Washington, Oregon and California Aquaculture Management and Siting Resources

Listed below are spatial tools to assist with initial site investigation and planning for aquaculture projects in Washington, Oregon and California. While these spatial tools are not regulatory in nature, they provide human use and natural resource information that is relevant for local, state and Federal permitting.

The National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science (NCCOS) and the National Ocean Service (NOS), provide comprehensive mapping tools and resources:

• NCCOS: Coastal Aquaculture Siting and Sustainability (CASS)
• NOS: Coastal Decision-Making Tools  

Please contact NOAA Fisheries West Coast Region Aquaculture Coordinators for additional guidance.

• Washington/Oregon: Teri King at Teri.King@noaa.gov
• California: Celia Barroso at Celia.Barroso@noaa.gov

Federal Waters

• NOAA’s OceanReports - This web-based, report-centric tool provides coastal and ocean planners with a high-level analysis for their custom-drawn area of interest. It provides summary statistics and infographics for six main topics: general information, energy and minerals, natural resources and conservation, oceanographic and biophysical, transportation and infrastructure, and economics and commerce.
• National AquaMapper - The National AquaMapper provides aquaculture-relevant data for offshore waters of the United States in one easy-to-use map viewer. This tool is designed to support and inform screening of ocean areas for aquaculture through visualization of numerous siting parameters. For any marine location, exploration is now possible via visualization of other existing ocean uses, as well as needed oceanographic parameters. 
• NOAA Environmental Response Management Application (ERMA)- Designed to integrate static and real time data such as Environmental Sensitivity Index (ESI) maps, ship locations, weather, and ocean currents, in a centralized, easy-to-use format for environmental responders and natural resource decision makers.
• NANOOS Visualization System (NVS) Data Explorer - NANOOS’ most comprehensive NVS web application, providing real-time, historical, and remote sensing water quality, atmospheric and hydrographic data throughout coastal Washington, Oregon and northern California
• Marine Cadastre National Viewer -  A joint Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) and NOAA initiative, providing ocean-related data and information to support ocean-planning efforts.

Washington State Waters

• Washington Department of Natural Resources
  • Marine Vegetation Atlas - Current and historic vegetation observations to assist resource managers
  • Puget Sound Eelgrass Monitoring Data Viewer - Interactive map providing access to 16 years of eelgrass monitoring data at select sites in Puget Sound
• Washington State Department of Health: Shellfish Growing Areas - An interactive map with data related to the classification of commercial shellfish growing areas and includes water quality, commercial harvest site locations, and other data
• Washington Department of Ecology Coastal Atlas - A general GIS-based resource providing information on public beaches, shoreline properties, biology and slope stability
• Washington Geospatial Database - An open source database with a large variety of data layers relevant to marine spatial planning
• Washington Coast Marine Spatial Plan - An interactive mapping tool that includes data layers showing human uses, marine life, habitat, and physical oceanography of coast waters
• Northwest Straits Marine Resource Committees (MRCs) Sound IQ - A tool managed by the Northwest Straits Commission that allows you to search for Puget Sound-area environmental information and create custom maps

Oregon State Waters

• Oregon Department of Agriculture (ODA) Commercial Shellfish Harvesting & Growing Areas Map - A map of ODA-approved areas for harvesters who sell shellfish for human consumption  
• Oregon Explorer Interactive Map - An interactive map designed to allow users to explore Oregon land including basins, subasins, and watersheds
  • Oregon Coastal Atlas - Background information and data related to the Oregon Coastal Zone 
  • Coos Estuary Map Atlas - Provides data and maps that show current conditions (physical and biological) within the Coos Estuary
• Oregon Geospatial Enterprise Office Map and Data Resources - A data library housing spatial information from Oregon state departments and the University of Oregon
• Oregon Spatial Data Library - An open source database with a variety of GIS data layers

California State Waters

• California Department of Fish and Wildlife: Marine and Coastal Viewer (MarineBIOS) - An interactive map for referencing marine resource planning data such as the boundaries and regulations of marine protected areas or investigating the attributes of benthic and intertidal habitat information