Growing interest in establishing a regulatory framework to enable offshore aquaculture in the United States has raised some basic questions regarding economic implications of this type of aquaculture. To begin to address these questions, the NOAA Aquaculture Program coordinated a study group including some of the leading natural resource and fisheries economists and aquaculture business experts in the United States to examine:

    * Trends and factors shaping aquaculture today;
    * Forces that will drive it in the future;
    * Inputs and outputs necessary to sustain its growth;
    * Economic consequences of offshore aquaculture development in the United States; and
    * Benefits and costs of such a domestic industry to the nation.