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Council staff warn of reduced capacity; NMFS publishes aquaculture opportunity areas
Summary
PFMC executive director and NMFS regional staff described staffing reductions and capacity constraints and flagged newly published aquaculture opportunity areas in Southern California; council warned these changes will affect work planning and priorities.
Executive director Merrick Burden and NMFS West Coast staff briefed the council on staffing, budget and program updates.
Jennifer Quan (NMFS regional representative) told the council the region had "lost about 30 of our workforce" since January and estimated capacity was down roughly 37 percent in places. She said the agency is implementing rebalancing and prioritization plans and that the council would be briefed further in November on implications for council work.
Quan also reported that NMFS on Sept. 19 published a final programmatic environmental impact statement identifying 10 aquaculture Opportunity Areas (AOAs) in Southern California, including locations in the Santa Barbara Channel and Santa Monica Bay. She emphasized the planning nature of AOAs: "It's not a permitting action. Prospective farmers would still have to adhere to full permitting requirements," and noted the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers would be the federal permitting authority for offshore structures.
Burden and Quan said late receipt of some funding complicates planning but that the council had received nearly all anticipated funding for the year. Council members pressed staff for more detail about what job types were lost and how mission priorities will be triaged; Quan said internal consultations with staff are ongoing and promised an update at the November meeting.
Why it matters: Staffing reductions at NMFS affect the agency's ability to support council science, reviews and outreach. The AOA publication advances long-term planning for offshore aquaculture while leaving project‑level permitting and environmental review to other federal processes.
