July was an active month for aquaculture.

Gov. Linda Lingle proclaimed the first Aquaculture Week for Hawai'i. James Rakocy came from the Virgin Islands to educate us on aquaponics, which produces both tilapia and lettuce. Food and Water Watch came from Washington, D.C., to level emotional attacks against aquaculture. The Hawaii Venture Capital Association presented a program with aquaculture officials John Corbin, Todd Low and Benny Ron. Finally, Hawaii Oceanic Technology, which is planning to raise tuna in next-generation cages off Kona, had its environmental impact statement accepted. An Advertiser poll showed that almost 90 percent of readers feel this project is a good idea.

Something's happening, especially in open ocean aquaculture.

HAWAI'I'S LEVERAGE

The global market is hungry for protein and fish products, and the world's oceans are being fished out. There is an increasing need for aquaculture, now a $70 billion industry dominated by Asia. This is a great prospect for us and can be Hawai'i's new cash crop, far exceeding our earlier agricultural exports.

In the 1970s, Tap Pryor developed land-based ponds that became Oceanic Institute, one of the foremost aquaculture research centers in the world. In 1999, as aquaculture began to show promise, the Hawai'i Legislature passed a bill allowing fish farmers to lease ocean areas in state territorial waters, and we are the only state offering leases for open ocean aquaculture.

Cates International was the first to leverage Oceanic Institute research to grow moi in ocean cages off leeward O'ahu. Grove Farm acquired an interest in that company and is now expanding it under Hukilau Foods. Kona Blue is growing its kahala fish ("Kona Kampachi") in ocean cages off the Big Island. Both have proven that open ocean aquaculture does not have the environmental impact Food and Water Watch has suggested.

Hawai'i has developed a reputation for innovation in aquaculture. UH-Hilo is becoming known for its aquaculture research facilities. Natural Energy Laboratory of Hawaii Authority in Kona is an increasingly productive center for land-based aquaculture. Visiting Kona in 2006, Carlos Gutierrez, then secretary of Commerce, declared NELHA the "Silicon Valley of aquaculture."

REGULATORY STRUCTURE

The Convention on the Law of the Sea in 1982 established a 200-mile Exclusive Economic Zone outside Hawai'i's three-mile limit. If there were federal regulations that allowed aquaculture entrepreneurs to lease space in the open ocean, we would have the second-largest EEZ (200,000 square miles), next to Alaska's (320,000 square miles). That would be a good thing.

Some say the Big Island is fished out — fewer than 20 boats are still fishing commercially. Open ocean aquaculture can help, but obtaining the necessary permits and leases takes years and involves hundreds of thousands of dollars of up front costs. Is this really necessary? Land-based aquaculture is easier at NELHA under a master permit. Master permits could also work for open ocean aquaculture — the state could designate zones and pre-permit them.

The Department of Land and Natural Resources has only a small staff to handle this permitting and leasing process, and it's a bottleneck. If more resources were devoted to supporting aquaculture, aquaculture export revenues could expand by hundreds of millions of dollars.

ANTI-AQUACULTURE GROUPS

There are anti-aquaculture groups who don't want "greedy" corporations to make a profit and export aquaculture products to outside markets. Those groups don't acknowledge advancements in the technology, and regularly disseminate disinformation about the industry. They've been pulling out all the stops, apparently bent on wiping out open ocean aquaculture in Hawai'i.

They're completely wrong. Without open ocean aquaculture, Hawai'i would have to depend on foreign unregulated producers and overfished wild stocks. Those options are not nearly as secure or sustainable as the development of homegrown open ocean aquaculture.

INCENTIVES AND LEADERSHIP

Although open ocean leases have been on the books for 10 years, attaining them is very costly. Permitting hurdles have limited expansion of the industry and turned away many startups. The entrepreneurs who have succeeded in getting these leases, however, have demonstrated proof of concept without significant impact on the environment. Now, to move the industry ahead, we need strong leadership. The governor needs to go beyond proclamations.

Hawai'i has the regulatory structure to develop open ocean aquaculture, but it's being stymied by a lack of strategic thinking by our state leaders. We need to incentivize open ocean aquaculture and build harbors and infrastructure to support the entrepreneurs. This work is more important than spaceports.

Just as we need to be off imported oil, we need to be off imported seafood. This opportunity can be an economic engine for Hawai'i, and hundreds of millions of dollars are at stake. Let's not stand in our own way. There's a lot to gain for everyone.