A Notice of Intent in the Federal Register announcing the preparation of the Gulf of Mexico Aquaculture Opportunity Area Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement has been published by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
The aim is to assess the impacts of identifying one or more aquaculture opportunity areas in federal waters of the Gulf of Mexico.
NOAA Fisheries is leading the effort in partnership with the United States Army Corps of Engineers, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, and the US Air Force, which will be the cooperating agencies on the Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement.
Other agencies can join as cooperating or participating agencies as the process moves forward.
The Notice of Intent initiates a formal 60-day public scoping period for the Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement that will close on 1 August 2022. During this time, NOAA Fisheries will seek public comments to inform the scope and content of the Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement.
Public comments can be submitted in writing as well as during two virtual public meetings that will be held on 8 and 16 June and 12 July 2022.
NOAA said comments received during scoping will play a key role in helping determine the scope of the Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement.
NOAA Fisheries and its federal partners will use feedback from the public – including industry, states, local communities, tribal governments, commercial and recreational fishing organisations, fishery management councils, the environmental NGO community and other key stakeholders – to determine the number and location of alternative AOAs and the range of aquaculture types and systems evaluated in the Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement.
