56 



Senator Kerry. Well, is the industry itself taking steps to guar- 

 antee a sustainable shrimp farming capacity? 



Mr. Dill. I believe they are. The institute has been involved 

 along with Dr. Sandifer in the development of SPF or specific 

 pathogen free shrimp stocks, and the economics drive you to it. 

 Consequently, the industry in the United States is exclusively SPF 

 oriented. In other words, they have adopted over the last 3 years 

 the principle that you have to have clean animals to be successful 

 economically, a very simple, commonsensical sort of principle. 



Senator Kerry. How would you compare our efforts to develop 

 environmental technologies to promote aquaculture compared to, 

 say, Norway or Japan? 



Mr. Dill. I think the advantage that we have as a Nation, par- 

 ticularly in Hawaii, is that the regulations that we work under are 

 very stringent. And so consequently, right from the beginning the 

 sensitivity to the environment has been a major factor. If you are 

 going to speak of sustainability you have to speak of the environ- 

 mental impact of what you do, and that translates into economic 

 costs and opportunity at the same time. 



Senator Kerry. Are we developing sufficient technologies in this 

 country, or does this committee need to try to gear that up? 



Mr. Dill. I think there is a need to develop technologies that are 

 cost effective. I think one of the themes that I was encouraged by 

 Dr. Baker's testimony was the fact that there is now interest, or 

 at least an articulation of interest, in the development of aqua- 

 culture in terms of the private sector. And when you start talking 

 about the private sector you are going to have to talk about things 

 that make sense economically and meld those with your environ- 

 mental concerns. 



Senator Kerry. What is the biggest environmental downside of 

 coastal environmental involvement? Is it the effluent? Is it the 

 water? 



Mr. Dill. I think the effluent is the most obvious. Maybe some 

 of the other panel members would comment. But I think there is 

 a real need. 



Senator Kerry. Is that not processable through one of these 

 closed water treatment systems? 



Dr. Hallerman. If I may, Senator, that is one solution, but the 

 other one is simply paying sufficient attention to siting of the facili- 

 ties. Effluents will not be a problem. 



Senator Kerry. As long as you have sufficient tidal movement or 

 whatever? 



Dr. Hallerman. Right. Right, and keep it away from the sen- 

 sitive areas. 



Dr. Sandifer. Senator, under a variety of programs, including 

 the ones that Mr. Dill referred to that we collaborate in, there is 

 quite a bit of technology development work going on in both the 

 coastal shrimp industry and coastal finfish production industries to 

 eliminate or at least reduce very much the level of discharges going 

 into open waters. With a combination of careful siting, technology 

 to reduce the release of any effluents at all, and good flushing, 

 there essentially will be no measurable impact on the marine envi- 

 ronment. 



