Often cited as one of the barriers to offshore aquaculture development in U.S. waters, the permitting and environmental review process for marine aquaculture is composed of a series permits, authorizations, consultations and reviews necessary for operations to comply with one of the most comprehensive regulatory environments in the world. Offshore aquaculture projects must navigate through the current regulatory environment influenced by evolving agency priorities, policy directives, emerging science and finite agency resources. Efforts to foster a more transparent and efficient permitting and environmental review process for offshore aquaculture remains a top priority and focus of the federal agencies involved in these processes.
In the Gulf of Mexico region, staff from NOAA Fisheries, the U.S. Environmental Protection, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and other federal agencies have a longstanding history of close coordination on aquaculture initiatives, dating back to the development of the Fisheries Management Plan for Regulating Offshore Aquaculture in the Gulf of Mexico. NOAA’s Gulf-wide planning effort to identify Aquaculture Opportunity Areas in the Gulf of Mexico has helped to improve aquaculture coordination across agency district and region boundaries, strengthened existing partnerships and fostered new ones across the federal agencies. This presentation and panel discussion with regional members of NOAA Fisheries, the U.S. Environmental Protection and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will discuss the methods, tools and techniques developed to improve interagency coordination, leading to more efficient and effective permitting and environmental review processes for offshore aquaculture projects in Gulf of Mexico.