The aquaculture industry in New York encompasses a wide array of operations that stretch from the Great Lakes watershed to the surrounding marine waterbodies of Long Island. Current operations are producing freshwater finfish, shellfish, macroalgae a s well as a few aquaponic farms . Despite having the third longest coastline and fifth largest land area among the Great Lakes and Northeast States, according to the USDA’s 2018 Aquaculture Census, New York ranked 19th in the country for aquaculture production, behind several smaller states. There is significant room for the aquaculture industry to grow and expand in New York, but the industry has been facing challenges and limitations that have restricted its growth. Many of these challenges are not unique to New York and have impacted the aquaculture industry across the nation. Some of these issues are very complex and cannot be resolved with a simple change but rather require small steps to be taken over time. Other issues can only be addressed by having changes made on a state legislative level but often, the aquaculture industry problems are not at the forefront for local politicians.
To highlight some of the aquaculture industry issues for local state legislators, the Great Lakes Aquaculture Collaborative (GLAC), which is a Sea Grant Network for the Great Lakes States, has created an opportunity to bring legislators to aquaculture farms. The event(s), known as the Great Lakes Decision Maker’s Day, is being organized by the Sea Grant programs in most of the region ’s states. The objective is to invite legislators from districts with aquaculture farms or that are on relevant legislative committees (e.g., agriculture, commerce, small business, etc.) to the event which will be held at an aquaculture farm. At the event, numerous farmers were invited to meet with the legislators and tell them about their operations, in particular, the economic value their businesses have to the state as well as the challenges that they are facing, specifically those that can be alleviated with better state support.
In New York, the event was held at Local Coho, located in Auburn which is in the Finger Lakes region. This farm uses a recirculating aquaculture system (RAS) to raise coho salmon (Oncorhynchus kisutch) that are sold for consumption purposes only. A total of 12 legislators and 10 farmers from other operations were invited to the event . The legislators were provided with a packet of information summarizing the industry, its ongoing needs they could assist with, and information from each farm highlighting the economic impacts and the challenges they face. Following the discussion with the farmers, legislators were given a tour of the farm, and then during an open networking session, refreshments were shared that contained fish raised at the farm where the tour was held.