This came out in December but was just brought to my attention. I think this officially opens a political battle. Prior to this, NOAA was pretty much not actively taking sides in this. With this campaign on their part, they appear to becoming a wing of the public relations people of the fish farm industry. To be clear: NOAA is a huge agency, with lots of different departments, and they are under the Department of Commerce, not environmental protection. This comes interestingly enough, at a time when there is a great deal of criticism of NOAA for it’s policies on net pen aquaculture here in the state.
http://www.noaanews.noaa.gov/stories2013/20131218_aquaculture.html
