This story from WUWF spotlights a federal judge’s decision to strike down a nationwide permit that would have fast-tracked offshore fish farms like Ocean Era’s proposed project off of Florida’s Gulf Coast. Instead, the Hawaii-based company will now need to apply for more rigorous, site-specific permits.

Advocates like environmental attorney Marianne Cufone and NAMA’s own James Mitchell describe how this is a win for the Gulf and its communities. Individual permits offer more transparency and environmental review. They point out that rubber-stamping projects like this ignores how different ocean environments really are — what works in one place could cause serious harm in another. And while this doesn’t stop the fish farm altogether, it pumps the brakes on the push to put industrial-scale finfish farms in open federal waters.

Read more about the court ruling and what it means for offshore fish farming in U.S. waters.