Concluding Thoughts: the Future of Offshore Aquaculture

The Offshore Aquaculture Consortium (OAC) was created as a collaborative, Gulf-wide, interdisciplinary research and development program in response to the U.S. Department of Commerce Aquaculture Policy. OAC research has demonstrated numerous components of offshore aquaculture in the Gulf of Mexico including permitting requirements, mooring systems, cage/mooring survival during several hurricanes and tropical storms, automatic feeding capabilities, and fish survival during hurricane passage. Other components of OAC research will support a future offshore aquaculture industry including use of genetic analysis to identify harvested product originating from aquaculture facilities and creation of both economic and environmental impact models. Numerous impediments still exist that each, in part, retard development of an offshore aquaculture industry in the Gulf of Mexico, and throughout the nation. These impediments include unsteady government support, an unsuitable permitting and regulatory environment, negative public perception and user conflicts, incomplete industry planning, technology suitability, and insufficient and inconsistent fingerling supply. OFFSHORE AQUACULTURE CONSORTIUM The Offshore Aquaculture Consortium (OAC) was created as a collaborative, Gulfwide, interdisciplinary research and development program in response to the U.S. Department of Commerce Aquaculture Policy. The purpose of the OAC was to conduct studies in marine policy, ocean engineering, ocean environmental, and fish grow-out, among numerous other issues, to generate primary scientific data related to offshore aquaculture (http://www.masgc.org/oac/). OAC research has demonstrated numerous components of offshore aquaculture in the Gulf of Mexico including permitting requirements, mooring systems, cage/mooring survival during several hurricanes and tropical storms, automatic feeding capabilities, and fish survival during hurricane passage. Other components of OAC research will support a future offshore aquaculture industry including use of genetic analysis to identify harvested product originating from aquaculture facilities and creation of both economic and environmental impact models. However, economic viability and logistics to manage a commercial-scale operation offshore was not demonstrated. Now, with the termination of federal funds, the OAC has been forced to conclude its research. An offshore aquaculture sector still does not exist in the Gulf of Mexico. 1 Present Address: Newfoundland Aquaculture Industry Association, 20 Mount Scio Place, St. John’s, NL