Comments closed September 13
Stop industrial fish farms from colonizing U.S. coastal waters
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
- What
- NOAA is selecting new ocean zones for commercial aquaculture operations that could permanently alter marine ecosystems and fishing grounds.
- Where
- The notice names no place; see the agency’s own words under Case.
- How much
- Wild fisheries, tribal fishing rights, and coastal marine ecosystems face displacement by industrial aquaculture facilities in federal waters.
- Decided
- Comments closed September 13, 2026. No decision document is on file yet.Date from Federal Register ↗, read August 1, 2026.
Where these four lines come from
- WhatOur plain-English read of the Federal Register 2026-15435 ↗. Check it against the agency’s own words under Case.
- WhereThe places and states the notice names, as PLAN read them.
- How muchThe first sentence of our What’s at risk read of the notice; the whole read is under Case.
- DecidedSeptember 13, 2026, from Federal Register, the document’s comment close date (federalregister.gov) ↗. Read August 1, 2026. The decision document is the one on file in PLAN’s record.
- Read from PLAN’s record November 9, 2026.
Danielle Blacklock
Director, Office of Aquaculture, National Marine Fisheries Service
A person signed this, not an agency. The window has closed and the signature stands, which is exactly when accountability matters.
NOAA Fisheries Directorate
Assistant Administrator of Fisheries
Short is better. You are asking the Assistant Administrator of Fisheries to answer for a decision their office made.
My name is [your name] and I'm calling from [your city and state]. Danielle Blacklock, Director, Office of Aquaculture, National Marine Fisheries Service, signed the decision on Stop industrial fish farms from colonizing U.S. coastal waters. I'm asking the NOAA Fisheries Directorate to withdraw that decision and require full environmental review before anything proceeds. Please record that I called and tell me what the office intends to do.
Official channels only, about this decision. No personal phone numbers, no home addresses, no personal social accounts, and nothing abusive. The point is to make the office answer, and an abusive call is the one thing that lets it off the hook.
What the proposal said, and what the decision did
No figure from the proposal has been checked against the decision on this fight yet. What the record does hold is the issues ledger below.
No decision document is on PLAN’s record for this fight yet. When the agency’s decision lands, what it answered goes here.
Affects public lands
NOAA is selecting new ocean zones for commercial aquaculture operations that could permanently alter marine ecosystems and fishing grounds.
What’s at risk
If this goes through
Our plain-English read of the official notice ↗. Check it against the agency’s own words below.
The agency’s own analysis
What the notice says, and what it leaves out
The window has closed; the record of what was missing stays.
The agency says
“NOAA is soliciting information on technical siting requirements for aquaculture operations to inform spatial analysis for future AOAs.”
The notice asserts that AOA identification will use 'the best available science' and account for 'key environmental, economic, social, and cultural considerations,' but the RFI itself reveals that basic siting data -- depth, current, wave climate, proximity to shore -- has not yet been collected and must be solicited from the public through Question 3.
The agency says
“Additional NEPA analysis beyond the PEIS may be necessary as a part of permitting and authorization processes for individual operations.”
The Background section acknowledges that 'additional NEPA analysis beyond the PEIS may be necessary as a part of permitting and authorization processes for individual operations,' yet it simultaneously states that 'aquaculture operations proposed within an AOA would have the same Federal and State permitting and authorization requirements as anywhere else.' These two statements together mean that AOA designation confers no additional environmental protection while still channeling development into designated areas, making the PEIS a planning document that pre-selects locations without guaranteeing any enhanced scrutiny.
The agency says
“Is there information that may not be readily available or accessible online that would be useful for AOA planning processes in your region?”
Question 9 asks the public to supply GIS layers and spatial data for subsistence harvest, culturally important sites, protected species and habitats, ocean acidification indices, and kelp beds -- data categories that are central to any programmatic environmental impact statement.
The agency says
“On September 19, 2025, NOAA identified 13 AOAs totaling more than 21,000 acres in U.S. Federal waters of the Gulf of America and off Southern California.”
The notice states that NOAA identified 13 AOAs totaling more than 21,000 acres in the Gulf of America and off Southern California on September 19, 2025, and that the NCCOS published an Atlas for Alaska on February 19, 2026, identifying 77 options across 10 study areas.
The agency says
“What resource use conflicts should be considered as NOAA identifies future AOAs? Please describe specific considerations that might make an area unfavorable.”
Question 5 asks respondents to identify 'resource use conflicts' and 'ongoing or planned activities or ocean uses' that might make an area unfavorable, but the notice provides no list of currently known conflicts, no summary of conflicts identified during the Gulf of America or Southern California AOA process, and no baseline of existing ocean uses such as commercial fishing grounds, shipping lanes, or military operating areas.
The agency says
“in coordination with appropriate state, jurisdictional and tribal governments to identify AOAs nationally.”
The notice states that tribal coordination is required under E.O.
The agency says
“Should the size of AOAs be aligned with regional or state/jurisdictional economic development goals for aquaculture?”
Question 6 asks whether AOA size should be 'aligned with regional or state/jurisdictional economic development goals for aquaculture,' which introduces an economic development criterion that is not derived from environmental suitability analysis.
The agency says
“some forms of aquaculture have been practiced in coastal waters for decades, generating a substantial body of peer-reviewed scientific literature, state-level environmental reviews, and site-specific NEPA analyses.”
The notice acknowledges that 'some forms of aquaculture have been practiced in coastal waters for decades, generating a substantial body of peer-reviewed scientific literature, state-level environmental reviews, and site-specific NEPA analyses,' but it does not identify which specific impacts from that literature are already well-characterized and which remain uncertain.
The agency says
“Presence in or use of an area by protected species (e.g., large whales, sea turtles, dolphins, sea otters, sea lions, etc.).”
Question 4 asks the public to identify locations that should be avoided due to protected species presence, including 'large whales, sea turtles, dolphins, sea otters, sea lions,' but the notice provides no information about what protected species distribution data NOAA's own scientists -- who manage Endangered Species Act consultations -- already hold for the candidate regions.
The agency says
“What regions of the country should next be considered for future AOAs?”
The notice lists five specific candidate regions in Question 1 -- New England, Mid-Atlantic, South Atlantic, U.S. Caribbean, and Pacific Islands -- but provides no explanation of how these five regions were selected over others, what screening criteria were applied, or why, for example, the Pacific Northwest coast or the Atlantic offshore are not listed.
In the agency’s own words
NOAA is issuing this request for information (RFI) to collect information to help identify the next geographic region(s) of focus for Aquaculture Opportunity Areas (AOA) identification. On May 7, 2020, the White House issued an Executive Order (E.O.) on Promoting American Seafood Competitiveness and Economic Growth, which requires the Secretary of Commerce to identify geographic areas containing locations suitable for commercial aquaculture. These geographic areas are referred to as AOAs. NOAA requests data, comments, views, information, analysis, or suggestions from the public to support the identification of AO…
Who signs it
Danielle Blacklock
Director, Office of Aquaculture, National Marine Fisheries Service
Where the notice says so
The ground
The window has closed, so there’s no watch to set on it here.
In court on this ground
This fight isn’t bound to a land unit in PLAN’s record yet, so there are no court cases to show for its ground.
Who holds the vote
PLAN’s record doesn’t tie a member of Congress to this fight yet. The scorecard grades the votes and bills that decide public lands; nothing joins a vote or a bill to this decision, so there’s no member to name here without guessing.
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