In rec ent years, a marked increase in whale entanglements in primarily Dungeness crab and California spiny lobster fishing gear has been documented along the West Coast of the United States, including California . This has heightened concerns from marine resource managers/regulatory agencies and other interested parties regarding any activities that put lines in the water, including offshore aquaculture activities.
At the same time, marine offshore aquaculture is positioned to expand in state and federal waters. Recognizing the concerns regarding potential interactions between offshore aquaculture gear and various protected marine species, particularly whales, NOAA Fisheries' West Coast Regional Aquaculture Coordinator in California convened a workshop to discuss and educate participants about the various types of offshore aquaculture gear and how it functions, how farms are managed and operated to avoid interactions, and also discuss and educate participants about the various whale species in the Southern California Bight and what we know and don't know about their behaviors, relative to lines in the water .
The workshop purpose, in addition to these educational sections, was to explore how to, in a regulatory context, address assessing potential risk of interactions with offshore aquaculture gears. Participants from many state and federal regulatory agencies were represented, as well as scientists, industry representatives , marine engineers, and stakeholders. Various tools for siting offshore aquaculture farms were also presented, as well as an introduction to species-specific 3-D models in development that can then be run through offshore aquaculture farm simulators to further inform understanding of potential whale behaviors if they encounter an offshore farm.
A number of next steps were outlined as outcomes of the workshop, one of which is convening a Southern California Offshore Aquaculture Working Group to continue these discussions and identify viable solutions in this developing industry.