53 



reauthorization bills for both NOAA and the National Aquaculture Act are before 

 the Senate this session, I urge you to ensure that mechanisms for coordinating fed- 

 eral development and oversight activities for aquaculture are maintained and en- 

 hanced. 



CONCLUSIONS 



Well-crafted and coordinated federal policy will promote development of marine 

 aquaculture, a sector of American agriculture of great potential importance. Reau- 

 thorization of NOAA provides the opportunity to favorably influence the develop- 

 ment of mariculture, enhancing economic development while protecting the marine 

 enviroment. As you craft the reauthorization bill, I urge you to address the environ- 

 mental concerns that I have put forward to you in my oral and written testimony. 

 Mr. Chairman and members of the committee, I thank you for this opportunity to 

 present my views. 



[A list of cited literature may be found in the committee files.] 



Senator Kerry. Thank you very, very much. I do not think we 

 have ever had a panel as time conscious and efficient as this panel. 

 It is quite extraordinary. 



Let me just pick up with you, Dr. Hallerman, if I can right away. 

 You have been very detailed in your testimony on these various 

 problems ranging from exotic species or parasites, diseases, et 

 cetera. Let me begin here. Is there a sufficient concern for the cur- 

 rent oversight and management of these problems, of these pro- 

 grams, or do you think there is something that might be out of con- 

 trol and that presents a danger of some kind? 



Dr. Hallerman. No, it is not the latter. What I would like to see 

 are targeted research areas within, say. Sea Grant calls for propos- 

 als looking at environmental impacts of aquaculture. I would also 

 like to see encouragement of sustainable aquaculture in a more 

 general bill for Commerce — for instance, on the siting of aqua- 

 culture operations, which could be part of a permit process over- 

 seen by Commerce. I do not see a problem out of control. I would 

 like to tweak the direction just a little bit. 



Senator Kerry. Of the various environmental problems that you 

 have cited, are there any dangers to the public from the product 

 that comes out as a consequence of any of those problems in the 

 aquaculture process? 



Dr. Hallerman. My concern, and the reason I mentioned anti- 

 biotic residues in food, is that a lot of our fisheries products are im- 

 ported from outside the United States, from places where there 

 may not be any regulations on use of antibiotics or other additives 

 to feed. As far as I know, there is no monitoring of fisheries prod- 

 ucts from outside in terms of whether there are residues in those 

 foods. It may be worthwhile to have some research just to spot 

 check products coming into America to see if there are residues, 

 and of course the targeted research to see if those residues are 

 meaningful in a food safety sense. 



Senator Kerry. So, your basic request would be that NOAA set 

 up some regimen for stronger oversight, in a sense. 



Dr. Hallerman. Yes. 



Senator Kerry. Now let me ask everybody generally, whoever 

 wants to leap in on this, as you sit here, each of you has extolled 

 the virtue of moving in the direction of greater involvement, and 

 each of you has suggested that the Federal Government, and 

 NOAA particularly, ought to be the conduit and be more involved. 



