Please address letters to:

The Honorable Jerry Brown

Governor, State of California

State Capitol

Sacramento, Ca 95814

Attention: Appointment Secretary

Please send to a copy of your letter to:

CAA

Re: Aquaculture Coordinator

1015 K St., Suit 200

Sacramento CA 95814

From the event brochure, “Aquaculture America 2012 will have the largest aquaculture trade show in the Western Hemisphere and one of the largest anywhere in the world with nearly 200 booths! It is the place to visit current suppliers and make new contacts. To keep ahead and to keep profits building, you need to keep pace with the technological advancements in the industry – and Aquaculture America 2012 is the place to do it!”

The CAA will be hosting two tours, a  Razorback Facility at Lake Mead and Hoover Dam Expedition and a Mandalay Bay Shark Reef Tour.  View full tour descriptions below.

The CAA will also be hosting two seminar sessions:

1. Creatively Financing Start-Up and Expanding Aquaculture Operations
2. Recognizing Your Market: What do Your Customers Want?

View session details here.

Don’t miss out! Click here for more info!

Click here to view the full program session guide. For hotel information please click here.

Tour Descriptions:

1. USFWS Razorback Facility at Lake Mead and Hoover Dam Expedition

Description:

A luxury coach will pick you up at the Paris Hotel at 9:00 and drive you to Lake Mead where we will tour the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s (USFWS) restoration hatchery. The USFWS will provide a detailed tour of their Razorback hatchery. After the hatchery tour, we will picnic at Lake Mead with a box lunch provided by the Paris Hotel. Our afternoon continues at Hoover Dam where we will go on a dam tour and then have free time to explore the dam and the dam visitor center.

• Price: $125.00 per Person (includes lunch & refreshments)

Schedule:

Tuesday, February 28, 2012

Depart Paris Hotel at 0900

Arrive at USFWS Razorback Facility in 45 -60 minutes (10:00)

Tour Razorback facility for 60 minutes

Depart USFWS Razorback Facility (11:30)

Box Lunch at Lake Mead (1130 – 1230)

Depart Lake Mead (12:30)

Arrive Hoover Dam (12:45)

Tour Hoover Dam (1:15)

Allow 2 hours at Hoover dam for tour and solo exploration

Depart Hoover Dam (3:15)

Arrive Paris Hotel  at 4:00

2. Mandalay Bay Shark Reef Tour

Description:

A shuttle will pick you up at your designated time at the Paris Hotel and take you to Mandalay Bay. A curator will take you behind the scenes of this 1.6 million gallon aquarium with more than 2,000 animals. Our tour will include the filtration, food preparation, and the diving area. After the tour, you will have time to explore the aquarium on your own.  Return shuttles are available at regular intervals.  No children under the age of 13 are permitted on this tour.

• Tour groups of 20 Depart every 30 minutes

• Price: $75.00

Schedule:

Tuesday, February 28, 2012

Depart Paris Hotel

Tour lasts approximately 1 hour

Explore the aquarium at your leisure

Return shuttles will be available at regular intervals

California’s fish stocking program by private hatcheries in state waters will continue under the same permit regulations as the Commission rejected the Department of Fish and Game’s proposed rules changes for stocking and growing fish.

The Commissioners instructed the Fish and Game Department to come back to the Commission only if the agency feels it’s necessary and to clarify the DFG’s legal exposure for not going forward with the DFG’s regulations. The DFG’s fisheries staff sought to require hatcheries and fisheries to pay for a broad spectrum of biological assessments before stocking or growing fish.

“My direction is rejection, and I’m not directing them (DFG) to come back,” said Commissioner Dan Richards of Upland.

Richards said afterward that he expects the proposed regulation changes to come back to the Commission again in some form, but he said the Commission made it clear that it will not make the hatchery and fisheries groups go through the kind of permitting process the DFG sought in this round.

“The statute is the statute, and only the Legislature can change that,” Richards said, adding that it’s up to the DFG to go to the Legislature to change the statute regarding the permitting process.

The Fish and Game Commission, meeting in San Diego at Hubbs-Sea World Research Institute’s Shedd Auditorium, heard presentations from the Department of Fish and Game and from representatives of fishery and private hatchery owners. State Sen. Tom Harman (R-Orange County) started the public comment by urging the Commission to reject the DFG’s proposed changes.

