Fearing the expansion of “factory farming in water” in Oregon, animal rights advocates are urging lawmakers to impose new restrictions on the state’s aquaculture industry.

Ocean net pens for fish would be prohibited under a bill the Mercy for Animals and Animal Equality nonprofits want introduced during next year’s legislative session.

The bill would also establish minimum animal welfare standards for the slaughter of fish and requirements meant to prevent harm to aquatic habitats and water quality.

“We need to act now and put in basic and important protections for our water and our animals,” said Alex Cerussi, state policy manager for Mercy for Animals.

The Oregon Aquaculture Association, which represents farmed fish producers, believes the bill is too restrictive and meant to open the door to more limits on animal agriculture in the state.

“If this bill passed, we would not have commercial aquaculture in Oregon,” said Clint Bentz, the group’s president.

While Oregon’s aquaculture industry is small, animal advocates believe there’s growing interest in bringing larger-scale fish farms to the state — along with the environmental problems seen elsewhere, said Sarah Hanneken, legal advocacy counsel for Animal Equality.

The aquaculture bill would set environmental standards for fish farms and ensure companies are held financially responsible for harmful violations, shifting the clean-up burden from taxpayers, she said during a recent legislative hearing.

Current harvest regulations have “absolutely no regard” for fish welfare, allowing them to be deprived of water until they asphyxiate, Hanneken said. Typically, ice is used for temperature control but this only prolongs their suffering.

Instead, the aquaculture bill would require fish to be handled humanely and stunned before they’re slaughtered, which can be accomplished with machinery that already exists, she said.

“There is a lot of science that’s come out in recent years demonstrating their sentience and ability to experience pain,” Cerussi said.

A massive escape of non-native Atlantic salmon off the coast of Washington has convinced regulators to prohibit a major aquaculture company from using ocean net pens in that state, Hanneken said.

“It’s another reason to be concerned their eyes might drift southward,” she said.

The aquaculture bill proposed for Oregon would totally exempt fish farms with less than $500,000 in annual revenues, Cerussi said. “Most existing facilities would be excluded because they are smaller at this point.”

Hanneken told the Senate Natural Resources and Wildfire Recovery Committee that the Oregon Aquaculture Association declined to be involved in the legislation but didn’t say it would try stopping the bill.

Bentz disputed that characterization and said the group is “not ambivalent” about the proposed legislation.

“We are prepared to oppose this with as much vigor as we can bring to the table,” he said.

The animal rights advocates only told their side of the story during the recent legislative hearing, which is why the aquaculture organization plans to send a written rebuttal to lawmakers, Bentz said.

“They are trying to fly under the radar and not attract any opposition,” he said.

The aquaculture bill is concerning to the agriculture industry because it’s likely “the camel’s nose under the tent,” or the first step toward broader restrictions on livestock production, he said. The proponents object to the killing of all animals for food, not just fish.

It’s true that Oregon’s aquaculture industry is composed of “mom and pop” facilities that focus on serving anglers and farmers markets, but larger-scale operations present an opportunity for the state, Bentz said.

“If we want to compete with the states around us, we have to attract some larger players, and this law would stop that from occurring,” he said.

Commercial-scale aquaculture requires robust systems and can’t be done on a shoe-string budget, he said. “It is very capital intensive.”