♪ ♪ >> good evening and welcome. judy woodruff is away. on the newshour tonight, trump investigations. a judge orders the release of a redacted affidavit outlining the reasons for an fbi search of former president trump's florida home. and one year on. we discuss the fall of the afghani government to the taliban following u.s. military withdrawal. >> when tasked -- one has to take responsibility. a partner that trampled our sovereignty. >> and something fishy. the burgeoning salmon farming industry sparks controversy. how some operations are trying to address the concern and still meet growing demand. all that and more on the

"newshour." ♪ major funding for the pbs has been provided by -- >> fidelity dedicated advisors are here to help you create a wealth plan. a plan with tax sensitive investing strategies. planning focused on tomorrow while you focus on today. that is the planning affect from fidelity. ♪ >> the kendeda fund committed to advancing restorative justice and meaningful work through investments and -- in transformative leaders and ideas. more at kendeda fund.org. carnegie corporation of new york. supporting innovations in education, democratic engagement and the advancement of

international peace and security at carnegie.org. and with the ongoing support of these individuals and institutions -- ♪ ♪ ♪ this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> the u.s. justice department will have to release at least some information it used to justify searching the trump estate in florida. a federal magistrate judge ordered a redacted affidavit be made public by noon tomorrow.

news organizations requested the move after fbi agents searched the mar-a-lago estate for classified documents. california regulators -- meanwhile, prosecutor in georgia is demanding testimony for more of former president trump's allies as part of the investigation into allegations -- it now wants to hear from mark meadows as well as an attorney who helped lead the legal challenges to those election results. california regulators have approved a mandate that all new vehicles sold in the state be electric or hydrogen powered by 2035. today's vote by the state board will still allow sales of used gasoline powered vehicles after 2035. the shift could reshape the auto market. president biden and ukraine's president zelenskyy are urging

russia to return the nuclear plant to ukraine's control. mr. biden spoke with president zelenskyy by phone today as the plant was cut off from the ukrainian power grid. has been more shelling around the site today and the ukrainian president said today's incident could have released radiation. >> i want to are sure all ukrainians we are doing everything we can to prevent an emergency. international pressure is needed that will force the occupiers to immediately withdraw from the site because every minute the russian military stays at the plant is a risk of a global radiation disaster. >> workers cleared rubble a day after russian rockets hit a railway station in ukraine. ukrainians said 25 people were killed. russia said it targeted a military train. our show blackburn has arrived in taiwan, the latest u.s. lawmaker to visit despite

china's objections. she flew into taipei this evening and local reports says she will meet with the taiwanese president on friday. nancy pelosi began the series of u.s. congressional visits which prompted large-scale chinese mitary exercises around taiwan. in pakistan a court red that the former prime minister cannot be arrested until at least september. he has been charged with terrorism, violating a ban on mass rallies. hundreds of his supporters today gathered. >> if i said i will take legal actions and for this i him accused of terrorism then pakistan looks like a banana republic. like there is no law over here. and you want to arrest the leader of the country's biggest party. they should be thinking about the country. >> he was ousted from office in april after a no conference vote

in congress. more than 700,000 rohingya muslims market five years since fleeing persecution in mostly buddhist myanmar. the u.s. has said the myanmar military carried out a bloody campaign. today, thousands of rowing go gathered -- thousands of royingya said they would return there safety was guaranteed. >> we want to go back to our country. we had homes and we were rich and we could bear our own expenses and did not have to rely on someone else's pocket. we are trying to go back to where our ancestors died. >> attempts to repatriate these refugees has largely -- have largely failed. global monkeypox cases fell more than 20% last week after rising for a month. the agency says the outbreak a beach -- may be starting to wane

