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Commercial
Fisheries Newsline COMMERCIAL FISHERIES NEWSLINE Abstract: Advisory/extension newsletter for keeping Great Lakes commercial fishing and aquaculture industries informed of relevant regulations, events, opportunities and workshops. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Perch Conference held on December 10, 1994 in Kenosha, Wisconsin, gave an opportunity to review the status of perch populations in Lake Michigan. There was interaction between the nearly 200 who attended, representing 5 agencies, 21 commercial companies and 47 sportfishing organizations from 5 states and the Province of Ontario. The absence of significant young perch production over the past five years means a smaller population of fish to be shared in the future. Among the many options advanced and discussed there was common ground:
Recommendations surfaced that reflected a shared responsibility between both sport and commercialfisheries as well as an approach in which all agencies participate. Additional comment was received from the Perch Task Group of the Lake Michigan Technical Committee and the four state chiefs who met January 18, 1995 in Chicago. The following proposal for the central and southern waters of Lake Michigan was prepared:
It is hoped to implement these proposals in each of the respective states between April and June 1995. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Research by Charles Krueger and Edward Mills of Cornell University has lead them to suspect that in Lake Ontario over the past decade predation by alewives on lake trout fry caused nearly100% mortality of emergent fry in near-shore spawning areas where alewives were abundant. Alewife in the past have been the most abundant species of the open-water fish community in the lake. Their present study was originally stimulated by night-time visual observations in 1988 of large numbers of alewives swimming near surface among floats that marked the locations of fry traps on Stony Island reef. The abundance of alewives observed on the reef in 1988, documented in 1989, and that others documented lake wide during the past decade when combined with laboratory observations of the aggressiveness of alewife while feeding on fry, makes fry survival seem a remote possibility. Fry would be especially vulnerable when they swam to the surface to inflate their swim bladders at night through a water column filled with alewives. Alewife predation of fry also may explain the general failure of natural recruitment of lake trout from near-shore spawning areas of Lakes Michigan and Huron where alewife have been abundant in the past and the reproductive success of lake trout in Lake Superior where alewife are rare. Lake-wide achievement of the lake trout restoration goal in Lake Ontario may not be possible unless alewife numbers decline and remain low. If the abundance of alewife increases, natural recruitment from adult lake trout of hatchery origin probably will not occur from near-shore spawning areas where alewife congregate and are abundant. Increased stocking of predatory salmonids to suppress alewife populations could enhance survival of lake trout fry and speed restoration. This management option, however, seems unlikely in the current cultural and institutional context. Concern by the public and fishery agencies over the decline of alewife as a source of prey for stocked non-native salmonids has caused NYDEC and the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources to reduce stocking of salmonids (including lake trout) in an effort to ensure that alewife remain abundant. In light of the present study, lake-wide management seems headed away from restoration of native species toward managing for healthy populations of an exotic prey species through reductions in stocking of predatory salmonids. Besides lake trout, the abundance of native species such as lake whitefish, yellow perch, emerald shiner, and other species with pelagic larvae vulnerable to alewife predation may be reduced by this management direction. Management for high abundance levels of alewife will foreclose the opportunity for successful reintroduction of extirpated species such as deepwater cisco and deepwater sculpin that also have pelagic larvae. If management for high alewife abundance continues, goals for lake trout restoration should be revised. In this context, current lake wide goals should be re-focused on restoration in localized areas where alewife do not congregate during the spring and predation on lake trout fry would be minimal such as at offshore shoals. