World Aquaculture Magazine - September 2021

WWW.WA S .ORG • WORLD AQUACULTURE • SEP TEMBER 2021 39 for lawmakers that may help them build confidence in supporting and growing US marine aquaculture. Social License More accurate and consistent data may help build trust with policymakers, stakeholders and communities, which is important for improving social license. Better and more transparent data can help environmental NGOs participating in the marine aquaculture space play a more robust role in supporting sustainable food systems and help build trust and support. Some are working on more aggressive public campaigns to promote responsible marine aquaculture as part of a sustainable food portfolio but many hesitate to champion marine aquaculture because of gaps in data and understanding of interactions between farms and ecosystems. Data that are accessible, consistent and up-to-date on production (e.g., species, value, volume), the environment and other factors can help build trust and social license from stakeholders and communities. Systemic Shocks The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in a major shock to US food systems, including seafood. Domestic aquaculture producers were among those seeking COVID relief funds. Resources allocated to the sector were calculated based on limited data, much of which are only available through the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) Census of Aquaculture. According to a survey conducted by Virginia Technical Institute, it is unclear if the COVID assistance programs will be sufficient to help US seafood farmers long-term. There are still many uncertainties (e.g., disruptions in the market and increased cost of production) that will impact US seafood farmers’ ability to recuperate fromCOVID-related losses. This lack of adequate production data before and after COVIDwill impair the development of US aquaculture. Increasing impacts from climate change are also a source of growing systemic shocks that can impact seafood and associated livelihoods. Climate change impacts affecting the seafood industry include marine heat waves, sea level rise, harmful algal blooms and increased storms. Addressing and recovering from these systemic shocks will require higher resolution data over shorter timescales to address growing uncertainties and allowmanagers to adjust reference points. StakeholderBenefits US seafood farmers, resource managers and other stakeholders (Fig. 1) will benefit frommore accurate and consistent digital data. Farmers could benefit frommore streamlined or even expedited permitting and leasing requirements. This could result frommore streamlined digitized data entry processes as well as more confidence among agency staff, who can make more informed and rapid decisions with stronger, more up-to-date data. Farmers may also benefit frommore up-to-date data that enables them to better prepare and respond to system changes (e.g., ocean acidification, disease). More coordinated and consistent data can help agencies and resource managers understand, monitor and adapt to systemic changes and events to support sustainable production. They can also more accurately determine and monitor progress toward production targets and goals and distribute relief funds more readily. Current State of the Data Currently, US marine aquaculture data are collected by the USDA, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and individual states. The USDA conducts and releases the Census of Aquaculture every five to eight years. It also conducts voluntary annual data surveys for freshwater trout and catfish. NOAA collects state-level data and publicly releases regional and national value and volume statistics about every year. State-level collection and reporting varies widely. In 2019, the NOAANational Sea Grant Program funded the first multi-state synthesis and comparison of US marine aquaculture data. Preliminary findings from this effort showmajor discrepancies in the resolution, consistency and time scales for each of the data sources (USDA, NOAA and states). Some of these discrepancies resulted in the equivalent of production value from an entire state being left out of the reported values. This could have major implications for insurance, disaster relief allocation and recognition of the economic value the sector has in coastal communities. Some of the major data issues flagged by this study include: • Varying time series, or start and end dates, for collecting specific data (e.g., one state may have started collecting value data in the 1980s, while another started in the 1990s despite both producing ( C O N T I N U E D O N P A G E 4 0 ) FIGURE 1. Potential benefits of better digital data for stakeholders collected on an annual basis.