in europe at cases across the americas are still rising and new infections in africa increased by 50% last month. in this country, teachers in columbus, ohio have reached an agreement with a local school board reaching -- ending a strike. they have been demanding better conditions and smaller class sizes. nearly 4500 teachers and staff will vote on the new contract this weekend. on wall street, stocks rallied as interest rates on treasury bonds moved lower. ager indices moved more than 1% up to 1.5%. the nasdaq was up 207 points. still to come on the "newshour," this edc director discusses covid-19 and her efforts to reform the agency. parents and students in you,

texas respond to the police keeping fired after the massacre three months ago. senator elizabeth warren weighs in on the president's student loan forgiveness plan and much more. ♪ >> this is the pbs newshour from w eta studios in washington and in the west from the walter cronkite school of journalism at arizona state university. >> 2.5 weeks after the fbi searched donald trump's home in florida, federal magistrate judge ordered that the -- ordered the department of justice must release a redacted document that justify the search. reporter: it is not clear how much of that document we will e after the red actions but more information about the classified documents that donald trump took with him to mar-a-lago emerged this week. an attorney that focuses on national security issues is with

us. given the information the magistrate judge said needs to be protected, including the investigationstrategy, scope, sources and methods, how much are we likely to see of this document? could we still glean some clues from it? >> the general public based on what you described from the order to be unsealed will probably be disappointed in what is in this partially unredacted affidavit. i am hopeful that those of us that have experience with classified information and the like may be able to glean some nuances from it. it is probably going to reflect more about the information that has already been released such as in the acting are could -- to the lawyers that was released earlier this week that gives us

a chronological understanding of the discussions that happened between the trump team and the justice department and the national archives. reporter: i want to ask you about the letter. it was disclosed that some 700 pages of classified documents, some as high as top-secret, were returned to the archives from mar-a-lago in january. what context does that give to that fbi search? >> well, there are two things -- one, the letter that was released by the trump team, the supportive team, was quite damming to him. it showed the efforts that the u.s. government underwent to bend over backwards, to be patient with the trump team about gaining access to the documents. and that was harmful to donald trump's interests and their

legal argument. the search and seizure itself which was able to retrieve yet additional, multiple boxes of classified information up to what we call the ts/sci level, of sources and methods and agents and analysis of operations, that that showed right there that the search warrant application was justified. i think the more information that comes out, contrary to what the trump team is saying and encouraging it to happen is undermining their own legal arguments and public-policy posture. reporter: trump allies say the -- these are personal papers. >> we do not know exactly what is in there and i'm not gong to say there might not be some personal paper of a doodle the president did but he has a former president no executive privilege to continue to search. that is held by the current

administration. and if any information is classified, he has no authority to retain that information and he might not even have had as president the authority to declassify it if it dealt with information classified under the atomic energy act. i can understand they may have some legal differences to make later on especially if a criminal case transpires but at this stage, the basis was to get the documents back to the u.s. government and as is in the acting archivist letter, the trump team has the ability if they can get clear personnel -- cleared personnel like i am to go in and review what was seized. reporter: we also got the unredacted report that was sent to then attorney general william barr that led him to the conclusion that there was no evidence of obstruction of justice in the mueller report. what did we learn from that? >> that was a document that is

absolutely favorable to the president and his allies. it is a legal analysis. when i -- i litigate cases against the federal government all of the time. i file a brief and say this is what i think. office of legal counsel and the justice department sets policies for the u.s. governmt but their lawyers are aggie -- art arguing. what lawyers are going to now have to do is analyze the legal analysis to see if they believe it is of something different but if the attorney general wants the reverse, he certainly has the ability to do so but it was basically a legal document that made the decisions that there was no basis for prosecution at least under obstruction of justice. reporter: mark zaid, thank you

very much. ♪ host: 2.5 years into the pandemic, the cdc director is calling for a major overhaul of the agency. the changes will attempt to modernize operations and improve health messaging. this comes amidst heavy criticism about the agency's response to covid-19 and the response to monkeypox as well. dr. wilensky us now. come back to the newshour. you have come right out and said that the cdc failed to meet the moment. you have said you have to make the agency more responsive to emergencies. could you be more specific? >> thank you for having me. in its 76 year history the cdc

