NOAA Fisheries recently completed a multi-year, cross-agency effort to identify Aquaculture Opportunity Areas (AOAs) in U.S. federal waters off Southern California. This innovative planning process leveraged marine spatial planning, comprehensive scientific analysis, and stakeholder engagement to identify areas that are environmentally, socially, and economically suitable for responsible offshore aquaculture development. The AOAs identified within the Southern California Bight are considered potentially suitable for shellfish, macroalgae, and finfish. These sites were informed by a NOAA Technical Memorandum: An Aquaculture Opportunity Area Atlas for the Southern California Bight.
This presentation will detail the NOAA Fisheries’ approach to develop the Draft and Final Programmatic Environmental Impact Statements (FPEIS) for identifying AOAs in Southern California, including interagency coordination and stakeholder input. The FPEIS and accompanying science products provide a foundation for efficiencies in the permitting and environmental review process for future aquaculture operations sited within the Southern California AOAs.