Ocean Strategies is a public affairs firm specializing in seafood, fisheries and marine resources.
This special report highlights the current AOA process in SoCal and the Gulf Coast from start to finish. Sign up here to receive future policy reports straight to your inbox.
AOAs: Now is your time to weigh in
This spring marks five years since the world as we know it shifted in early 2020. In the early days of that time line, President Trump signed an executive order called Promoting American Seafood Competitiveness and Economic Growth.
Now five years later, the first Aquaculture Opportunity Areas are likely very close to being formally identified by NOAA’s Office of Aquaculture following a final public comment period on dual draft Programmatic Environmental Impact Statements for Southern California and off the Gulf Coast. The comment period closes on Feb. 20, 2025, for both regions.
And yet, in all this time, the confusion persists around what exactly an AOA is, what it does and what it does not do.
Our team has prepared fact sheets for both California and the Gulf, working alongside the Gulf of Mexico Reef Fish Shareholders’ Alliance on the latter, to create what we hope will be a comprehensive guidebook for stakeholders in both of these regions.
We hope you will consider commenting to make this process robust and thorough.
Your comments will help guide the final selection and descriptions of AOAs in these regions (or a decision not to make a selection). Your local knowledge and use of the waters in and around the proposed AOAs is critical to getting this process right.
AOAs do not authorize aquaculture projects, nor do they change or trigger the permitting process.
The AOA process is designed to support long-term planning for aquaculture development in federal waters and identify locations where aquaculture production would have minimal (or net positive) impact on the environment, as well as local businesses and communities.
The primary goal of identifying AOAs is to enhance American seafood competitiveness, strengthen food security, foster economic growth, and advance domestic commercial aquaculture development.
Download our fact sheets here, and we hope you will not hesitate to reach out to our team if you have any questions.
Ocean Strategies is a public affairs firm specializing in seafood, fisheries and marine resources. We created these documents to highlight the value of your feedback in your local waters. Your input can help strengthen working waterfronts, community-based fisheries and infrastructure that are critical to our domestic seafood supply. This affects all of us, from fishermen to retailers and distributors, to consumers and community members. Thank you to Sea Pact for supporting this important project.
