Title 16 › Chapter 48— NATIONAL AQUACULTURE POLICY, PLANNING, AND DEVELOPMENT › § 2803
The Secretaries must create a National Aquaculture Development Plan within eighteen months after September 26, 1980. While making the Plan and any updates, and starting no later than six months after September 26, 1980, they must talk with the Commerce and Interior Secretaries, other federal officials, States, regional fishery councils, and aquaculture industry representatives, and let the public give comments. The Plan must name aquatic species with real commercial promise and say what public and private actions are needed to reach that promise (for example, research, technical help, demonstrations, education, and training). It must cover things like farm design and operation, water quality, how to use wastes (including thermal discharges), feeds and nutrition, biology and disease (including organisms that could hurt people), processing and marketing, production and quality control, and seed supply. The Plan should include studies of impacts on estuaries and other waters, work on legal or regulatory barriers, and any other research or assistance needed. Each action must have a time frame and say which Secretary or Secretaries are responsible, based on legal duties, agency expertise, and agreement among them. The Secretaries must review the Plan regularly and change it if new species look promising, actions are not being completed, or actions should be stopped because they met their goals or are not worth continuing. They must also keep an ongoing assessment that tracks the industry’s size and status, the institutions involved, species being grown, regions and markets with potential, federal programs that help aquaculture, and the main barriers to its development.
Full Legal Text
Conservation — Source: USLM XML via OLRC
Legislative History
Reference
Citation
16 U.S.C. § 2803
Title 16 — Conservation
Last Updated
Apr 5, 2026
Release point: 119-73not60