has never confronted an outbreak the size and scope of what we had to confront for covid-19 and what was clear that we did not reliably meet the expectations in the moment. what i am calling for is to have it -- pivot to a new culture where we are emphasizing accountability, collaboration, and communication and timeliness of the information we are putting forward. host: changing culture is an enormous task . ac/dc vet talked about this culture -- a cdc vet talked about this culture. is there some truth to what he said and does that mean you have to change your team? >> i have an exceptional agency full of exceptional subject experts some of whom are geeks and i embrace that.

they are doing the hard science we need to do. some of the structures and systems and policies we have in place have not allowed us to navigate in a nimble fashion. for example, we have infrastructure that promotes people for public health publications. some of those publications take a long time but if our promotion process relies on publications and we are incentivizing based action. some of the structures -- some of those structures are the ones we are working on. host: do you need more funding as well? is there political appetite to offer more funding to an agency that did not effectively respond to the pandemic? >> this is not something where we are asking for money in this moment. what i will say is that one of the things we are asking for is long-term sustainable resources that are nimble.

if we have many different line items that are disease specific, it is hard to be number for those in a moment when we have a new outbreak. a lot of what this reads that is going to do is to elevate those key public health components like our workforce and our data modernization efforts and testing and laboratory capacity so those are overarching import at the cdc and in public health across the country. it is the case that we don't know the public health challenge of tomorrow but if we have a nimble infrastructure is sustainably funded and is disease agnostic and that focuses on our workforce and lab and core capabilities, then we will have the oppornity to pivot and be in good shape. host: there is concerns about the response to the monkeypox

outbreak and they are worryingly similar to the concerns surrounding the covid-19 response. people did not know where they could get a test or get clear answers on treatment. ogle health officials say the cdc guidance on vaccines is confusing and it is setting them back in their response. why didn't the lessons from the early covert response work their way into the monkeypox response now? >> there is some similarities and some dissimilarities that we can take. some of the things were dissimilar is that we had a test for monkeypox. as soon as we had a case we put online the paper that demonstrated but the test was and how one could design the test. and that is because we have had decades of ongoing work in the monkeypox area. it was not a new pathogen but it was new to this country. it was new to every clinician around this country. and it was new to the community

who had likely never heard of monkeypox. we had a huge amount of education to do. there were challenges because people had been understanding how we operate in covid. how do i get a test if i am asymptomatic? that is not possible in monkeypox. you need a rash to do a test for monkeypox. this was the education and outbreak that we were doing. we scaled up testing. we have not had more of a desire for testing then we have had tests available. but we have had access challenges get into the tests. the other challenge we have had that is true for covid and is true for monkeypox is our visit bought -- is the visibility of our data. cdc cannot compel the data to come in. we rely on the volunteer reporting of data.

that has been a real challenge and it was a challenge in covid and it has again been a challenge for monkeypox. host: to educate the public and get the word out on monkeypox is one thing, the response is another. the first u.s. case was recorded in mid-may and the cases are at over 16,500. was there something that should've been done to keep the numbers from getting where they are? >> i think we have done an extraordinary job in educating and working with our partners in getting the vaccine out. this was not a vaccine intended for widespread use for this pathogen. this last week we put out data before prepublication, before it had been published putting data out faster and working with our public health partners. we are learning some of the lessons we learned in covid-19

and we will continue to do that outreach and i continue to say that in areas where we can continue to improve please tell us. host: all of this especially after the last two and a half years of the pdemic means billion's of people do not trust the cdc. some polls show 40% of americans and you see that in behavior. though vaccine rates among children in particular. how do you fix that? >> i came into the agency about halfway through the pandemic and this is something that i inherited. there has been politicizing of the cdc among the challenges that i inherited. what i will say is that one of the things we have to work on is work on our communications. this is one of the areas that came through in our review. one area related to that is prior to the pandemic the cdc was talking to scientific experts and public health