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Michigan Department of Public Health (MDPH) recently released the state's 1995 sport fish consumption advisory. The advisory is issued annually to inform the public about which species of fish found in Michigan lakes and streams contain elevated levels of contaminants. Because levels of PCBs and DDT in Great Lakes fish have declined significantly over the last 15-20 years, the department is relaxing advisories for several fish species in Lakes Michigan and Huron. Consumption advisories on coho salmon of all sizes, chinook salmon up to 32 inches, and brown trout up to 23 inches from Michigan waters of Lake Michigan are being lifted. Advice on smaller sizes of lake trout from northern Lake Michigan is partially relaxed also. The good news for Lake Huron anglers is that restrictions on eating brown trout up to 21 inches and rainbow trout (steelhead) of all sizes are being removed. Advisories on coho and chinook salmon from Lake Huron had already been dropped in 1987. No changes in Lake Superior and Lake Erie advisories are being made at this time. Public Health Director Vernice Davis Anthony wants anglers to recognize that fish provide a diet high in protein and low in saturated fats. Many doctors suggest that eating a half pound of fish each week is helpful in preventing heart disease. Director Anthony points out that the estimated risk of getting cancer from smoking a pack of cigarettes per day over a lifetime is about 500 times greater than getting cancer from regularly eating even the more contaminated fish species such as lake trout from Lake Michigan. The estimated risk is approximately equal to that of passive exposure to cigarette smoke. Eating one meal per week of lake trout over a lifetime is also about the same as the lifetime risk of an individual drowning during fishing and other water activities. Director Anthony emphasized that "anglers should not stop eating fish because of contaminants, but use the information in the MDPH consumption advisory to select least contaminated species and to learn how to prepare fish to further reduce contaminant levels." The Director is reminding anglers that "trimming, skinning and cooking fish in ways that remove oils and fats from the portion eaten are simple precautions that everyone should take to reduce their exposure to contaminants in fish tissue." Baking, broiling, or grilling on a rack are the best ways to reduce contaminants after removing the skin and fatty tissues along the belly, "mid-line" and top of the fillet. Research at Michigan State University confirms that proper preparation and cooking methods can reduce contaminants like PCBs and DDT by more than 75 percent. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Food and Drug Administration officials recently met with Environmental Protection Agency officials to start the process of lowering the accepted action levels of pesticide residues found in fish. Most of the action levels EPA has proposed or recommended have been for a group of chlorinated compounds -- DDT, dieldrin, chlordane, mirex and heptachlor -- that were widely used in U.S.agriculture in the 1950s and 1960s and, unlike most other pesticides, have not readily broken down in the soil, sediment and water. The five pesticides' registrations were canceled by EPA in the 1970s and their tolerances revoked in 1986. Although not registered for use on fish, the five pesticides have been found in fish for decades, mostly due to agricultural runoff into lakes and rivers. Since these pesticides did not have tolerances for fish, FDA established action levels as guidelines for determining when enforcement action was warranted. EPA believes that most foods and animal feeds either contain no detectable residues of the five canceled chlorinated pesticides or contain residues that are well below the recommended action levels. The EPA believes that the dietary risk from these canceled pesticides in most foods is low. But because of the relatively high potential for these persistent pesticides to be concentrated in fish, health risks from dietary exposure to these canceled pesticides are greater in fish than in other foods. EPA officials indicated the proposed action levels for DDT and other chlorinated pesticides were set at a level high enough so that most -- about 95% -- of the residues found in foods would be at or below the action levels. EPA reasoned that the residues of these canceled pesticides were unavoidable and had not entered the food supply through the misuse of pesticides. Therefore, the agency did not want to penalize food producers for past legal uses of the pesticides. The FDA action levels currently in force, according to the report, are: DDT -- 5.0 ppm; dieldrin -- 0.3 ppm; chlordane -- 0.3 ppm; mirex -- 0.1 ppm; and heptachlor -- 0.3 ppm. Lower action levels proposed to FDA by EPA in 1991 in a draft proposal are: DDT -- 0.5 ppm; dieldrin -- 0.1 ppm; chlordane -- 0.1 ppm; mirex -- 0.05 ppm; and heptachlor -- 0.02 ppm. The 1991 EPA draft proposal to lower action levels for the five pesticides in fish was based on a study that examined a data base of 11,000 samples collected between 1983 and 1987 by FDA, EPA regions, state agencies and other federal agencies. EPA's analysis of the monitoring data showed that, for the five canceled pesticides, residue levels in fish generally appeared to be declining. However, the slow rate of decline found in pesticide residue levels in whitefish by FDA indicated to EPA officials "that despite the general decline . . . these residues may continue to appear at significant levels in some fish for a number of years to come." -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Mark A. Breederland of Northville began his duties February 1 as the district Michigan State University Extension Sea Grant agent for southeast Michigan. He will be responsible for the Michigan Sea Grant College Program's Great Lakes outreach efforts along Lake Erie, the Detroit River, Lake St. Clair, the St. Clair River, Lake Huron and Saginaw Bay in Monroe, Wayne, Macomb, St. Clair, Sanilac,Huron and Tuscola counties. Breederland was graduated in 1984 from Taylor University (Indiana) with a bachelor's degree in biology and environmental science. He received his master's degree in environmental science/water resources from Miami University (Ohio) in 1987. >From 1992 until his Extension appointment, he was the physical sciences administrator for water resources with the International Joint Commission's Great Lakes regional office in Windsor, Ontario. From 1987 to 1992 he served as the environmental programs director and water resources specialist with the Northwest Michigan Council of Governments in Traverse City, Michigan. The district Extension Sea Grant office for southeast Michigan is located in the MSU Extension Macomb County office at 21885 Dunham Road, Clinton Township, MI 49036. The phone number is (810)469-7160. