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It is the first time that the 25-member Marine Fisheries Advisory Committee is known to have convened in Alaska, said MAFAC vice-chairman Alvin Osterback, a veteran Aleutian fisherman and politician.

"It should be interesting," said Osterback, who described MAFAC as a melting pot for "viewpoints from across the country."

Aquaculture "is going to be a real interesting discussion item and one that I wanted to see take place in Alaska because of the state's stance on the issue," Osterback said last week.

MAFAC reports to the U.S. secretary of Commerce and is composed of scientists, commercial and recreational fishermen, processors, public interest groups, regulators and aquaculture industry officials.

Other topics will include individual fishing quotas, the draft strategic plan for recreational fisheries, and the implementation of the National Bycatch Reduction Plan.

Alaska officials, fishermen and conservationists are worried about federal support for offshore aquaculture - fish farming in federal waters three to 200 miles from shore - while there remains scant environmental or economic assessment of the activity's impact on fishing communities.

Dale Kelley of the Alaska Trollers Association in Juneau said fish farms have failed to prevent the escape of thousands of fish from ocean net pens, and juvenile Atlantic salmon have been discovered in Alaska streams.

Farms "can't successfully raise the fish in containment," she said. "I don't want to see them take over our salmon habitat."

Alaska Fish and Game Commissioner Kevin Duffy said last week that he and his staff will watch the MAFAC proceedings very closely.

"The state wants to play a significant role in these issues," he said.

Alaska's fisheries produce about half the seafood caught in the United States.

Fish farming has been banned in Alaska waters since 1988, but the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is pushing for development of offshore aquaculture research and development.

Alaska has no authority to stop offshore aquaculture in federal waters.

Duffy said state officials have outlined several proposals regarding the activity. They include:

• NOAA should defer all permitting for offshore aquaculture in the federal three- to 200-mile exclusive economic zone to regional fisheries councils such as the North Pacific Fishery Management Council.

• The federal government should enact a five-year moratorium on offshore aquaculture until more environmental and socio-economic studies have been completed.

Those requests were in a little-publicized 57-page report issued June 3 by Gov. Frank Murkowski to the U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy.

The Juneau-based United Fishermen of Alaska is pleading with U.S. legislators for an environmental study if NOAA pushes forward with an offshore-aquaculture bill this year.

"We have regulations to make our fisheries environmentally sustainable and there's no reason that other fish producers shouldn't be held to the same standard," said Mark Vinsel, UFA's executive administrator.

He noted that there appears to be a "missing link" in NOAA's approach, in that it has not designated any federal official to handle the environmental issues related to aquaculture.

Aquaculture funding, as well as allegations of a lack of firm leadership or NOAA policy on the issue, were discussed extensively at a 2003 MAFAC meeting in Seattle, according to Dec. 11, 2003, meeting notes.

The committee accepted the finding that "offshore rather than coastal marine waters may offer more opportunity in the long term," according to the notes. But because of "differing viewpoints" about aquaculture among committee members, MAFAC did not official adopt findings.

Gunnar Knapp, an economics professor at the University of Alaska Anchorage, said Alaska may not want to pursue off-shore aquaculture, but other states are aggressively pursuing it.

"There are states in the Gulf of Mexico where people really want this, but there is no procedure," Knapp said. NOAA "is struggling with the issue of what kind of process by which a person could apply for it and be given permission."

• Elizabeth Bluemink can be reached at elizabeth.bluemink@juneauempire.com.