DATE: October 6, 2020
SUBJECT:
Title
PRESENTATION AND UPDATE ON THE NATIONAL OCEANIC AND ATMOSPHERIC ADMINISTRATION REGIONAL PLANNING ACTIVITIES TO INFORM SUSTAINABLE AQUACULTURE DEVELOPMENT IN THE SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA BIGHT
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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY:
At the December 8, 2015, Board meeting, staff provided an overview of aquaculture; its potential benefits and opportunities for the District and the San Diego region; and provided a preview of next steps to advance development of aquaculture. Since 2015, the District has been conducting studies, planning, and completing pre-development work to support and inform aquaculture opportunities in and around San Diego Bay. Specifically, the District has been working closely with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science (NCCOS), Coastal Aquaculture Siting and Sustainability Program (CASSP). The initial work focused on using coastal marine spatial planning tools to conduct exclusion, suitability, and an opportunity analyses to inform future aquaculture potential with a focus on shellfish and seaweed.
At the April 9, 2019 Board meeting, Dr. James Morris, senior ecologist at NOAA, NCCOS provided an overview of this work, and a preview of NOAA and the Department of the Interior's, Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) OceanReports Tool, a web-based interactive tool for ocean planning and mapping. Since then, the NOAA, NCCOS team has been using the results of the constraints and opportunity analyses to conduct a follow-on study to evaluate potential interactions of aquaculture and sensitive habitats in and around San Diego Bay.
In addition to NOAA's planning work specific to the District, NOAA-NCCOS has conducted siting analyses for other aquaculture operations in California and throughout the Nation. More recently, NOAA selected federal waters off southern California and the Gulf of Mexico to evaluate as the first two of ten Aquaculture Opportunity Areas (A...
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