NOAA seeks input on offshore aquaculture
March 24, 2014
By KT Pirquet
Federal marine fisheries regulators say that the environmental harm caused by the Deepwater Horizon oil spill will not impact the offshore aquaculture plan established by the Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council approved before the 2010 catastrophe.
The analysis is part of a newly released draft supplement to the final Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (PEIS) which the government has publicized for public comment.
The supplement analyzed new circumstances and data arising from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill as part of their final environmental impact review of the Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council’s offshore aquaculture plan.
The public has until March 31, 2014 to submit comments to the agency online or via mail.
The PEIS was created to consider new circumstances and information arising from the Deepwater Horizon blowout, including additional analysis of the management alternatives for the Aquaculture FMP and the Aquaculture FMP includes a Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (PEIS), the agency stated in the announcement of the public comment period.
A copy of this document can be downloaded at: http://www.gulfcouncil.org/fishery_management_plans/aquaculture_management.php
– Erich Luening