experts. has become clear through the pandemic that we are talking to the american public. we need to distill the science we are learning and make sure it is accessible to the american public. the other thing that has been challenging is the science has changed. that which was true for the original variant was not true for the delta variant and omicron variant. we have had to shift and update our guidance in the context of not just evolving science but also with the evolving variant. host: looking ahead to the upcoming winter, we know there will be a fall booster campaign. how should people decide if they should even get that shot especially when so many people have been infected and have some level of immunity? >> i don't want to get ahead of any fda action but what i will say is right now we have people

who are not yet fully up-to-date on their vaccines they have not received a booster. we know we continue to see 350-400 new deaths every day and as we look into those they are unvaccinated folks or under vaccinated folks. the most important thing you can do is stay up-to-date on your covid-19 vaccines and keep your children up-to-date on their vaccines. so much of what we know with the infection ishat so many of these severe outcomes are preventable. host: thank you for your time. ♪ host: last august the taliban swept into kabul. afghanistan national security forces fell apart in the

government dissolved. the president fled kabul in a helicopter and he is in the united arab emirates and he spoke with nick schifrin yesterday. reporter: it has been one years since the taliban took over afghanistan amid the government collapse and the chaotic u.s. withdrawal. to get some perspective return to the former president of afghanistan. mr. president, thank you very much and welcome back to the "newshour." let's start with your departure. last may you said, i will not abandon my people, my forces and i'm willing to die for my country. free months later on august 15 you left and you said you left because you did not want to give the taliban the pleasure of humiliating and afghan president. was avoiding humiliation worth abandoning the country? >> i firmly committed to defending my people, our armed

forces. at the last minute, i could not. i left as the last person in the chain of command because our forces could no longer sustain. i had no one to fight with me. it was not the situation where sacrificing myself would have saved the republic. on the country -- on the contrary, it would have created another trauma. reporter: you just said that you were one of the last to leave the country but in fact multiple senior officials in the government remained at the mome that you left. why did you leave when you did? >> because it became impossible. the guard collapsed. i was ready to go to the ministry of defense and the ministry was completely empty.

and when the national security advisor and the head of the pbs came, they gave me two minutes with the information that everything had collaps and the taliban were ready with a couple of teams to enter and destroy the palace. reporter: you describe it as a last-minute decision to writ -- believe but in fact the foreign minister that morning had prepared your passport. did you in fact already have plans to leave? >> yes, because my wife was leaving. the passport as an eventuality had been prepared but i did not have plans to leave. if i had plans to leave i would've had left with something other than the clothing i was wearing. reporter: a recent report from the investigator general said it is unlikely to be true that you took millions of dollars when you left would you have been accusedf and you have denied but the report said there were

$5 million in cash on the palace grounds. that money belong to you? >> i have declared $5 million in my declaration of assets in 2014. i do not know how much was left but my personal assets were looted. i did not leave anything because -- and i don't have any assets abroad. reporter: in the months before the fall of afghanistan, were you surprised with the speed that districts were falling to the taliban? >> the taliban could only function for the long period because of sanctuary and support from neighboring countries. second, afghanistan became the grounds for a proxy war between the united states and almost every other major power from russia to iran and others. related to this is the loss of

logistical support. at the end of 2020, there were about 20,000 contractors and they were withdrawn to last then 100 in july. but most significantly, the taliban onslaught went without any coherent diplomatic response. reporter: with the perspective of one year, what you believe happened was between the american withdrawal, the peace agreement the americans signed and international support in pakistan for the taliban and other intelligence agencies around the world, that is what you see lead to the collapse of your government. but do you also accept any blame? >> well, of course we all do. responsibility is shared. and where -- what i take responsibility for is to have trusted our key partner that signed our withdrawal agreement and for one full year is forces

