Dozens of experts from Scotland, Denmark, Canada, Mexico, and the U.S. convened in Silver Spring on March 20-21 to share insights into marine cage culture’s effects on the environment and the latest strategies to reduce them.
To support growth of the U.S. aquaculture industry while maintaining environmentalsustainability, Federal, state and local managers and regulators exchanged views on their needs andassessed the current state of knowledge.The participants reviewed a white paper on the effect marine cages have on their natural surroundings, and worked on refining the latestcapabilities andlimitations of today’s impact models to make them more useful.
This information is especially necessary for the Gulf of Mexico, where the Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Councilis currently developing a management plan for marine aquaculture, as well as for other states who have cage culture activities in their waters.
This workshop was supported by NOAA Fisheries’ Office of Aquaculture.