World Aquaculture Magazine - September 2021

40 SEP TEMBER 2021 • WORLD AQUACULTURE • WWW.WA S .ORG farmed seafood the whole time), • Wild and farmed products are sometimes pooled into single data sets that can lead to over- or under-estimating the value and contribution of certain species and production types in a given region, and • The definition of marine aquaculture differs between states and agencies, affecting consistency of what is and is not included in data reporting. Accessibility was also identified as an issue. USDA Census data are publicly available and provide some important details (e.g., value, volume, farm number and size, species). NOAA’s data are also publicly available and provide volume and value data annually, but only at regional (e.g., Gulf of Mexico) and national scales. State-level data had varying levels of accessibility. Most had to be solicited by contacting specific agencies and staff, which is a complex process that requires the person requesting information to knowwho to contact, have access to their contact information and have a specific request. Moreover, much of these data were not available in digital formats. There is currently no unifying framework to support more accurate, consistent, and up-to-date marine aquaculture data collection across states and agencies, but that does not have to be the case. Paths Forward As part of a Sea Grant-funded project, two multi-stakeholder workshops were convened in June 2021 to discuss the challenges, opportunities and policy mechanisms to improve US marine aquaculture data quality and consistency. Workshop participants included representatives from industry, state and federal government agencies and academia. The following solutions were identified and discussed by workshop participants. Adopt aDigital ReportingPlatform Select a single digital platform for reporting marine aquaculture data across states. There are two existing platforms with the greatest potential for this purpose (Fig. 2): • Expand annual trout and catfish surveys to include marine species. The surveys, conducted by USDA, are voluntary and only focus on the nationally most valuable taxa. Reporting would occur through existing state offices and integrated with other publicly reported USDANASS surveys. The data are transcribed to the National Agricultural Statistics Service Quick-Stat platform. • Adopt (at state and/or federal levels) the Fishery Information Networks (FINs) to collect annual data. FINs are used for mandatory data collection for all federal wild-caught commercial fisheries and in three states for marine shellfish aquaculture. This mandate could be expanded to include all marine aquaculture. NOAA could leverage FINs to integrate marine aquaculture data into a “one-stop-shop” digital query platform. Policy Solutions Improved data collection will require supporting policies or mandates to require compliance, coordination and capacity building, including access to funding and training. Here are some key policy tools and actions that were identified to facilitate stronger, more consistent data collection for US marine aquaculture (Fig. 3). Challenges All of these solutions can facilitate stronger, more consistent data collection for US marine aquaculture. However, workshop participants stressed that they will only be successful if implemented with the following considerations: FIGURE 2. Current marine aquaculture data collection process by USDA and NOAA platforms and the two alternate future pathways forward: the USDA Survey (option #1) or NOAA FINs (option #2) and the trade-offs of each.