were not attacked by the taliban but our forces paid the highest price. one has to take responsibility for trusting a partner that then trampled our sovereignty and imposed the release of 5000 prisoners among them the largest drug dealers in history in the region. reporter: you are describing the agreement signed by the trump administration and the taliban that put a date on the u.s. withdraw and forced the afghan government to release 5000 prisoners. the afghan government was not part of those negotiations. you and your aides have criticized that agreement for many years. by the end of the republic, one of the chief negotiators was humiliated. >> i am not the one who uses adjectives. what i want to point out, one,

the assumptions regarding taliban were highly flawed and based on wishful thinking. two, it is preparation and its implementation will go down in history as one of the worst agreements ever completed because it violated all. and then there were false assurances to us. we were ushered to the cease-fire would take place cash we were -- we were assured that the cease-fire would take place and the future government would be an indispensable part of the agreement which they were not. reporter: you are talking about the u.s. peace deal that led to what hapned but do you not acknowledge that afghan cover meant corruption and ineffectiveness sapped the willingness of many of your soldiers to fight and die for your government? >> corruption has two parts.

let me bring one to your attention. the wartime commission report that senator mccaskill commissioned -- reporter: can you not a knowledge that there -- can you not acknowledge there was ineffectiveness in the government? >> where did the corruption start? it started with the buying of the warlords by the bush administration. the scale of corruption is a confluence between your new patterns which [indiscernible] my agenda was to deal with this corruption and to contain it. this corruption was a cancer that simultaneously you need to see our sacrifices. we were losing between 200 and

400 officers and soldiers a day. a time comes when even steel has a snapping point. that point came because even the cities and provinces where a lot of the fighting took place could not receive sustained support. reporter: was there an alternative strategy and the six months or year before the fall of afghanistan? you are preseed with a couple of options, arming anti-taliban forces before you finally did, something you did at the end, or even pulling back from defending the entirety of the country to defending fewer districts and cities? with that have made a difference? >> it could have but we need to understand, 20 years of engagement had been building systems based on the premises of the 2024 departure.

there was an agreed date. the key was predictability. had the u.s. decided to tell us in january 2019 that it would withdraw by 2021, we would've enabled upland -- reporter: some of your senior advisors did warn you that this withdrawal was coming earlier rather than later. >> the u.s. was of two minds. the security component continuously wanted engagement and without the full participation of u.s. security forces we would not be able to prepare alone. reporter: let's look at today and forward. there is a question in washington about how to treat the taliban. do you think the biden administration should inject funds into afghanistan beyond humanitarian aid even if it

would help prop up the taliban? >> the taliban propped up -- the u.s. administration propped up the taliban. i would propose a conditionality based approach where it would go to the people. the taliban are not in need. the trafficking and the veiled arsenal becoming part of the national arms afficking is available to them. the suffering of the people has to take priority and that has to be the goal. reporter: do you support the national resistance front of afghanistan led by the former vice president? >> the way the taliban are conducting themselves, it is very likely they will be facing resistance. their repression, their suppression, their denial of rights and denial of voice -- we

need peoples peace. reporter: you said you want to return to afghanistan. would you return under taliban rule? >> i will not return under the taliban rule but i would be delighted to return as an afghan citizen to afghanistan where every afghan feels a sense of belonging. where afghani women and youth and poor become stakeholders and finally we get the stability that has been denied to us. reporter: thank you very much. ♪ host: pressure has been building for accountability after a disastrous police response to the mass shooting in uvalde, texas. the school board fired the police chief who had already

been suspended without pay. jeff bennett has the story. >> i have messages for the law enforcement that was there that day. turn in your badge. reporter: a child's plea at the school board meeting last night. roughly 100 students, survivors and parents crowded into the school board meeting carrying signs and bearing the weight of loss. >> if it was one of your children -- reporter: he did not attend prompting safety concerns. prompting this reaction. >> no one has threatened him. reporter: through his attorney he asked to be taken off of suspension and given backpay. in a closed door session the school board voted unanimously to fir him for his role in the botched response the shooting at robb school in may. >> there was a mass casualty at

