Project abstract purpose: the purpose of this project is to conduct legal and policy research to enhance the data in the state marine aquaculture policy dashboard

The University of Mississippi received a $307,245 Cooperative Agreement from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) under the Sea Grant Support program (CFDA 11.417), effective September 1, 2025 through August 31, 2028. The award funds legal and policy research to enhance the State Marine Aquaculture Policy Dashboard, a comprehensive resource launched in January 2024 by the National Sea Grant Law Center and Florida State University that tracks 42 legislative, policy, and management attributes across 23 marine coastal states. The research will systematically review primary sources of aquaculture policy to expand dashboard geographic coverage by adding data for five U.S. territories (American Samoa, Guam, Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, and U.S. Virgin Islands) and expand policy breadth by incorporating new attributes related to environmental impacts and farming operations regulations.

The project delivers two primary products: (1) comprehensive law and policy research analyzing territorial codes, statutes, and regulations for all existing dashboard attributes across the five territories and newly identified attributes for all 23 coastal states and territories, and (2) outreach activities to disseminate findings to dashboard users and stakeholders. These deliverables will strengthen the dashboard as a decision-support tool for marine aquaculture management and policy development, enabling more sustainable industry development and improved state regulatory processes by filling critical information gaps identified by end users.

Activities

Two categories of activities are proposed: (1) law and policy research and (2) outreach. The law and policy research will involve a systematic review of the primary sources of aquaculture policy for each U.S. Territory, including territorial codes, statutes, and regulations, for all 42 attributes currently in the dashboard. The project team will also conduct law and policy research to add new attributes related to environmental impacts/benefits and farming operations for the 23 coastal marine states and the 5 territories. Upon completion of research, the team will modify the structure of the tableau dashboard to display the new data. The project team will also conduct extensive outreach to share project results with state and federal policymakers, academic researchers, and industry members through policy briefs, fact sheets, dashboard visualizations, and webinars and other presentations.

Expected outcomes

This project will result in increased accessibility of high quality and consistent aquaculture policy data, increased use of the state marine aquaculture policy dashboard to inform and enhance regulatory reform and modernization efforts, and increased collaboration and comparative analysis across marine coastal states and territories regarding aquaculture management and policy development.

Intended beneficiaries

One of the primary end users is state regulators, and the project team will conduct extensive outreach to share research findings and engage this group throughout the project. Specifically, the project team will continue its partnership with the state marine aquaculture coordination network to share project updates with state marine aquaculture contacts and sea grant aquaculture extension agents and will provide annual opportunities to review the data.

Subrecipient activities

There is one subaward associated with this project to florida state university for the CO-PI and a graduate student to conduct policy research to add information for the five U.S. Territories and new policy attributes. FSU will also assist with annual data reviews, outreach and education activities, and lead the development of at least one peer-reviewed paper.