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"Who is monitoring the high seas for environmental pollution?" asked Don Bremner, of the Southeast Alaska Fish and Wildlife Commission, during a Juneau meeting of the U.S. Marine Fisheries Advisory committee on Wednesday.

"The loss of these foods would be the cultural genocide of our people," said Bremner, the commission's acting executive director.

Fisherman advocate Mark Vinsel criticized a lack of public disclosure from federal officials on their draft legislation for offshore aquaculture.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has not released details of its planned legislation, expected to be presented as a bill to Congress. The legislation could be included in a reauthorized Magnuson-Stevens Act, the nation's primary fishing law, or it could be exempted from the act, NOAA officials said Wednesday.

"I don't understand why this isn't brought out in the open," said Vinsel, of the Juneau-based United Fisherman of Alaska. "I invite and encourage you to hold public hearings."

Bill Hogarth, assistant administrator for NOAA Fisheries, told the local speakers that NOAA will solicit public input on its legislation but that the agency is "not allowed" to disseminate any details until the U.S. Office of Management and Budget (OMB) completes its own review.

"I think these are good recommendations," said Hogarth, regarding conservation-based proposals offered by the speakers, such as eliminating the current voluntary code of conduct for aquaculture operations.

Oceana, a national conservation group, has filed a Freedom of Information Act request to collect whatever data NOAA has collected regarding the proposed new industry.

"We think the public has a right to know," said Jim Ayers, Oceana's Pacific Coast Regional Director, based in Juneau, who is worried that the agency is not giving enough attention to environmental concerns. "We are going to take it to court if we have to," he said.

Through the governor's office, the state of Alaska submitted comments to the U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy on June 3 asking for a five-year moratorium on all permitting of ocean-raised shell- and finfish.

Murkowski appeared briefly before the marine advisory committee on Wednesday morning to mention his support for a continued "moratorium" on salmon farming in Alaska and a wait-and-see approach for shrimp, black cod and halibut.

Black cod and halibut farming have been heavily researched and black cod farms are now permitted in British Columbia.

During a break in the meeting, Alaska Sen. Kim Elton, D-Juneau said that he is stunned by some of differences in U.S. aquaculture policy with other national programs. Referring to the dramatic escape of massive numbers of farmed salmon in Chile and Canada, Elton said, "If our free-range chickens ran into Mexico, you know you'd have a problem."

But so far, there hasn't been a substantive discussion of whether aquaculture can occur without invasive-species problems. "These are real issues," Elton said.

Not all the comments about offshore aquaculture were negative. One of the major discussion points was a successful, offshore finfish and shellfish research project off New Hampshire.

The Open Ocean Aquaculture project, which only uses native fish, has caused "no measurable changes" in the surrounding environment, said Rich Langan, director of the University of New Hampshire's Cooperative Institute for New England Mariculture and Fisheries.

Also, the operation has produced some of the largest, meatiest mussels available on the market today, Langan said, showing a photo comparison of the project's mussels with store-bought mussels.

Another speaker highlighted economic opportunities across the country from aquaculture. "It's real jobs," said Gunnar Knapp, a University of Alaska economist, adding that though offshore aquaculture has been on a very small scale, worldwide, it is now on the edge of a "technological breakthrough."

Knapp, of Anchorage, said dialogue on the offshore issue should include "how do we get maximum benefit from both wild (fisheries) and aquaculture."

Though Alaska banned salmon farming in state waters, "it didn't help us," Knapp said, in reference to the economic ravage wrought on coastal communities from salmon farming elsewhere.

"U.S. trade policy offers little protection to wild fisheries," Knapp added.

Also during the meeting, Bremner of the inter-tribal commission asked NOAA to initiate a tribal liaison office to coordinate its fisheries activities with Native American tribes.

The committee members thanked the speakers for their comments and Hogarth said that the topics addressed in the meeting could be used as a template for future meetings across the country.

The committee wraps up its meetings in Juneau on this afternoon.

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