The terms “offshore”, “open ocean”, and “deep blue” have been used to describe aquacultures development further from the coast and/or in higher energy environments. Neither term has been clearly defined in scientific literature or in a legal context and the terms are often used interchangeably. These and other related terms (e.g., “exposed”, “high-energy”), refer to specific aspects of an environment where aquaculture is conducted, usually the geographic distance from shore or infrastructure, or the level of exposure to an extended fetch associated with high waves and strong currents. Other terms are used to describe aquaculture operations either closer to shore, such as “nearshore”, “inshore”, “onshore”, “coastal aquaculture”, and “sheltered aquaculture”, as well as very far from shore, such as “EEZ aquaculture”. The multiplicity of terminologies creates confusion among the many stakeholders involved and risks miscommunication of important properties of the aquaculture activity.
To reduce ambiguity for characterising these types of aquaculture environments the ICES Working Group for Open Ocean Aquaculture (WGOOA) established a clearer definition to: 1) promote a common understanding and avoid misuse for different classifications; 2) enable regulators to identify the characteristics of a marine site; 3) allow farmers to be able to assess or quantitatively compare sites for development; 4) equip developers and producers to identify operational parameters in which the equipment/vessels will operate; 5) provide insurers and investors with better means to assess risk and premiums; and 6) to circumvent the emergence of narratives that root in different cognitive interpretations of the terminology in public discourse arenas. In this presentation, we also discuss the evolution of the use of the term "offshore aquaculture" and the pressing need for a change to a more precise and robust term such as "exposed aquaculture", which is able to convey clearer information. Adopting this clearer definition of "exposed" will allow the user to define a site with more than just distance to shore.