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Great Lakes Reflections: Attaining 2020 Vision is the title of the sixth annual Great Lakes conference being sponsored by Michigan State University's College of Agriculture and Natural Resources. The one day conference, scheduled for March 9, 1995 will focus on changes within the Great Lakes over the past 25 years and the research, management and protection efforts that will be critical over the next 25 years -- to the year 2020 -- to ensure a quality Great Lakes environment. Specific topics will focus on the challenges of a sustainable fishery, contaminants in the Great Lakes, global climatic changes and effects on Great Lakes habitats, exotic species and their potential impacts, and land use impacts in the Great Lakes watershed. The conference will be held at the Kellogg Center on the MSU campus beginning at 9 a.m. For more information or a conference brochure contact Lois Wolfson, Institute of Water Research, 115 Manly Miles Bldg., Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48824, phone (517)353-9222. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Coast Guard has prepared programmatic environmental assessments and findings of no significant impact for implementing differential global positioning system services in the Lake Michigan and Lake Superior corridor regions of the United States. The assessments concluded that there will be no significant impacts on the environment and that environmental impact statements would not be necessary. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The National Biological Survey (NBS) is using cleaner burning, soy-based biodiesel to power the 75' research vessel Grayling in a study of the fish population across Lake Huron and parts of Lake Michigan and Lake Superior. The National Biodiesel Board (NBB) describes biodiesel as an alternative fuel made from natural, renewable resources such as soybean oil; it can be used alone or in a blend with petroleum diesel in marine engines. Grayling's four 855cc Cummins engines have run on a 20% blend of biodiesel since June, thanks to the Michigan Soybean Promotion Committee and the NBB, which is funded by the United Soybean Board. A biodiesel blend reduces particulate matter, carbon monoxide and total hydrocarbon emissions, NBB officials say, creating a cleaner working environment. And because it's biodegradable and nontoxic, biodiesel is safe to transport. NBS wanted to try biodiesel because the biologists are sensitive to the fragile balance of the ecosystem they are studying, saysDavid Walsh, acting director. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
In the near future, EPA intends to reduce emissions from marine diesels and outdrives, but its goals are still under consideration. In the meantime, manufacturers are working toward meeting them. A spokesperson for Caterpillar says the company is working with the agency toward the common goal of reducing engine emissions. Diesel manufacturers have successfully produced effective emissions-control technology for cars and trucks, and the challenges are no different in general on the marine side. One manufacturer's representative notes that the industry has not been presented with a final version of EPA's emissions-control program for diesels and outdrives, so factors such as cost, operation and maintenance are hard to predict. The approach most manufacturers are taking, however, is to modify existing technology, so consumers will not likely have to deal with unfamiliar maintenance issues. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A powerful sport fishermen's group in Pennsylvania has successfully lobbied to ban gillnets in that state's Great Lakes fishery. Legislation has passed that will ban all gillnets thereby 1996. Officials with the Erie Commercial Fishermen's Association say they doubt many fishermen will switch to trap nets to keep fishing. Pennsylvania fishermen land about 250,000 lbs. of whitefish annually at Erie, once a bustling fishing port. