Rep. Sam Farr (D-Calif.) showed his frustration Thursday over the time it’s taking the Obama administration to deliver final organic aquaculture standards. The ranking member of the House Appropriations agriculture panel, whose state maintains a roughly $170 million a year aquaculture industry, said his office gets a call a day from constituents over the issue. Final action is projected in July, nearly a year after regulations were submitted to the Office of Management and Budget for review, according to the Unified Agenda.
“We have a process that says it’s going to take 90 days, but then government can’t give us an answer,” Farr, who is retiring at the end of the year, told officials from USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service during a hearing. “The time frame that’s allowed in law, that’s exhausted. You’ve got to take some leadership on this and jam this thing through.”
The U.S. fish-farming industry has advocated for the program for more than a decade in order to capitalize on the organic seal’s premium price as it struggles against cheaper seafood imports. There also is competition from the European Union, Canada and other countries that already ship organic seafood to the U.S.
Elanor Starmer, AMS’ acting administrator, said the agency is still responding to questions from the OMB and doing all it can to move the rule forward. Farr also said the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which regulates fishery management, has questions about the program that are delaying the process. “I’ve never been able to get a hard answer on this,” Farr said. See the aquaculture rule in the Unified Agenda here.
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