Webinar: NOAA’s new Alaska Aquaculture Atlas

Join AMA for a Zoom webinar on NOAA’s new Alaska Aquaculture Atlas, presented by Alicia Bishop & Chris Schillaci.

NOAA’s National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science published the Alaska Aquaculture Atlas and Digital Atlas on February 19. The Atlas uses spatial analyses to identify 77 options for Aquaculture Opportunity Areas (AOA) in the Gulf of Alaska. This Atlas is a powerful tool that will help to inform the identification of AOAs in Alaska state waters. To identify AOA options, NOAA in partnership with the State of Alaska, conducted a peer-reviewed siting analysis using hundreds of data types for ocean uses along with data obtained through public input. This is the first time in the AOA process that NOAA released a companion Digital Atlas, and the agency is excited to make all of these layers spatially available to the public. This report concludes the spatial analysis portion of the AOA planning process, and we will use the Atlas as one source of information as we move forward with environmental review in developing a programmatic environmental impact statement.