Nearshore oceans with their high primary and secondary productivities, logistical support systems, and close proximity to markets are excellent places to develop marine aquaculture. However, as common property resources, the number and diversity of user conflicts increase with proximity to shore. Conflicts result in the overuse of the precautionary approach by ocean governance systems which create too many obstacles to increasing the number and sizes of marine aquaculture operations nearshore. Sustainable system change to expand marine aquaculture nearshore would consider fully ocean engineering advances made offshore that would open up large areas of highly energetic nearshore oceans that have fewer user conflicts. For example, in this context, offshore would be defined as a straight line drawn just along the outer edges of the state of Maine, USA complex shore of islands/bays a distance about 360 km to Canada, extending about 4 km from the shore. This area is approximately 1700 km2 of theoretically available space in energetic nearshore oceans. Improved development policies would include access in energetic sites nearshore to scale “out”, and connect these to offshore leasing for operations to scale “up”. The case of the state of Maine, USA and its contiguous sea, the Gulf of Maine (GoM) illustrates the potential for a seamless nearshore-offshore aquaculture governance system. The GoM is a productive marine basin with potential for development of both fed and non-fed aquaculture, located in a bioregion that has an historical affinity for seafoods. Markets are abundant as consumers have a higher rate of seafood consumption than national averages but the region meets its seafood needs from imports. Nearshore energetic ocean spaces are underutilized aquaculture opportunity areas that can serve as well-planned testing platforms for offshore enterprises. Scaling up of nearshore ocean space for aquaculture is currently regulated though an ocean-leasing structure tiered by size. Sizes of permitted offshore aquaculture systems have been derived less by applied science than by social/political factors derived from nearshore experiences, e.g. the “social license to operate”. Maine has a unique nearshore aquaculture research and development permit system for “scaling out” of nearshore marine aquaculture development, the limited permit access (LPA) system, which has attracted over 700 entrants. We call for the establishment of aquaculture platforms in nearshore, energetic oceans at scale that will inform the scale of offshore operations needed for financial success. Platforms will incorporate the best available science and participatory tools for improving knowledge exchange from industry to civil society. Sizing permits for offshore aquaculture should be based more on science than the precautionary principle, which has been overused to govern and permit offshore aquaculture.