A number of Santa Barbara fishermen and concerned citizens are protesting a federal directive that could open local waters to as many as eight commercial fish farms in the Santa Barbara Channel, a move they say would harm not only marine life but also the livelihoods of existing fishermen.

“Developing fish farms off the coast of Santa Barbara is an ecological disaster just waiting to happen,” said Katie Davis, chair of the Santa Barbara-Ventura Sierra Club.

On Wednesday, a dozen community members delivered 2,500 petition signatures to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

This petition calls on the Biden Administration to rescind Executive Order 13921, a directive that streamlines the process for the development of fish farms in federal waters by opening up offshore leasing and accelerating the permitting process.

Community members asked NOAA, the lead agency, to protect the Santa Barbara Channel and stand with local fishermen, not corporate interests. Former president Donald Trump signed Executive Order 13921 in May 2020.

“I fish out in the Channel almost every single day,” said Eric Hodge, a local commercial fisherman. “If these fish farms are built, it would directly affect my job of putting food on Californians’ plates. Not only would they make it harder for me to fish on a day-to-day basis, but these corporations could undercut me at the market as well, making it harder for me to make a living.”

Jake Schwartz, organizer of the group Don’t Cage Our Oceans, said NOAA identified 19 potential fish farm sites nationwide. Ten of those are in Southern California, and eight of those are in the Santa Barbara Channel.

Finfish farms often raise thousands of fish in moored pens, just at the start of federal waters, 3 miles off the coast, according to Don’t Cage Our Oceans.

The group and others opposing these fish farms said the facilities pump antibiotics and pesticides into the pens to kill sea lice and other parasites, and in the process the chemicals mix with excess feed and fish waste.

“The pollution surrounding fish farm sites such as these can create dead zones where there isn’t enough oxygen in the water to support even basic marine life,” the Sierra Club’s Davis added. “These pens can entangle migrating marine mammals, such as humpback whales, and pose a massive risk to native fish populations.”

Davis said the Sierra Club is not opposed to all aquaculture. Shellfish and kelp farming, for example, are not a detriment to the environment, she said. However, open-net fish farming in coastal waters is problematic in large part because of the “dead zones” it creates nearby, she said.

Before delivering the petitions, several people at a press conference shared their concerns about offshore fish farms in no uncertain terms. Chef Jeremy Alben of Pinyon Ojai said fish caught by local “day boat fishermen” is special and unmatched by commercial fish farms.

“They’re going out into the water, catching fish, and bringing them back to our restaurants, sometimes within two or three hours of catching the fish,” he said. “The practice is completely different from buying fish from fish farms where fish are culled days or even weeks before they reach your plate at a restaurant.”