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A new federal report says commercial fishing is the deadliest job in the United States, suffering the highest fatality rate among all major occupations in the country last year. That finding was published recently in a Labor Department safety study, which said about 155 fishermen died last year for every 100,000 people in the industry. That figure surpasses the national average of five deaths per 100,000 workers by about 30 times. More than three-quarters of the 79 fishermen killed last year died as a result of boat capsizings. Most of the rest fell overboard and drowned, and a few lost their lives from equipment accidents according to the study. Commercial fishing was included in the annual study for the first time this year. In 1992, the first year of the nationwide study, logging was found to be the country's most dangerous occupation. The federal fatality report is intended to identify the most dangerous jobs so precautions can be taken to reduce the dangers. Source: Fisheries Product News Vol. 9, No. 4 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sea lampreys that devastated native trout in the Great Lakes are being considered as a way to eliminate lake trout that have invaded Yellowstone Lake. Biologists are seeking ways to defend Yellowstone Lake's native cutthroat trout against the much larger lake trout. Lampreys are one of several possibilities. There are obvious concerns about this and a lot of questions that would have to be answered first. Another option could involve implanting radio transmitters in sterile lake trout and releasing them, leading biologists to lake trout spawning zones that could be swept with nets or laced with poison. Lake trout, which are native to the Great Lakes and Canada and can grow to 50 pounds, were confirmed last summer when tourists caught several in Yellowstone Lake. Park managers suspect they were illegally planted. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- New CAST Report Recommends Improvements in Food Safety Data. Better data on microbial risks are needed to make the U.S. food supply safer, according to a report by the Council for Agricultural Science and Technology (CAST). "Foodborne Pathogens: Risks and Consequences," outlines the state of knowledge about foodborne disease risks. The authors agree that the presence of pathogens in food is a greater health risk than low levels of most chemical residues. Scientific advances in testing and epidemiology have improved the detection of foodborne disease, but the microbial foodborne disease burden of the United States is still not known with accuracy. Because the economic burden on society for a few selected pathogens is estimated in the billions of dollars annually, the task force concluded that improving data collection would be a cost-effective use of public money. Better data are needed to (1) more accurately identify the current foodborne disease burden on society; (2) identify pathogen-specific control options; (3) estimate the public health protection benefits of potential control options all along the food chain as well as their likely costs to industry, consumers, and the government; and (4) measure improvements in the safety of the food supply over time. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Smokers who eat more seafood reduce their risk of getting lung disease. That's the finding of a University of Minnesota study published recently in the New England Journal of Medicine. Smokers and former smokers who ate an average of four servings of fish a week were 45 percent less likely to develop chronic bronchitis or emphysema than those who ate half a serving of fish per week, scientists found. Researchers believe the reason for this is the presence of omega-3 fatty acids, or fish oil, in seafood. "A high dietary intake of omega-3 fatty acids may protect cigarette smokers against chronic obstructive pulmonary disease," concluded the study. Though virtually all fish contain omega-3s, the highest levels are found in mackerel, herring, halibut, shad, salmon, pompano, carp, sardines and lake trout. The study's findings are supported by similar work done in
Japan. Japanese workers, who consume substantially higher amounts of fish than their
American counterparts, have less chronic -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Michigan Fish Growers Association will be holding their annual meeting March 7 and 8, 1995 at the Michigan State University Kellogg Center in East Lansing. Various topics will be addressed by Michigan Sea Grant Extension and Michigan State University staff. A progress update regarding activities of the Michigan Aquaculture Advisory Committee will be given, especially as it relates to the proposed Michigan Aquaculture Development Act. This meeting will be held during Agriculture and Natural Resources Week at MSU and thus many other activities will be available for participants both before and after the conference. If you would like further information please contact Bob Baldwin, President of the Michigan Fish Growers Association, at (616)796- 2284. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- AQUACULTURE OPPORTUNITIES FOCUS OF CONFERENCE AND TRADE SHOW -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The largest aquaculture conference and trade show in the Upper Midwest is coming to the Raddison South Hotel in Minneapolis, February 17 and 18, 1995. The Combined North Central and Ninth Annual Minnesota Aquaculture Conference and Trade show has an agenda as big as its name. Highlights include:
