Take 5 minutes to enter your comments and make sure your voice is heard. 

As Terry Sawyer and John Finger, co-founders of Hog Island Oyster Co. recently put it: 

[The Draft Plan is a] serious attempt to build a real policy framework for shellfish and seaweed farming on our coast. For the first time, the state is asking: how do we do this responsibly, at scale, in a way that's good for the ocean and good for the people who depend on it? We think those are great questions. And we think your voice belongs in the answer.

Terry and John even prepared a draft comment to get you started. Scroll to the bottom to download a copy. 

What else should you know? 

No new aquaculture leases have been issued in California state waters in more than three decades. That is not a record of cautious stewardship, it is a signal that the system is not working. This Action Plan accurately names the core problems: 

• The permitting landscape in California is complex, costly, and time-consuming to navigate, and this has held the industry back. 
• The pace of implementation depends upon political will, agency capacity, and the availability of resources and funding to move it forward.

The Action Plan also names the right goals:

• Improving governance: Through interagency coordination and a transparent, coherent, consolidated leasing and permitting process
• Minimizing threats and maximizing sustainability: By developing science-backed siting guidance that identifies areas of avoidance and areas of opportunity for aquaculture production
• Facilitating development: Through a pilot-scale aquaculture permit program

I support these goals and propose some recommendations to ensure the Action Plan is effective for working farmers and emerging operators: 

• Recognize the full value of ocean farming, including its ecological benefits
• Design the pilot permit program with a pathway to scale
• Reduce the CEQA burden for individual operators
• Fix how lease costs are calculated relative to usable area
• Include upland infrastructure in the scope of this plan
• Build the capacity and allocate the funding required to implement the Action Plan

Want more context on California? Check out our leasing and permitting guides here and here. 

If you want to help shape the future of the seaweed and shellfish industry in California, now is the time to weigh in. Take 5 minutes to enter your comments today. 

Draft comment letter from Hog Island Oyster Co.: OPC_Public_Comment_Letter