Linking Salmon Aquaculture Synergies and Trade-Offs on Ecosystem Services to Human Wellbeing Constituents

Abstract

Salmon aquaculture has emerged as a successful economic industry generating high economic revenues to invest in the development of Chiloe region, Southern Chile. However, salmon aquaculture also consumes a substantial amount of ecosystem services, and the direct and indirect impacts on human wellbeing are still unknown and unexplored. This paper identifies the synergies and trade-offs caused by the salmon industry on a range of ecosystem services. The results show that large economic benefits due to the increase of provisioning ecosystem services are also causing a reduction on regulating and cultural services. Despite the improvement on average income and poverty levels experienced in communities closely associated with the sector, this progress is not large enough and social welfare did not improve substantially over the last decade. The rest of human wellbeing constituents in Chiloe region have not changed significantly compared to the development in the rest of the country.

Perceptions of shellfish aquaculture in British Columbia and implications for well-being in marine social-ecological systems

“…Adaptations, like aquaculture or other new uses of resources or sea space as responses to changing circumstances, can enhance or diminish social-ecological conditions, thereby affecting the flow of goods and services and the well-being within an SES. Aquaculture may enhance material well-being through the economic benefits of enhanced provisioning ecosystem services, but other components of well-being may decline as a result of negative effects on other ecosystem services (Outeiro and Villasante 2013). By engaging with values, preferences, and perceptions rather than simply objective material needs and economic imperatives, our approach explored the normative and subjective dimensions of the trade-offs inherent in shellfish aquaculture and, by extension, other activities in marine/coastal SESs (McGregor 2008, Armitage et al 2012.…”

“…By understanding what matters and contributes to the subjective sense of well-being among diverse stakeholders, we can begin to understand how the benefits and losses of an adaptation are distributed within a society and how adaptations are or are not socially sustainable (Coulthard 2012, Outeiro andVillasante 2013). Our definition of well-being is three-dimensional, incorporating aspects that are material, relational, and subjective (Armitage et al 2012).…”

Marine and Coastal Cultural Ecosystem Services: knowledge gaps and research priorities

“…For instance, aquaculture and commercial fishing areas often provide seafood at the expense of aesthetic, and recreation and leisure opportunities (Chan et al 2012b, Chung et al 2015, Outeiro and Villasante 2013, Ruiz-Frau et al 2013, Thurber et al 2014, Outeiro et al 2015b). Renewable and non-renewable energy production areas affect the supply of CES such as existence and bequest values, aesthetic amenities, symbolic, spiritual, sacred and/or religious experiences, cultural heritage and identity, and recreation and leisure (Papathanasopoulou et al 2015, Gee and Burkhard 2010.…”

“…By contributing to marine and coastal CES decline, such drivers negatively affect human wellbeing causing societal impacts. Some economic drivers play a particularly important role, namely land reclamation and habitat change in coastal wetlands for the purpose of economic growth (Chung et al 2015), coastal infrastructure development (Tengberg et al 2012, Hynes et al 2012), urbanization (Faggi et al 2013, Soy-Massoni et al 2016, Thiagarajah et al 2015, tourism (Wang et al 2016), industrial fishing (Ruiz-Frau et al 2013, Moberg and Folke 1999, Jobstvogt et al 2014, Rocha et al 2014, aquaculture (Outeiro and Villasante 2013), and maritime shipping (Jobstvogt et al 2014). Demographic drivers also affect marine and coastal CES supply and are related with depopulation (Hashimoto et al 2014), local communities' isolation (Sousa et al 2013), and aging of local communities (Hashimoto et al 2014).…”

Resilience and Challenges of Marine Social–Ecological Systems Under Complex and Interconnected Drivers

“…In the second paper, Outeiro and Villasante (2013) conceptualize the synergies and trade-offs caused by the salmon industry on a range of ecosystem services, and quantify the impacts of the sector on provisioning and cultural ecosystem services. Despite improvements in average income and poverty levels experienced in communities associated with the sector, the progress is not large enough, and social welfare did not improve substantially during the 2000s.…”