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George Lockwood has been steeped in aquaculture advocacy at a national level for four decades, advising law makers on aquaculture policy and legislative issues. He has been president of the World Aquaculture Society and the California Aquaculture Association, where he was instrumental in creating the National Aquaculture Act of 1980 and the California Aquaculture Act of 1982. He may best be known for his tireless efforts to see organic aquaculture standards established in the United States. His involvement in aquaculture is not just academic, however: an engineer by training, with a Master of Business Administration from Harvard University as well as an engineering degree from Northwestern University, he has start to finish hands on experience as an early pioneer of aquaculture: Ocean Farms of Hawaii grew abalone as well as sea urchins, salmon, and oysters and micro- and macro-algae to feed them.
Interview with George Lockwood AQUAFEED.COM Aquaculture in the United States has yet to live up to its potential. What went wrong? GL Modern aquaculture got started in the 1960s with catfish and a few other freshwater species, in the 1970s with shellfish and some marine fin fish, and in the 1980s with salmon and shrimp. Large corporations and small
business entrepreneurs were involved. Until the mid-1980s there was great enthusiasm for this “blue revolution.� Although the regulatory environment was problematic from the beginning, it became considerably more difficult with time. During the early 1990s major opposition to aquaculture began to
form, first with shrimp and mangrove issues, and then with salmon net pens in public waters. Much bad publicity resulted that negatively impacted consumers, government regulators, and investors. Several large American foundations provided significant funds for this adverse publicity. In addition, investment capital began