A Social-Ecological System Framework for Marine Aquaculture Research

Abstract

Aquaculture has been responsible for an impressive growth in the global supply of seafood. As of 2016, more than half of all global seafood production comes from aquaculture. To meet future global seafood demands, there is need and opportunity to expand marine aquaculture production in ways that are both socially and ecologically sustainable. This requires integrating biophysical, social, and engineering sciences. Such interdisciplinary research is difficult due to the complexity and multi-scale aspects of marine aquaculture and inherent challenges researchers face working across disciplines. To this end, we developed a framework based on Elinor Ostrom’s social–ecological system framework (SESF) to guide interdisciplinary research on marine aquaculture. We first present the framework and the social–ecological system variables relevant to research on marine aquaculture and then illustrate one application of this framework to interdisciplinary research underway in Maine, the largest producer of marine aquaculture products in the United States. We use the framework to compare oyster aquaculture in two study regions, with a focus on factors influencing the social and biophysical carrying capacity. We conclude that the flexibility provided by the SESF is well suited to inform interdisciplinary research on marine aquaculture, especially comparative, cross-case analysis.

Environmental indicators in salmon aquaculture research: A systematic review

“…Regulators must be aware that new indicators may emerge from multiple disciplines; however, integrating those indicators into a management regime that reflects the dynamic relationship between aquaculture system components will require an interdisciplinary approach. Growing recognition of these dynamics has already resulted in the development of interdisciplinary research and policy frameworks 35,36 …”

“…Growing recognition of these dynamics has already resulted in the development of interdisciplinary research and policy frameworks. 35,36 Where long-term interdisciplinary research has been recognized as both necessary and compliant with the delivery of EAA principles, the direction of such research may benefit from these social-ecological frameworks. and Canada make up over 90% of global salmon production.…”

The impact of oyster aquaculture on the estuarine carbonate system

“…A potential industry size of 50 million oysters was chosen for the year 2050 by extrapolating the current growth rate (approximately 1 million more oysters in the growing area each year) to the year 2050. Although other factors such as physical space, food supply, and competing uses may limit this growth (Johnson et al, 2019), we modeled this possible industry size to aid our exploration of the history of aquaculture in this system, as well as market and policy implications for shellfish aquaculture development in the Gulf of Maine (The Hale Group, Ltd and Gulf of Maine Research Institute, 2016). We used the model to isolate the impact of individual processes by modeling the changes in O resulting from alterations of one process at a time.…”

Fish Tales: How Narrative Modality, Emotion, and Transportation Influence Support for Sustainable Aquaculture

“…Finally, this project represents a small piece of a large, federally funded, transdisciplinary effort related to supporting sustainable marine aquaculture development in a coastal U.S. state (Johnson et al, 2019). While our goal in this study was to answer questions about the effects of narrative format on attitudinal and behavior change, other work has highlighted how support for local aquaculture development may hinge on, for instance, how communities value historic and present uses of the coast (Johnson & Hanes, 2019), or the effects of trust or social license (Runge et al, 2021).…”