The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced Alaska as the next location to identify aquaculture opportunity areas, or “AOAs,” in June of this year. Before this, they went through a similar process in federal waters around Southern California and the Gulf of Mexico. AOAs are areas designated by NOAA to be suitable for commercial aquaculture to take place.
Aquaculture, also known as mariculture, includes the cultivation of marine life outside of finfish. This includes shellfish, kelp, sea cucumbers and more.
NOAA undergoes a roughly four year process to identify these areas. The first two years are spent collecting data and creating maps, and the following two years are spent on an environmental review through the National Environmental Policy Act.
During the environmental review, the administration will analyze the environmental impact of aquaculture as well as economic, sociocultural and protected resource impacts.
NOAA Fisheries aquaculture coordinator Alicia Bishop said these areas serve to help farmers find suitable places to launch their aquaculture ventures, but that the state, and not NOAA, ultimately creates regulations and grants permits.
“NOAA is really here to try to pull together the best available information to help regulators and new farmers make educated decisions about where to cite farms,” she said.
NOAA is currently in the middle of a 60 day request for information, where they gather public comment on proposed areas. They are basing these areas on waters within 25 miles of population centers that are not heavily impacted by winter sea ice.
In the state’s southcentral region, this includes waters near Homer, Seward, Valdez and Cordova, which all have mariculture operations near them.
They are specifically looking for feedback on their current parameters, areas to avoid and any relevant data to establishing AOAs.
The Alutiiq Pride Marine Institute is based out of Seward and serves tribes across southcentral Alaska. They are one of a small handful of tribally operated mariculture production and research centers in the state. They serve the tribes in Chenega, Cordova, Nanwalek, Port Graham, Seward, Tatitlek and Valdez.
Mariculture liaison Brianna Murphy sends aquaculture related information to these tribes . She emphasized the importance of getting Native stakeholders’ perspectives on areas good for aquaculture, as well as identifying subsistence areas and those of cultural importance that would not be appropriate as an opportunity area.
“Identifying good areas for aquaculture within Alaska is a key component of this,” she said, “but it's also equally important to kind of recognize that it's also an opportunity for folks to speak out about areas that they don't want to see developed or commercialized for mariculture, or aquaculture within the state.”
Alutiiq Pride Marine Institute science director Maile Branson said the institute supports AOAs and would be able to bring their research to more people.
“If we become an aquaculture opportunity area, I think that a lot of folks will start to tap into the research that we've done, and the knowledge that we've produced and co-produced with a number of different folk,” Branson said, “and I also think it opens the door for a huge amount of additional research and development on our end.”
Following the request for information, Bishop said NOAA will be collecting more spatial data and seeing what other information is needed to narrow down the AOAs.
The request for information will remain open until December 18. The public can submit comments online or by mail.
