On May 7, 2020, the White House issued an Executive Order (E.O.) on Promoting American Seafood Competitiveness and Economic Growth (E.O. 13921). The E.O. requires the Secretary of Commerce, in consultation with agencies, officials, and appropriate Regional Fishery Management Councils, and in coordination with appropriate State and tribal governments, to identify geographic areas containing locations suitable for commercial aquaculture and complete a National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (PEIS) for each area to assess the impact of siting aquaculture facilities there. Per E.O 13921, each PEIS may include the identification of suitable species for aquaculture in those particular locations, suitable gear for aquaculture in such locations, and suitable reporting requirements for owners and operators of aquaculture facilities in such locations. Each PEIS will analyze the environmental and related social and economic effects of siting aquaculture facilities within a specific area.
The Gulf of Mexico and Southern California Bight were selected as the first regions for focused evaluation. The National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science (NCCOS) then developed two marine spatial planning Atlases that analyze geographic areas that may be suitable for marine aquaculture development in federal waters in these two regions. These Atlases will be one source of information used to help to inform aquaculture planning efforts, including the identification of AOAs and the accompanying PEIS’s.
This talk will provide an update on the work that has been accomplished on the PEIS phase of AOA identification, and detail opportunities for public, stakeholder, and industry input.