Emails lost, Army Corps extends fish farm public comment period

The new deadline for public comment is November 19th

SARASOTA – The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers announced that it will extend its public notice and comment period on a construction permit for the first finfish farm ever authorized in federal waters.

The comment deadline, originally set for Nov. 4, was extended because the agency’s email was not working, and comments previously submitted were not received. The new deadline is Nov. 19.

The Corps, which previously had not committed to accept public comment on the project, changed course after local community members expressed strong concerns about Hawaii-based Ocean Era’s offshore demonstration farm.

The project would raise 20,000 almaco jack, a species common to the Gulf of Mexico, in an anchored chain-link mesh pen 45 miles southwest of Longboat Pass off Sarasota County.