Atlas of Aquaculture Opportunity Areas Balances Shared Ocean Resources
Photo Credit: NOAA Fisheries
An atlas of aquaculture opportunity areas (AOAs) identifies locations on Alaska’s southern coast that might be suitable for shellfish and seaweed cultivation. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has been working on the map for the last three years, in cooperation with the Alaska Departments of Fish and Game and Natural Resources.
Although Alaska’s waters and coastlines are vast, conflicting uses constrain the areas where ocean farms could operate freely, and the report weighs these factors.
First Time in State Waters
Ten study areas were selected in Alaska state waters centered around the population centers of Juneau, Sitka, Petersburg, Wrangell, Craig, Ketchikan, Seward, Valdez, Cordova, and Kodiak Island.
From the original draft of AOA options, the acreage was reduced by 74 percent, leaving just seventy-seven areas totaling 13,032 acres. Southeast has the most, with fifty-three AOA options, nine of them in intertidal areas. The Kodiak Study Area has thirteen subtidal sites and two intertidal sites. And the Southcentral region was whittled down to nine subtidal options.
NOAA’s National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science led the project. NOAA previously identified AOAs in federal waters in the Gulf of Mexico and Southern California. The Alaska atlas marks the first time the AOA process has been applied to state waters.
Current Issue
February 2026
“Alaska has more coastline than the rest of the nation combined, and we should be using that resource to its full potential,” says Governor Mike Dunleavy. “This atlas helps identify where aquaculture makes sense in our state waters. It will support creating new job opportunities, strengthen food security for Alaskans, and add to Alaska’s already tremendous seafood industry.”
The atlas seeks to minimize conflict with other ocean uses and the surrounding ecosystem, specifically prioritizing the protection of commercial, recreational, and subsistence wild-harvest fisheries, while also making use of existing industry infrastructure, such as docks, processing facilities, and transportation routes to create new sustainable economic opportunities.
Promoting Seafood Competitiveness
Study areas are near populated areas, given that farming remote coasts or open ocean would be much less practical.
Photo Credit: National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science
“Americans should have access to safe, healthy, locally produced seafood,” says NOAA Administrator Neil Jacobs. “This atlas is a powerful source of coastal data, maps, and analysis that will inform aquaculture development in the state of Alaska and reduce America’s reliance on seafood imports.”
According to NOAA, aquaculture production sales in Alaska totaled $1.9 million in 2022, and the state has a goal to increase that to $100 million by 2040. State regulators have seen an increase in aquaculture permit applications in the last few years.
Photo Credit: National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science
The areas identified, ranging from 50 acres to 2,000 acres, were reviewed by hundreds of local, state, and federal organizations and through an extensive peer-review process. Sites in the atlas are not preapproved for aquaculture, and applicants would have to submit to state and federal permit processes.
Photo Credit: National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science
NOAA will continue to work with regional fishery management councils, tribes, and other stakeholders to identify areas to be considered in further depth for sustainable aquaculture. Once future sites are identified in Alaska, interested shellfish and seaweed growers will use the state and federal permitting process to authorize construction and operation.
The entire atlas report is published online.
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