Phone (218)726-8107 or (612)625-6781 for more information or to register. The basic registration fee is $45 . Meeting in conjunction with the conference are the North Central Regional Aquaculture Center, the Great Lakes Fish Health Committee, and the North American Fish Farmers Cooperative. Considering a career in aquaculture? This is the place to find out if it's for you. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Michigan's 57 commercial trout operations reported 942,000 pounds of trout sold during the year ending August 31, 1994, according to the Federal/State Michigan Agricultural Statistics Service. This was a decrease of 13 percent from last season. Sales were valued at $2.32 million, and included sales of foodsize trout (usually 12 inches or longer), stockers (usually 6 to 12 inches), fingerlings (2 to 6 inches) and eggs. Michigan ranked seventh in the nation in trout production. Idaho's 35 trout operations produced 73 percent of the nation's trout, making it number one in the country. In Michigan, foodsize trout had sales of 610,000 pounds with anaverage live weight of .87 pounds. Sales totaled $1.42 million for an average value of $2.33 per pound. The major sales outlets were direct sales to fee fishing (45 percent), live haulers (20 percent), and restaurants (12 percent). Stocker trout sales of 680,000 head totaled 300,000 pounds with an average live weight of .44 pounds. Value of sales, at $670,000 decreased $835,000 and average price dropped from $3.07 to $2.23 per pound. Fee fishing (39 percent) and live haulers (29 percent) accounted for the majority of sales. Fingerling sales totaled 32,000 pounds, up 60 percent. Value of sales doubled and averaged $7.03 per pound. Trout losses, in Michigan, amounted to 193,000 fish, weighing 112,000 pounds. Predators and disease were the leading causes of death, accounting for 44 and 37 percent of all fish lost, respectively. The nation's 466 trout operators had sales, including eggs,
of $64.7 million, a decrease of 6 percent from a year ago. Trout growers in 15 selected
states sold a total of 55.1 million pounds of trout valued at $60 million this year.
Foodsize trout sales accounted for 88 percent of the value of all trout sold.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- As a result of FDA's increased scrutiny of the aquaculture industry over the past several years, concern has arisen on the part of the agency about the use of unapproved drugs, and has led to tighter restrictions on the use of drugs in aquaculture. These restrictions have caused concern by producers about the availability of drugs to treat diseases in aquaculture species. Primary enforcement focus has been and will continue to be on drug manufacturers and distributors that produce and distribute drugs for the aquaculture industry. In other words, the goal is to cut illegal drugs off at their sources. Medicated feed manufacturers are considered the next level of regulatory priority. Concern here is that only drugs approved for use in medicated feeds are used, and that the medicated feeds are mixed in accordance with the medicated feed regulations. For example, the concentration, or level, of drug in the feed cannot be altered by the feed manufacturer. With regard to aquaculture producers, emphasis will continue to be on education as to proper drug usage and how to comply with HACCP. Do not expect routine inspections for enforcement purposes. However, the FDA will conduct "for cause" inspections in cases where they have reason to believe a producer is holding significant quantities of a high priority drug, such as malchite green. With regard to processors, inspection and sampling for drug residues is carried out by FDA's field offices and laboratories under the direction of the Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition (CFSAN), specifically the Office of Seafood. The sampling covers both domestic and imported products. This activity has obvious implications for domestic producers because producers who cause illegal residue are subject to enforcement action. FDA is conducting research on drug metabolism and the development of methods for detecting drug residues in fish. They have prioritized a list of aquaculture drugs based on the extent of use by the industry and on human food and environmental safety concerns. As a method is developed for each drug, it is incorporated into the agency's drug residue monitoring program. FDA is currently sampling shrimp for chloramphenicol, and salmon for oxolinic acid. Sampling for additional drugs and species will be coming on line in the future. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Center for Veterinary Medicine recently added another compound, thiamine hydrochloride, to the list of Low Regulatory Priority Aquaculture Drugs. It is used to prevent or treat thiamine deficiency in salmonids. Eggs are immersed in an aqueous solution of up to 100 ppm for up to four hours during water hardening. Sac fry are immersed in an aqueous solution of up to1,000 ppm for up to one hour. Thiamin hydrochloride is a source of the B-vitamin, thiamin (vitamin B1). It is listed by the Federal Register as a Substance Generally Recognized as Safe (GRAS). Thiamin is a required nutrient for most fish species including salmonids and catfish. Drug claims should not be made for the nutrient, instead it should be used as a nutrition supplement only. Dietary thiamin deficiency has been shown to result in neurological disorders such as hyperirritability in salmonids, channel catfish, eel and other aquatic species. