we’ve led a national coalition of fishing groups, Indigenous people, and nonprofit organizations to monitor federal agencies and push Congress to oppose offshore fish farming.
Thanks to our efforts -- in partnership with engaged Friends of the Earth members like you -- a dangerous 2018 bill (the AQUAA Act) did not pass through Congress. But with its reintroduction earlier this year, we’re mobilizing again to stop this bad legislation from ever becoming law.
It’s clear the federal government is making coordinated moves to benefit these floating factory farms -- all during a lethal pandemic. In addition to the AQUAA Act moving again and Trump’s Executive Order, the EPA just announced a streamlined, general water discharge permit for massive, industrial aquaculture facilities throughout New England. We’re activating on all fronts to keep these disastrous policies from moving forward.
And we’ve been advocating for change on the state level, building coalitions in California, Florida, Washington, North Carolina, and Maine to push legislators to block factory farm facilities and instead champion sustainable seafood alternatives.
Three years ago, irresponsible Cooke Aquaculture flouted Washington State regulations and recklessly spilled more than 263,000 non-native, farmed Atlantic salmon from its industrial ocean fish farm into Puget Sound waters -- harming the native salmon populations, spreading parasites and disease, and polluting the water. So we successfully pushed the state legislature and Governor Inslee to protect our environment and phase out Cooke’s farms.
But now state officials are going back on that promise. So we just filed a lawsuit against Washington State’s Department of Fish and Wildlife, for issuing a new permit to Cooke despite the dangers the corporation poses to federally protected species and the environment in Puget Sound.
With Trump’s outrageous Executive Order, the fight just got harder -- but we can’t stop now: There’s too much at stake. We need to take action at the state and federal level to protect our marine ecosystems, our public health, and local communities from destructive floating factory farms. But it will take all of us.
Stop floating factory farms from destroying our oceans by donating $10 or more to Friends of the Earth today.
If you've saved your payment information with ActBlue Express, your donation will go through immediately:
Thank you,
Hallie Templeton,
Senior oceans campaigner,
Friends of the Earth
