Regulatory Regimes for Environmental Management of Marine Net Pen Aquaculture in Canada and the United States

As part of the Canada-United States Regulatory Cooperation Council, DFO and NOAA agreed to compile and share information about the current environmental management regimes for marine net pen aquaculture in Canada and the United States. The effort encompasses a review of the main regulatory requirements established by relevant federal and provincial/state authorities in both Canada and the United States to address issues of mutual concern, and a comparative analysis to identify similarities and differences between the regulatory requirements and management approaches in each country. The focus is on jurisdictions in which significant commercial-scale net pen aquaculture farms currently operate – namely, the Canadian provinces of British Columbia, New Brunswick, Newfoundland/Labrador, and Nova Scotia and the U.S. coastal states of Maine and Washington.