NOAA Fisheries is appealing for comment through May 28 to identify aquaculture opportunity areas in Alaska state waters.
NOAA is currently preparing its Alaska Aquaculture Opportunity Areas Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement.
Alternative 1 would be to take no action, Alternative 2 would entail identifying Aquaculture Opportunity Areas in one or more of the 77 “options” described in the Aquaculture Opportunity Area Atlas for the Gulf of Alaska. The 77 final options resulted in 13,031 acres identified as suitable for aquaculture across Southeast, Southcentral, and Southwest Alaska study areas. The impact statement will only consider shellfish and seaweeds, as Alaska state law prohibits finfish farming.
Comment electronically via the federal e-rulemaking portal: https://www.regulations.gov/document/NOAA-NMFS-2023-0113-0058. Mail written comments to Jon Kurland, Regional Administrator for Alaska Region NOAA Fisheries, Attn: Records Office, P.O. Box 21668, Juneau, Alaska 99802-1668.
Comment may also be made at one of two public scoping meetings: April 22, from 2-3 p.m. and April 28 from 9-10 a.m.
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