robb elementary school in uvalde, texas. reporter: 21 people were killed, 19 students and two teachers. aredando was one of the first officers on the scene and it more than an hour for law enforcement officers to confront the teenage gunman. video from the day shows officers armed with shields and weapons as parents pleaded for more action from authorities. his attorney did not respond to our request for comment but in a 17 page statement released before the board meeting defended his rolensisting he saved as many lives as he could with the resources available. but many of the families say he is to blame. >> this was a long coming. >> what we are hearing from family members is that this is bringing a measure of solace to them. host: a journalist is reporting

on the aftermath of the shooting. >> this is such a she -- this is such a turning point for the community because it is the first time we have truly seen anyone be accountable for the flawed response and in this case we are seeing the chief pay for it with his job. reporter: and it may not only a redondo -- aredando. >> there were hundreds of officials there not only on the ground but also inside the hallway. this could possibly set the stage fo other agencies to possibly bring about some sort of administrative sanctions, terminations of those law enforcement officers. reporter: on september 6, students will have their first day of school since the tragedy but it will not be at robb elementary and some parents say their children are still wary of

returning. for the pbs newshour, i am geoff bennett. ♪ host: president biden's plan to cancel some student bt for millions of americans is drawing praise but also criticism. some say it goes too far while others say it does not do enough to address the high cost of college. senator elizabeth warren has long advocated for even larger relief. she spoke with the president's top advisers before the final announcement and she joins me now. senator warren, welcome back to the newshour. you have hailed this move as one of the biggest acts of consumer debt relief but you have also fought for maury. colleague has reported -- my colleague has reported that you were the one making the pitch to get the president to go beyond the $10,000 he was comfortable with. what was your final pitch to the president on this? >> so, it was about

concentrating the relief to those that need it most and that is where the president ended up. remember, a lot of people talk about this as $10,000 of cancellation. the majority of people that will have their loan debt canceled will get $20,000 of cancellation. and that is because the president said, $10,000 is the base bought a number -- another $10,000 for anyone who had a pell grant when they were in college. remember who that is -- 95% of the votes that had pell grant had family incomes under $60,000. i wanted more and i will still fight for more. i think there is more good that we can do but there is concentration where it is needed the most. that means that this morning, 20 million americans woke up without student loan debt for

the first time in their adult lives. and another 23 million americans woke up knowing their student loan debt burden is going to be smaller than it was. and i think that is good. host: let me ask you about that burden. let's walk through the math. you know the racial disparities. black are ours carry higher debts than their white counterparts. black borrowers on average have about $53,000 in student debt four years out of school. $20,000 in own forgiveness cut it down to $33,000. >> look, i pushed for a higher number in no small part for exactly that reason. in order to maximize how much we could close the racial wealth gap. but make no mistake, $20,000 of

debt forgiveness particularly when it is concentrated among tell recipients helps get us in the right direction. think of it this way, half of all of students that have oh -- half of all latinos -- half of all african americans will see their debt wiped out. host: if i can put to you some of the criticism coming from republicans but also from your fellow democrats. representive tim ryan who is in a tight senate race in ohio. he said waving debt for those already on a trajectory to financial security sends the wrong message to the millions of ohioans without a degree working just as hard to make ends meet. it is true some 60% of americans over the age of 25 do not have a college degree.

