Topic
Aquaculture
Aquaculture data show locations of aquaculture activities in Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, and Suffolk County, New York, as well as in offshore federal waters in the Northeast. The data show shellfish management areas across the region and specific lease or license areas in Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, and Eastern Suffolk County, New York. Also included in the data are managed natural shellfish beds in Connecticut, which are additional areas of aquaculture activity in the state.
Latest Updates
No changes to Aquaculture data since June 2021.
Data Providers and Sources
- Connecticut Department of Agriculture
- Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection
- Connecticut Sea Grant
- Maine Department of Marine Resources
- Maine Office of Geographic Information Systems
- Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries
- Massachusetts Office of Geographic Information
- New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services
- New Hampshire Fish and Game Department
- New York State Department of Environmental Conservation
- Rhode Island Coastal Resources Management Council
- Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management
- Rhode Island Geographic Information Database
- RPS
- Salem State University
- SeaPlan
- Suffolk County (NY) Department of Economic Development and Planning
- US Army Corps of Engineers New England District
- US Census
- US Food and Drug Administration National Shellfish Sanitation Program
Data Considerations
The Aquaculture data should be considered a work in progress. Site data are regularly reviewed by state officials. The Portal uses the best available information provided by each state and as such reflects differences among states in how aquaculture is documented. Data users are encouraged to read the metadata. Data on shellfish management areas in each state were aggregated and classified to display areas where shellfish harvesting is approved, restricted, or prohibited on a permanent or temporary basis. In some cases, shellfish harvesting may be prohibited after rainstorms because of the likely presence of toxins that are not present under normal conditions.
Status
The Portal’s Aquaculture datasets were last updated in June 2021, in collaboration with the US Army Corps of Engineers New England District, to include the boundaries of two open water aquaculture sites in a permit application filed by Blue Water Fisheries. In 2019, the Aquaculture data were updated with the latest dataset available for New Hampshire. In 2018, datasets for Maine and Rhode Island were updated.
The Portal Working Group is reviewing Aquaculture data for needed updates.
Examples of Data
- Aquaculture
- Shellfish Management Areas
- Proposed Blue Water Fisheries Open Water Sites