Discussion Summary: Open Ocean Aquaculture— Moving Forward

In addition to the presentations given by the invited experts at the “Open Ocean Aquaculture— Moving Forward” workshop, valuable information was exchanged during the four discussion sessions held during the workshop. Discussion topics included current definitions of open ocean aquaculture, the non-environmental challenges to its further development, the business aspects, environmental monitoring, and the potential further expansion of open ocean aquaculture. At the end of the workshop, participants listed the main research gaps and strategies for moving open ocean aquaculture forward. We would like to express our thanks to John Corbin, John Forster, John Volkman, and Richard Langan for serving as recorders during the discussions and for their contribution to the content of this summary, which represents a compilation of their notes, a summary of the discussion transcripts, and written comments of the participants. We would also like to extend our appreciation for funding support from the Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA, Grant #NA05OAR4171169) to Oceanic Institute. The views and opinions expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Oceanic Institute, or of all of the participants at the workshop.