Both sides offered vastly different pictures on what it would cost fishery and hatchery owners to do the necessary biological assessments in order to acquire stocking or fish-growing permits.

As expected, Fish and Game showed the cost to be in the hundreds of dollars, while the representatives of the fisheries and hatcheries said the cost will be, on average, around $133,000.

Dixon Lake in Escondido was one of the four lakes studied for cost by the independent Sapphos Environmental, Inc., and Dixon came in at $181,000 for the biological assessment to keep stocking fish. The breakdown was $25,919 for fish assessment, $15,490.74 for birds, $139,677.06 for herpetofauna.

Chris McKinney of the City of Escondido said earlier that the city didn’t have the funds to pay for such an assessment and that the cost would have to be passed on to lake users. Some lake operators said they’d have to close their lakes or hatcheries, costing hundreds of jobs.

Doug Elliott, who owns Corona Lake and runs the concession at Santa Ana River Lakes, said in his more than 30 years of stocking fish there hasn’t been one report of stocked fish impacting a species in Southern California.

“If these regulations go through, I’ll have to let 50 employees go, and I won’t be buying $1 million worth of fish a year from hatcheries, which also will go out of business,” Elliott said.

Opponents showed a history of stocking in California that goes back to the initial stocking of bass and catfish in 1874, for a stocking history that goes back nearly 140 years.

Louie Zimm of the San Diego Yacht Club and the San Diego Fly Fishers pointed out that the proposed regulations even call for a stocking permit to plant mosquito fish, which are planted to fight the spread of mosquitoes and the spread of diseases such as West Nile Virus and malaria.

Only one person, Paul Weakland, spoke in favor of the stocking and hatchery regulations and the protection of natural resources.

“It’s not nice to fool with Mother Nature,” said Weakland, offering his mantra. He often blames the DFG for stocking abalone with withering stress syndrome and thus wiping out abalone in many areas.

Source: http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2011/dec/15/commission-rejects-dfg-regulation-changes-californ/?page=2#article

• Catfish and Trout Reports (data collection begins Dec. 9; report released Dec. 20)
• Annual Reports on Farm Numbers, Land in Farms Reports and Farm Income
• Annual Floriculture Report
• January Sheep and Goat Report (data collection begins Dec. 23; report date is Jan. 27)
• July Cattle Report
• Annual Bee and Honey Report (data collection begins Jan. 23; report date is March 30)
• Annual Hops Production Report (data collection begins Dec. 9; report date is Dec. 21)
• Annual Mink Report
• Fruit and Vegetable in season forecast and estimates
• Rice Stocks June Report

Recognizing the importance of NASS’s data products and services to U.S. agriculture, NASS will make available any data that falls outside of the scope of the agricultural estimates programs in the 5-year Census of Agriculture.  The next census will be conducted beginning January 2013 to reflect activities in the 2012 calendar year.

NASS will publish Federal Register notices reflecting these program changes in the near future.

Extension Agents, Sea Grant Specialists, State Aquaculture Coordinators, and producer organizations are urged to consider sponsoring a workshop in their area.  Workshops may be held in conjunction with other activities such as conferences and meetings provided they are presented in their entirety and in the original format and sequencing.  The local sponsor is responsible for securing a meeting room, advertising and promoting the workshop, handling all registration tasks, and providing any refreshments that may be served.  The National Aquaculture Association will provide speakers (Dr. Carole Engle, Professor, Aquaculture Economics and Management, UAPB; Dr. Madan Dey, Professor, Aquaculture Marketing, UAPB; and Linda Odierno, NAA Outreach Specialist), all program materials, and assist in promoting the program.

Dr. Engle will present a simplified system to conduct an annual checkup of financial health.  Take home materials, such as a workbook and flash drive with electronic materials, will also be provided.  Dr. Engle has worked with more than 100 catfish farmers to develop comprehensive financial analyses and business plans.  The workshop will also discuss what steps were taken by the catfish farmers who survived these difficult financial times and what the early warning signs were for farms that did not survive.

