---
kind: "section"
citation: "16 U.S.C. § 2808"
title: "16"
title_heading: "Conservation"
number: "2808"
heading: "Regulatory constraints on aquaculture"
release: "119-102"
url: "https://uscodex.org/usc/16/2808"
units:
  - "Chapter 48 — National Aquaculture Policy, Planning, and Development"
---

# §2808. Regulatory constraints on aquaculture

- (a) **Regulatory constraints study—** The [Secretaries](/usc/16/2802.md?p=7), through the [coordinating group](/usc/16/2802.md?p=4), shall conduct, within twelve months after September 26, 1980, a study of the [State](/usc/16/2802.md?p=9) and Federal regulatory restrictions to [aquaculture](/usc/16/2802.md?p=1) development in the United States. The study shall—
  - (1) include a literature review and a descriptive list identifying the parameters of the issue;
  - (2) identify and list relevant current and pending Federal regulations restricting the development of commercial [aquaculture](/usc/16/2802.md?p=1) operations;
  - (3) identify and list relevant current [State](/usc/16/2802.md?p=9) regulations restricting the development of commercial [aquaculture](/usc/16/2802.md?p=1) operations in five [States](/usc/16/544.md?p=r) selected randomly in five separate geographic [regions](/usc/16/1447a.md?p=6) of the United States;
  - (4) conduct case studies of ten commercial [aquaculture](/usc/16/2802.md?p=1) operations in the United States representing a wide range of marine and fresh water species to determine the practical effects of regulatory restrictions on [aquaculture](/usc/16/2802.md?p=1); and
  - (5) develop a flow-chart time line using the information obtained by means of [paragraphs (1) through (4)](#a-1..a-4) to identify those regulations and restrictions that could have the most detrimental effect in establishing commercial [aquaculture](/usc/16/2802.md?p=1) operations in the United States.

  Upon completion of the study, the [Secretaries](/usc/16/2802.md?p=7) shall submit its results to Congress.

- (b) **Regulatory constraints plan—** Based on the results of the Regulatory Constraints Study conducted under [subsection (a)](#a), and within six months of the study’s completion, the [Secretaries](/usc/16/2802.md?p=7) shall formulate a plan for acting on the study’s findings. The plan will contain specific steps the Federal Government can take to remove unnecessarily burdensome regulatory barriers to the initiation and operation of commercial [aquaculture](/usc/16/2802.md?p=1) ventures. Upon its completion, the [Secretaries](/usc/16/2802.md?p=7) shall submit the plan to Congress.

## Source credit

(Pub. L. 96–362, § 9, Sept. 26, 1980, 94 Stat. 1205.)