F R O M   T H E   C R O W E ’ S   N E S T

Just Haven’t Thought Of It?



The recent publicity about the Atlantic coast of the U.S. being opened to oil and gas exploration has brought new light and new eyes to a new context. These renewable lease sites were laid out decades ago. Wind energy development will also be built on long-term ocean bottom lease sites. Various kinds of aquaculture developed over decades through federally funded projects will be dependent on federal and state bottom lease agreements. Finfish aquaculture will be nearshore and possibly offshore. Kelp grown for the distillation of biofuels may become the largest consumer of inshore bottom acreage.

A range of aquaculture types are evolving and will be a part of Atlantic coastal economies. The global climate and ocean crisis demands alternative energy sources now. Aquaculture and wild fisheries will need clean, temperate, pH-appropriate water. They will both need suitable bottom and waters to conduct business.

In 1889 part of the Oklahoma Territory was opened for settlement for a second time. The federal government announced it would transfer title to anyone who got to one of the 160-acre plots first, staked a claim and improved the land. On the designated day, about 50,000 prospective “settlers” were at the starting line. It was the Oklahoma Land Rush.

This second settlement followed the original by Native Americans thousands of years earlier. The Oklahoma Territory given away had been the prime ancestral hunting and agricultural lands of five Native American tribes. Tribes had been forced to cede that land to the U.S. government. In one day, towns of 10,000 were in place.

Some might wonder how this could have happened. A 5,000-year native residency, 24 hours, and hope of recovery was gone. Did land rush proponents wonder or did they just not think of it?

There appears to be no formal policy, guidelines or administrative agency, federal or state, in place to consider the pre-existing rights of the stakeholder fishermen or settled fishing families and communities on the Atlantic coast – stakeholders who have for centuries cooperatively used this bottom and the water column above it. Could it possibly be that all involved in the promotion of the oil and gas, wind energy, and aquaculture industries, and the public, just haven’t thought of it? Or is it that some involved have?