talk to those millions of americans who say, this is unfair. they do not want their tax dollars used to carry out what they see as a bailout for others. >> let's talk about fairness but let's start with the fact that many of the people we are talking about do not have college degrees. and they are not on a trajectory to have great wealth. most of the benefits of this program are going to go to people that have an income under $75,000. this is part of the reason why the unions fought so hard for working people to be able to get these benefits. but we should talk about fairness. here is the fairness i think about. when i was growing up my daddy ended up as a janitor. i wanted to be a public school teacher. i found a public university that was terrific that cost $50 a

semester. on a price i could pay for on a part-time waitressing job, i was able to go to college, get a diploma and become a schoolteacher. host: what about the cost of college? tuition historic over the last two decades and there are concerns that this move could drive people to believe there will be debt relief and colleges could raise tuitions and students would end up borrowing more and the student that crisis ge worse -- is that a risk? >> absolutely. we need to address the rising cost of college and there are a lot of different ways to do that. the democrats in the last stimulus package put a lot of money into the historically black colleges and universities to be able to help support those schools so they could bring down their tuition. i have been working hard on a piece of legislation that requires more transparency so the schools have to real -- have

to reveal the true cost of going, how many graduate, and how much money theyake on the others. host: the question is more about the concern that this me could make the student debt crisis worse. do you share that concern? >> i don't see at that way. i see we have a problem with the cost of higher education and it hagone up too fast and i is the responsibility of congress and the department of education to step in. part of what has happened is states have cut back on support for their public institutions and that means families have to pay. when you see the sticker price going up, it may not baby because the college is trying to spend more money to provide -- it may not baby because the college is trying to spendore money to provide that education -- host: there are concerns that this could be inflationary. it could undermine some of the

work that has been done. if that is the case, is this one time cancellation worth it? >> first of all, there is no data to back this up. the latest evidence i think is from goldman sachs saying the effect will be negligible. host: the committee for responsible budget has said they think this could undermine some of the gains made from the recent inflation reduction act. >> they said a tiny percent but they are ignoring what the president has done -- coupling debt cancellation with restarting payments for the 23 million americans but will restart paying. about $400 a month in student loan debt claimants -- debt payments poles that money out of the economy. that is a way to fight inflation. it is deflationary.

when these are put together, the effect i think we will see is that this move helps us fight inflation and brings down costs overall for families. host: i think it is fair to say this is an issue we will hear a lot about. elizabeth warren, democratic senator from massachusetts, thank you for joining us. >> thank you for having me. host: tomorrow, we will be speaking with republican senator john through an from south dakota about why he opposes this plan. ♪ host: there has been a growing appetite for fish around the world of the demand is raising questions and concerns about sustainability and impact. our signs correspondent has a first of a two-part look at what is known as aquaculture. reporter: it was a perfect

summer day when we steamed out of southwest harbor, maine on a different kind of fishing vehicle. is this a good place to raise salmon? >> certain places are great. reporter: our guide was with cook aquaculture. >> this is where fish have been living for thousands of years. reporter: and yet pollution, dams and fishing rendered atlantic salmon and endangered species in the u.s. cook firms them at 120 leases here and in canada. the company raises all sorts of fish all over the planet, 18 countries in all and business is booming. the global appetite for seafood as rapidly increasing. aquaculture is the fastest-growing form of food production in the world. >> there is no question there is a strong demand for our product. reporter: off of swan island we

boarded the ship where they monitor and feed their crop of nearly half a million salmon. they are kept in 16 flexible floating net made with stainless steel fiber to guard against escapes. we watched as they fed some of the fish using a network of submerged cameras. >> there is no feed coming down through the water column. reporter: the trick is releasing the feed at the right rate. too fast and it falls to the bottom of the sea impacting the bottom line. but it also can cause an environmental problem as the feed decomposes and generates nitrogen as does the fish poop. high nitrogen levels are a persistent problem for part salmon problems -- for salmon problems. >> one way to deal with it is proper density and proper site location. we get a2 foot rise and fall

