Offshore Aquaculture Monitoring Plan
Developed a scientifically robust offshore aquaculture monitoring plan, supporting regulatory review and ensuring practical, defensible, and internationally aligned environmental monitoring.
Location: California, USA
Client/Sector: Offshore aquaculture development
Challenge:
A proposed offshore aquaculture facility required detailed responses to regulatory comments from the California Coastal Commission on its Adaptive Management and Monitoring Plan. Regulators requested additional scientific justification for monitoring design, environmental risk assessment, and baseline data to ensure the project would not adversely impact the marine environment.
Aquatic Assessments Role:
Aquatic Assessments provided independent scientific advice and technical documentation to support the regulatory review process. Our work included a global literature review on offshore aquaculture impacts, development of statistically robust monitoring protocols, and design of monitoring frameworks for epifaunal communities, fish, seabirds, marine mammals, plankton, and fouling organisms. We also advised on hydrodynamic processes influencing the site and identified regional data sources to strengthen baseline environmental assessments.
Outcome:
This work ensured the environmental monitoring program was scientifically defensible, practical to implement offshore, and aligned with international best-practice approaches to environmental management of marine aquaculture.