NOAA Fisheries recently completed a multi-year, cross agency effort to identify Aquaculture Opportunity Areas (AOAs) in U.S. federal waters of the Gulf of America. This innovative planning effort utilized a combination of marine spatial planning, scientific analysis and stakeholder input to identify areas that are environmentally, socially, and economically suitable for offshore aquaculture development. The three AOAs identified off the Texas coast are considered potentially suitable for finfish, shellfish, macroalgae, or multi-species aquaculture operations, offering the greatest range of production opportunities for prospective growers. These AOAs are a subset of highly suitable areas for offshore aquaculture identified in the NOAA Technical Memo: An Aquaculture Opportunity Area Atlas for the U.S. Gulf of Mexico*
This presentation details the approach NOAA Fisheries took to develop the Draft and Final Programmatic Environmental Impact Statements (FPEIS) to identify AOAs in the Gulf of America; how interagency coordination across federal government agencies was accomplished for this effort; how stakeholder input was integrated and fundamental to the AOA identification process; how fishing data and input from the fishing sector was considered; and how the FPEIS, science advice products and other studies related to AOAs provide a foundation for generating efficiencies in the permitting and environmental review process of future aquaculture operations sited within the AOAs.
*An Aquaculture Opportunity Area Atlas for the U.S. Gulf of Mexico was published prior to Executive Order (E.O.) 14172, “Restoring Names That Honor American Greatness” (Jan. 20, 2025), which directed that the Gulf of Mexico be renamed the Gulf of America