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Biological
- Issues related to endangered species
- Conflict/compatibility with the natural habitat
- Availability of a viable candidate native species
- Lack of research on aquaculture's impact on the natural ecosystem (e.g. eelgrass)
- Availability of seedstock and juveniles—This can cause a bottleneck.
- Lack of hatcheries for fingerlings
- Lack of knowledge of early life history of potential aquaculture species (Nosho and Freeman 1994)
- Appropriate feed for larvae—Marine fish larvae are up to 10 times smaller than salmon larvae. This makes it more difficult to formulate and develop an artificial diet (Bromage et al. in Nosho and Freeman 1994)
- Research and technology transfer (culture techniques, larval rearing, diets, health certification) (Nosho and Freeman 1994)
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Economic
- Demand—Currently, much of the demand in the PNW is being satisfied by wild harvest; therefore, if wild harvest declines there may be a shift towards mariculture. (However, forty percent of the worldwide demand is satisfied by aquaculture.)
- Labor costs—It can be labor intensive, therefore expensive to rear and grow species.
- Energy costs—There are high costs associated with pumping, heating, treating, and filtering water.
- Lack of financing
- Long-term funding—Enhancement requires long-term funding (i.e. 5–10 years) (Nosho and Freeman 1994).
- Expensive permits
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Political
- Lack of an all-encompassing permit system—Many agencies are involved in the permit process, which makes it difficult to get permits.
- Unwelcome venture—some communities do not welcome aquaculture to an area since it competes with other industries.
- Lack of support—Leases are difficult to obtain.
- Not a priority—Public says aquaculture is not a priority.
- Zoning—There are limited areas that have good water quality and are zoned for aquaculture. All Oregon estuaries are already zoned by the Oregon Department of Land Conservation.
- Aesthetics—Visual degradation can occur using certain aquaculture methods. This will reduce or eliminate public support.
- Lack of Agency support—There is a lack of support for, or opposition to, aquaculture by federal and state agencies and local governments (including segments of the general public).
- Lack of state policy—There is no state policy for aquaculture/aquaculture development in Oregon.
- Washington constraint:
To get an aquaculture site, decisions are made at a county level including a public hearing. Obtaining a site will most likely get turned down due to the "not in my backyard" theory.
- Limited support for stock enhancement—There is a lack of support by the community for enhancement to be developed (Nosho and Freeman 1994). As wild stocks decrease interest in stock enhancement may increase.
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Location
- Establishing locations—It is difficult to find and develop a location that is appropriate.
- Lack of sheltered areas—There are a limited number of areas in the PNW that are protected from rough seas. The estuaries in Oregon are small, but Washington has a large area (Puget Sound, Willapa Bay).
- Access to markets–Often areas with high water quality are far from markets. Especially if a live product must be delivered to the market there would be increased shipping costs the further away the facility is from the market.
- Lack of research laboratories—The Pacific Northwest lacks a suitable marine lab facility for production scale research (the only large marine labs are the Hatfield Marine Science Center in Newport, Oregon and the Northwest Fisheries Science Center based in Seattle, Washington) (Nosho and Freeman 1994).
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