---
kind: "section"
citation: "16 U.S.C. § 2808"
title: "16"
title_heading: "Conservation"
number: "2808"
heading: "Regulatory constraints on aquaculture"
release: "119-102"
date: "2026-07-12"
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 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)](#a-1) through [(4)](#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](/usc/16/3102.md?p=18) 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.)