The World Assembly,
Noting its historical interest in regulating the fishing industry (GARs #199, #409), which has a clear impact on WA states that share maritime borders, as well as fishing fleets that cross borders;
Acknowledging that, with depletion of fish stocks and the development of fish farms (aquaculture) in some WA states, a clear need has arisen to regulate aquaculture to ensure sustainability and safeguard cross pollution into other WA states through connected bodies of water;
Thus desiring a common solution across the WA for WA states that engage in aquaculture; hereby:
- Defines:
- "Aquaculture" to mean husbandry of aquatic organisms such as fish, oysters, crabs, prawns, and others in (at least a) partly artificial setting, and "aquaculture products" to mean produce from such husbandry;
- "FDRA" to mean the WA Food and Drug Regulatory Agency;
- "IAO" to mean the WA Independent Adjudicative Office;
- "WANC" to mean the WA Nautical Commission;
- "WHAMMO" to mean the WA Waterbody Health and Mitigation Management Organisation;
- References to "WA organs" refer to FDRA, WANC and WHAMMO;
- References to "such as" are merely as examples only;
- Requires WHAMMO to:
- Develop regulations for mitigating the negative impacts of aquaculture, such as eutrophication, a buildup of excess nutrients, wastes in ecosystems, and other issues of concern, both to the WA state where the aquaculture takes place and any WA state sharing maritime borders or bodies of water with the said WA state, relevant to each state's physical and technological conditions;
- Fund research into improving sustainable aquaculture practices, such as feedstock for farmed fish, reduced use of antibiotics, disposal of effluents, and other matters of concern to the aquaculture industry;
- Requires FDRA to:
- Develop regulations on safety levels on consuming aquaculture products, such as levels of pesticides and other chemicals in the products, that are tailored for all of the different sapient species inhabiting each WA state, and conduct ongoing tests from time to time on aquaculture products from each WA state to ensure that all WA states that engage in aquaculture meet all applicable regulations, whether such regulations are domestic or from WA organs;
- Develop regulations for labelling of aquaculture products (and to distinguish such products from wild-caught seafood, if applicable, as well as any products that are partially developed through husbandry), tailored for different sapient species in terms of origin nutrition, health benefits and potential risks of consuming aquaculture products, and for all such labels to be displayed prominently on or accompanying aquaculture produce either (1) sold within any WA state or (2) exported from any WA state;
- Requires WANC to:
- WANC to develop regulations, based on the geographic features of locations where aquaculture takes place, to ensure that they are properly marked and do not impede maritime navigation;
- Provide advice to all WA states on security measures for aquaculture facilities;
- Requires that all WA states that engage in aquaculture implement regulations specific to the physical characteristics of that WA state that:
- Actively minimizes discharge (such as effluent or excess nutrients) into waters, especially waters that are connected to other bodies of water in other WA states, if such discharge is deemed by WHAMMO to be undesirable for the said waters; and
- Regulate the use of supplies such as feed, chemicals and pesticides (in particular anything that may form residues in aquaculture products) to ensure the provision of healthy products to consumers;
- Permits, if a WA state ("requesting state") shares a body of water or a maritime border with a WA state that engages in aquaculture ("responding state"), to expressly request for the responding state to implement measures to ensure that any issues regarding aquaculture in the responding state (such as releasing polluted waters) do not adversely affect bodies of water in the requesting state;
- Clarifies that if the requesting state and the responding state fail to come to an agreement on matters related to clause 6, or if there are any disputes regarding decisions by WA organs, the IAO shall adjudicate on a de novo basis.
