Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement for the Identification of Aquaculture Opportunity Areas in U.S. Federal Waters of Southern California

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA’s) National Marine Fisheries Service (NOAA Fisheries) West Coast Region is developing a programmatic environmental impact statement (PEIS), in accordance with the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), to analyze the potential impacts to the human environment that may occur should projects be proposed in one or more Aquaculture Opportunity Areas (AOAs), in federal waters of Southern California and to evaluate the impacts of siting aquaculture in those locations. The intent of this PEIS is to support long-term planning for offshore aquaculture. This PEIS considers a long-term planning effort that is not a regulatory or permitting action and does not propose to authorize or permit any specific aquaculture-related activities or propose to approve any individual aquaculture projects.