Dr. Dey will share summaries of trends in prices and quantities sold for the most important regional aquaculture products.  The trend analysis was developed using retail scanner data from 52 cities across the United States during a seven-year period (2005-2011).  Individual producers will have the opportunity to request customized reports.  Similar customized market intelligence reports can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars.  Competing products will also be discussed.

Linda ODierno will present information on developing new, innovative marketing strategies that can help reduce costs and increase profits for small growers.  E-marketing, Community Supported Agriculture (CSA), niche marketing, product branding, exporting, and farmers markets will be discussed.  Organizational structures that include vertical and horizontal integration (producer organizations), contract growing, and multi-level marketing will be covered.  Product placement, pricing, and cost-effective distribution schemes will be emphasized.

The workshops are part of a 2012 NAA outreach education program, funded by the United Soybean Board.  They are limited in number, so prospective hosts are urged to contact the NAA as soon as possible if there is interest in sponsoring a workshop or additional information is needed.

Contact:  Linda O’Dierno

NAA Outreach Specialist

Email: Linda@thenaa.net

Cell: 914-330-7678

1. Attend the hearing. (If planning to attend, please RSVP here.)
2. Speak at the hearing.  (If interested in speaking, please email CARF to coordinate talking points.)
3. Write a letter to the Commission.  (Instructions and sample letters can be found here.)

This is a full call to arms as these regulations, if passed, could have a significant negative impact on your business and the entire aquaculture industry.

Please view the impressive coalition of businesses and industry members who have already written letters and oppose the proposed regulations.  For more information please visit www.savecalfishing.org.

Hearing details are as follows:

• When: December 15th, 2011 @ 8:30am
• Where: Hubbs Sea World Research Institute
  2595 Ingraham St., San Diego, CA

2595 Ingraham St
San Diego, CA

The meeting is open to all CAA members. Please RSVP if you plan to attend. For directions and more information please visit our Events Page. We also encourage you to attend the Fish and Game Commission hearing the follow day (Dec 15th).

“I had the pleasure of meeting Dean Farrell at the2002 WAS meeting in San Diego. I was blown away by how much he knew, and by how willing he was to share what he had learned. Even more so, by how many of his peers would seek him out for updates or to have their questions answered by this walking aquaculture encyclopedia. His enthusiasm confirmed that I was in the right place at the right time (DFG would later prove that time horizons in aquaculture are infinite).

It was when the sold-out farm tour landed at this farm that Dean was in his element. Everyone wanted to know about his California Tubes, educators, specialists and farmers alike. He climbed up onto the wall of one of his tanks and proudly boomed that his was the lowest cost Tilapia farm in the country, both to build the farm and produce from it, confirming that by showing that he had no lights so he didn’t waste electricity at night.

I was fortunate to have been mentored by him, and to have been able to convince him to sell the farm to me.

In his “retirement” he liked going to Central America where he could ‘live on dollars per day, and meet beautiful women from all over the world’.

He was a fixture at every WAS meeting, and was a mentor to so many that saw the potential in this industry.

His jovial nature, willingness to impart his deep knowledge (the only cost being some information in return from the recipient) and big heart will be sorely missed by all.”  – Mark Eglington

This direct final rule contains various amendments conforming SBA regulations to changes made by the Small Business Jobs Act of 2010 to several SBA programs, including business lending, disaster lending, and contract bundling. This rule also makes additional conforming changes to ensure that the regulations governing certain fees payable in the business loan programs are consistent with the related statutory authority in the Small Business Act.

Section 1501. Aquaculture Business Disaster Assistance:

Section 1501 of the SBJA provides SBA new authority to make certain types of disaster loans to aquaculture enterprises. Prior to this statutory change, aquaculture enterprises were ineligible for all SBA disaster loans. Section 1501 provides that SBA may provide economic injury disaster loans to aquaculture enterprises that are small businesses. SBA is conforming one regulation to this statutory change: § 123.300, Is my business eligible to apply for an economic injury disaster loan?

Dates: This rule is effective on November 28, 2011 without further action, unless significant adverse comment is received by November 14, 2011. If significant adverse comment is received, SBA will publish a timely withdrawal of the affected sections of the rule in the Federal Register.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: John C. Russell, Jr., Office of General Counsel, (202) 205–6642, e-mail: john.russell@sba.gov.