of water so a lot of freshwater going through here. reporter: even at the perfect location, fish farmers have to closely monitor a myriad of factors to keep their crops healthy. firmed salmon are frequently best that with serious infestation of sea lice. he deploys custom-designed boats with warm freshwater showers to clean the fish. it is an expensive solution that may have an unlikely replacement. a marine biologist is director of the center for cooperative aquaculture resource at the university of maine. >> these are used as a cleaner fish to remove sea lice off of farmed salmon, form of biological control. reporter: norwegian salmon farmers developed the technique. researchers here believe one or two long fish -- lungfish should

be enough. >> as the salmon swim by and the lice become a problem, they dart out and plucked it off the salmon's back and needs edge. reporter: cook makes his own feed. it is a mixture. the company claims each pound of salmon sold that market requires 6/10 of a pound of fish meal and fish oil. in the early days of the industry, 30 years ago, it required almost seven times as much. >> these fish are six-month-old atlantic salmon. reporter: a microbiologist is the director of the university of maine's aquaculture research institute. she and her team are looking at alternatives to make salmon aquaculture more sustainable including insects. >> fish meal is more complicated and just the protein you are

putting in it. as long as they are getting the omega threes and the other fish oil and the other oils they need and we have come a long way and still having them taste really good i can atlantic salmon. reporter: it takes about three years for a salmon to grow from big to market. ash from -- from egg to market. it's sustainability favors -- its sustainability positively is compared to land agriculture. >> you can understand them being excited about that momentum but if you stop drinking the kool-aid for a moment and look at the other options on the table, like things that are already efficient, you stay, let's put this in perspective. reporter: the other options,

aquatic farms that produce crops further down the food chain. and in fact muscle and oyster farms in maine are also doing well. these crops require no imports and filter the water. sustainable sources of protein. >> i think the oceans have an important role of feeding the present and future of humanity. reporter: 70%-80% of the seafood that americans eat is imported. with its long sparsely populated coastline, maine may be an ideal place for aquaculture to grow but a coalition of lobster fissures and summer residents are opposed. jerry bowers is a ninth generation mainer who lives near frenchman's bay where a company seeks to build a 120 acre salmon

farm and hatchery. >> to see this proposal in the heart of acadia national park rang alarm bells for us. reporter: the project is mired in opposition. she says the state is too eager to approve aquaculture leases. >> it is the equivalent of setting up a farm on the town green. these are public waters. while i am supportive of making a living on the water, i want it done in a balanced way. reporter: jerry bowers believes land-based aquaculture is a better idea. the seeming contradiction in terms is gaining momentum as consumers' demand, technology permits and the oceans reached their limits. we will visit a fish farm in the middle of some cornfields in indiana in our next installment. the pbs newshour, i am miles o'brien maine. host: thank you.

stay tuned for part two coming soon. that is the newshour for tonight. join us online and again back here tomorrow evening. for all of us here at the pbs newshour, thank you for joining us and we will see you soon. >> major funding for the pbs "newshour" has been funded by ♪ ♪ >> for 25 years, consumer cellular has been offering plans to help people design -- to help people do more of what they like. to learn more visit consumer cellular.tv. >> the ford foundation working with visionaries on the front lines of social change worldwide. ♪ >> and with the ongoing support of these individuals and institutions and friends of the newshour including leonard and norma and patricia yuen.

and with the ongoing support of these institutions -- ♪ and friends of the newshour. ♪ this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. ♪ ♪ [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org]

[upbeat instrumental music] - hello everyone, and welcome to "amanpour and company," from kabul, afghanistan. here's what's coming up. the dire humanitarian catastrophe, with half the population facing starvation. i witness the desperate conditions on the ground, and ask the world food programme, if the worst is still to come. then, more of our world exclusive with onof afghanistan's most powerful and secretive players, deputy taliban leader, sirajuddin haqqani, on women's rights under their regime. and how women here have to navigate both repression and poverty, with activist mahbouba seraj. plus, domestic terror strikes the united states again. hari sreenivasan speaks to former fbi agent, tom o'connor, about the mass killings in buffalo, new york. [upbeat instrumental music]