Interest in aquaculture is booming in Alaska, and the federal government is trying to help the industry grow by mapping out “aquaculture opportunity areas” – specific patches of the ocean where kelp and oyster farming are most likely to succeed.
The designation won’t change regulatory or permitting requirements. But NOAA’s multiyear process to get there generates a lot of environmental data, Indigenous knowledge and public input.
Alicia Bishop is the regional aquaculture coordinator for NOAA Fisheries. She said that information can help both state regulators and potential farmers.
“NOAA’s role here is that we are trying to provide the best available information to help those managers make informed decisions, and to also help future farmers find appropriate locations for farming,” she said
A presidential executive order aimed at making American seafood more competitive kicked off the project at the national level in 2020. At the time, NOAA got more letters in support of starting the identification process in Alaska than any other region in the United States. NOAA has already assessed the Gulf of Mexico and Southern California, where they identified 13 final areas across more than 21 thousand acres.
The scale in Alaska could be smaller in acreage, but broader in scope. NOAA is considering 77 potential spots across more than 13,000 acres in the Gulf of Alaska, from Ketchikan to Kodiak. Kodiak alone has 13 preliminary locations covering nearly 2,000 acres: the most of any other part of Alaska.
Missy Good is a mariculture specialist based in Kodiak with Alaska Sea Grant: a partnership program between NOAA and the University of Alaska Fairbanks that conducts ocean research and outreach. She said it’s an ideal place to expand.
“Kodiak in particular, has a lot of upwelling. We have a lot of nutrients available, so we can have really productive growth here," she said. "We don't have sea ice to contend with. We don't have the freshwater influences that you see like Prince William Sound, where you have glacial runoff.”
And, Bishop said Kodiak is the only place in Alaska where people have been asking NOAA to expand the study area. Over the past decade, Good said Kodiak has built a lot of infrastructure for aquaculture. The Sunaq tribe received a $2.3 million grant to improve kelp processing last year..
Interest in the aquaculture market has ballooned not just in Kodiak, but across the state. According to NOAA, there’s been a 400% increase in new farm applications to the state since 2016. Good said aquaculture pairs well with Alaska’s existing industries.
“Pristine waters, extensive coastlines, a workforce that is here and ready with similar skill sets, with all of our commercial fisheries and processing infrastructure. Alaska is kind of an ideal spot,” she said.
Even though demand is growing for aquaculture farms in Alaska, Good said operations are still pretty small compared to heavy hitters in Asia. Combined, Asian countries produce over 90 percent of the world’s farmed seafood. But she said aquaculture could one day be the solution to some of Alaska’s problems.
“A lot of coastal communities are looking for economic diversification," she said. "We're seeing fishery failures in different places. And so it's like, 'What else can we do to maintain our livelihoods in the place that I want to live?' Aquatic farming could be an answer to that.”
Last month, NOAA opened a public comment period asking for scoping input on one of the final documents it will produce in the project, a programmatic environmental impact statement. NOAA will assess the potential impacts of putting aquaculture facilities in the areas they’ve identified, as well as the impact of conducting the assessment itself. NOAA is aiming to publish the final document in 2028.
Alaskans can submit their comments online at regulations.gov. Bishop said her agency is looking for comments about how aquaculture affects local economies, social and cultural practices, marine ecosystems, and more. The comment period closes on May 28.
