Offshore Aquaculture

Offshore aquaculture is fish or shellfish farming sited in exposed open-ocean waters away from sheltered coasts, often in submersible cages engineered for high-energy conditions. Moving operations offshore disperses nutrient and waste loading, lowers user conflict, and can reduce disease pressure, but raises engineering, mooring, and service costs. In the United States the federal Exclusive Economic Zone runs from 3 to 200 nautical miles, yet a 2020 Fifth Circuit ruling held that existing fisheries law gives NOAA no clear authority to permit commercial offshore aquaculture there, leaving the regulatory pathway contested pending legislation such as the AQUAA Act.