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- In a letter dated August 10, 1994 FDA made the following comments after reviewing the information submitted. "Dimethylpolysiloxane, for use as a defoaming agent in fish transport, does not meet the definition of a drug under Section 201(g) of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, nor would it be considered a food additive under Section 201(s) when used for this purpose. This specific use of dimethylpolysiloxane, therefore, is not under FDA jurisdiction." "Since this product is intended to affect the water in which fish are transported or maintained, and is not intended to have an effect on the fish, it is considered a water quality treatment and is therefore under EPA jurisdiction. Individuals using dimethylpolysiloxane for this purpose are required to contact their regional NPDES permitting agency prior to discharging water containing this chemical." If this product is used as a carrier or implant for sex reversal applications, then it would be considered a drug for this use, since it would be a component of a steroid that requires an INAD exemption or NADA for this purpose. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Laboratory studies have begun on an antibiotic that shows promise in combatting an old fish-culture nemesis, bacterial kidney disease (BKD). The antibiotic, enrofloxacin (Baytril ), is chemically classified as a fluroquinolone and has been studied for its potential use in aquaculture since the late 1980's. "This is one of the most difficult diseases to control because frank disease recurs once antimicrobial treatment is terminated . . . . Currently, no registered antimicrobials are available for treatment of the disease," stated Cornell University researchersHui-Min Hsu, Gregory A. Wooster, and Paul R. Bowser, authors of the most recent study. Their work was published in the current issue of the Journal of Aquatic Animal Health. The investigators' first goal was to determine the effective concentration of enrofloxacin against several different strains of the causative bacterial agent of BKD, Renibacterium salmoninarum. They exposed laboratory cultures of the bacterium to varying levels of the antibiotic and found that a minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of enrofloxacin was 0.125-0.25 g/mL for a period of exposure of from 14 to 30 days. Based on the determination of MIC, the researchers then fed infected rainbow trout feed pellets containing enrofloxacin at various concentrations for 10 days. After two separate experimental trials, they concluded that enrofloxacin was minimally effective in the fish at a feeding level of 2.5 mg/kg of body weight; concentrations of 5-20 mg/kg yielded the fewest mortalities. Hsu tried to dose some of the fish with enrofloxacin at a rate of 40 mg/kg, but they would not consume the pellets; presumably the feed was unpalatable at that level. "The low MICs, high bioavailability, and large volume distribution of enrofloxacin make it a good candidate for use as a treatment for BKD. Both trials support this potential of enrofloxacin. Appropriately controlled trials must be conducted under field conditions to substantiate these laboratory rules," the authors concluded. No other reference to other possible future work, such as determination of withdrawal period or potential toxicity of residues in fish to people, was offered. A time frame for this drug to reach the market is unclear. Source: The Aquaculture News - Nov. 1994 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Aquaculture has been included in Public Law 103-330 (House Bill 4554) which was signed by the President on September 30, 1994. This bill has provisions for the Commodity Credit Corporation Fund and Disaster Assistance. Specific language under Disaster Assistance states, "Such sums as may be necessary from the Commodity Credit Corporation shall be available, through July 15, 1995, to producers under the same terms and conditions authorized in chapter 3, subtitle B, title XXII of Public Law 101-624 for 1994 crops, INCLUDING AQUACULTURE AND EXCLUDING ORNAMENTALS." The signup dates for the Crop Loss Disaster program are December 1, 1994 through March 31, 1995. This is the same program that was instituted in 1992 when Hurricanes Andrew and Iniki caused extensive damages and aquaculture was included in Disaster Assistance Legislation for the first time. For more details about eligibility requirements contact your county Farm Service Administration (ASCS) office. Remember losses need to exceed 60% of expected yields and accurate and complete recordkeeping of past production figures and comparisons with state averages are other key elements. This program is ONLY for 1994 aquaculture crops that were damaged extensively by natural disaster events. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Congress passed this Act which was signed into Public Law 103-354 on October 13, 1994. It replaces the Crop Loss Disaster Program and need for annual catastrophic disaster legislation to cover federal cost-sharing for crop losses caused by natural disasters. One important component includes an uninsured crop disaster assistance program for specialty crops under Section 519 and general language with the intent to make certain aquacultural crops eligible under this new program. Specific interim-ruling language is being developed and will be published in the Federal Register for public comment. The interim-ruling language is presently behind schedule for uninsured crops. This program is administered by the Consolidated Farm Service Agency (including former ASCS). Some insights and likely outcomes include the following:
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