The National Organic Standards (NOSB) and the National Organic Program (NOP) are hosting an Organic Aquaculture Symposium on Tuesday, November 27, 2007 in conjunction with the Fall 2007 NOSB Meeting to be held Wednesday, November 28 through Friday, November 30, 2007 in Washington, DC.   The purpose of the symposium is to obtain scientific and academic input to assist the NOSB in making final recommendations to the NOP on two major unresolved issues regarding the organic standards for finfish aquaculture.

Current Unresolved Issue Areas: 

• Compatibility of Open Cage Net Pens with organic aquaculture standards
  
• Alternative Nutritional Technologies to Fish Oil (12%) and Fish Meal (12%) at 24% of Total Feed
   

Format of Aquaculture Symposium:

• Oral Presentations: There will be two moderated panels structured around the two unresolved issue areas on the day preceding the business meeting of the NOSB. Oral presenters will be selected according to the differing viewpoints they provide on the panel questions. Each panelist will present their material and then all questions will be handled at the end of each panel.

• Poster Session: Posters will be displayed for viewing during the entire symposium. A special session will be scheduled when authors or designated poster presenters will need to be at their posters to answer questions by the NOSB, the NOP, and public. 

• Full Papers: Oral presenters and poster session presenters are expected to prepare a full paper that clearly articulates: 1) the specific question(s) that the author is providing data and scientific information about, 2) their position regarding the question(s) they are addressing, 3) in what specific ways the current proposed aquaculture standards are, or are not, adequate, in addressing the questions, and 4) if they are not adequate, what specific practices and language would they recommend to strengthen the proposed aquaculture standards to address the specific questions. Full papers are due September 30, 2007.
   

Submission of Abstracts:

• Instructions for the Preparation of Abstracts (PDF)

All interested and knowledgeable individuals or groups are encouraged to submit abstracts for consideration for oral and/or poster presentation that specifically address the questions prepared by the NOSB. The responses to these questions will meet their need for more information concerning the unresolved issue areas.  Submitters of abstracts are requested to clearly state the specific NOSB question(s) (found via this PDF link) and their position on the issue that they are addressing. Environmental impact is an underlying concern as it relates to all areas as well as compatibility with the organic ethos and human health impact. 

A limited number of abstracts will be selected to prepare for oral presentation at the symposium due to restrictions on time and resources. Abstracts are due July 15, 2007. The selection of oral presenters will be completed by August 15, 2007 and all final papers should be ready by September 30, 2007.

All presenters are required to make arrangements for their own accommodations, travel schedules and expenses. If a lack of financial resources would prevent your participation in symposium as a presenter, there may be funds available from private industry and foundation sources that could help. There are no funds available through the NOP for this purpose.

Presenters asked to participate on a moderated panel will provide an oral presentation and be available for questions from the NOSB, NOP and the public.  No speaker will be chosen for more than one oral panel presentation; however, anyone interested in being considered for more than one panel should submit a separate abstract for net pens and feed.  Oral presentations may only use Power Point formatter for PCs for slide shows. There will not be sufficient time to deal with other personal laptops and projectors. All details regarding the symposium, including the specific amount of time available for the individual presentations, will be provided during the follow up when the panelists are informed of their selection.
 

Poster Session

Authors are strongly encouraged to consider poster presentations regardless of whether they are selected for an oral presentation. Poster sessions will be an integral and important part of the program. Individuals selected for an oral presentation should also prepare their materials for the poster session portion of the symposium. Authors are allowed to participate in more than one poster session. Individuals participating in poster sessions are also expected to submit full papers by September 30, 2007.

Poster presenters are responsible for the set-up and take-down of their posters.  Details for setup and takedown of the posters will be provided at a later date. Posters can be arranged to remain throughout the entire NOSB meeting for public review after the symposium, if desired, but not required. If you know that you are personally unavailable on November 27^th, the date of the symposium, but have significant information that you would like to share, please consider submitting an abstract for poster session presentation. You will need to coordinate with someone who is attending the symposium to assist with the set-up and take-down of your poster presentation.
 

Full Papers

Oral presenters and poster session presenters are expected to prepare a full paper that clearly articulates: 1) the specific question(s) that the author is providing data and scientific information about, 2) their position regarding the question(s) they are addressing, 3) in what specific ways the current proposed aquaculture standards are, or are not, adequate, in addressing the questions, and 4) if they are not adequate, what specific practices and language would they recommend to strengthen the proposed aquaculture standards to address the specific questions.  Full papers are due September 30, 2007.
 

Website Publication

All abstracts, full papers, slide shows, and posters should be submitted in a format appropriate for website publication; links can also be arranged as appropriate. Everything will be posted on the NOP website no later than October 12, 2007 to provide the public sufficient time to review and comment. 
 

Public Comments

Please be advised that the development of organic standards is a public process and the public will be invited to comment on all aquaculture symposium topics and documents, NOSB meeting agenda items, recommendations, etc. Submitted materials will be considered public comment and may be subject to review and comment by others. Please be prepared to respond to questions and issues raised by public commenters.

Background Reference Material

Please review the documents found at the links described below. You will find pertinent background material, reports, and public comments to guide you in your efforts to respond to the questions of the NOSB regarding the proposed organic aquaculture standards for finfish.

Questions regarding the organic aquaculture issues, the NOSB questions, the regulatory process, the symposium, or the abstract submission and selection process, should be directed to Valerie Frances at above address or please feel free to call at (202) 720-3233.

1) NOSB Principles for Organic Production and Handling: pp 29-32 of NOSB Policy Manual (PDF)


2) April 2006: Background on Aquaculture Working Group (AWG), Interim Report from Winter 2006, and April 2006 Public Comments on the Aquaculture Working Group Report


3) October 2006: NOSB Livestock Committee Invitation for Public Comment (PDF) and Public Comments Received at the October 2006 NOSB Meeting


4) March 2007: NOSB Meeting Recommendation (excluding the 3 major issues), Public Comments submitted prior to the March 2007 NOSB Meeting, and Public Comments submitted at the March 2007 NOSB Meeting.
 

• NOSB Recommendation (PDF)
   

• Public comments on aquaculture submitted prior to the March 2007 NOSB Meeting on www.regulations.gov:

1. Select “all documents” so that you get everything, including comments

2. Select “Agricultural Marketing Service” to reduce the search time

3. Select “All document types” to be sure to get all comments

4. Keyword: “AMS-TM-07-0032” and “any word” for the March 2007 NOSB Meeting Notice and all associated comments made prior to the meeting. You could also put in “organic” and you would get all organic notices, proposed rules, etc and all of their comments as well.

• Public comments on aquaculture submitted at the March 2007 NOSB Meeting