Posts Tagged ‘Legislation’


National Sustainable Offshore Aquaculture Act

Surfaced Aquapod

Open Ocean Aquaculture (Source: Ocean Farm Technologies, Inc.)

The National Sustainable Offshore Aquaculture Act 2009 has been introduced in the US to protect ocean health from risks of open ocean aquaculture. 

There are currently no overarching policies or laws stipulating how this method of fish farming should be governed in America’s territorial waters, generally beyond three miles from the coastline. 

This legislation establishes the first legally binding national standards for how fish farming should be conducted in the open ocean and offers a scientific based precautionary approach including environmental, socioeconomic and liability standards.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has said it will offer its own national aquaculture policy early in 2010.

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Environmental Assessment of Aquaculture in Western Australia

Barramundi Farm Western AustraliaOne of the barriers to the development of large-scale aquaculture in Western Australia has been the legislative regime for environmental approvals. Due to the lack of any explicit direction detailing information requirements crucial for assessment purposes, applications often experience significant delays in gaining approval to commence operations or to up-scale to more commercial volumes.

The Department of Fisheries (DoF), Department of Environment and Conservation (DEC), industry representatives and licensees recognised that a duplication and overlap in the environmental assessment of aquaculture existed. This prompted a review of environmental legislation by DEC in 2005. Aquaculture activities in general are low risk and regulations are now being amended to totally preclude aquaculture activities from the requirement to be separately environmentally licensed by DEC.

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