World Aquaculture Magazine - September 2021

48 SEP TEMBER 2021 • WORLD AQUACULTURE • WWW.WA S .ORG knowledge and experiment using scientific principles oftentimes without recognizing their experimentation as science. They design, implement and evaluate farm trials by gathering background information, select sites, identify variables, monitor and evaluate trials. It therefore critical that farmers be included in the process of evolving the sustainability of aquaculture to analyze, monitor, adapt and innovate in collaborative aquaculture research to evolve sustainable aquaculture ecosystems. Participatory processes promote empowerment and accountability. They lead to institution building, market reforms and the advocacy needed to secure policy reforms, scaling appropriately, and prioritizing rural economic development. They elicit evolutionary change towards sustainability in aquaculture by using ecological principles as the basis for new designs for aquatic food production systems and by incorporating people into holistic systems analyses of production and natural systems. The approach is to use the wisdom of ecology and its underlying principles of hierarchies, complementarity, redundancy, cycling, and diversity to not only meet environmental goals but also to improve farmer livelihoods by increasing whole farm efficiencies and product values. In designing participatory processes that will lead to an increased social license for aquaculture in common property resources, clear, unambiguous linkages between aquaculture and the environment must be created and fostered and the complementary roles of aquaculture in contributing to environmental sustainability, rehabilitation and enhancement clearly articulated to a highly concerned, increasingly educated and involved public. But isn’t this the democracy we want? Recommendations Recommendations to increase the social license for aquaculture that new aquaculture operations must plan, at the outset, to: • Use inclusive, transparent and long-term transdisciplinary approaches that results in new aquaculture developments becoming an integral part of a community and a region, • Plan for community development by working with leaders to provide needed inputs and recycle wastes as much as possible at the outset, and continuing to evolve to become leadership innovators in resource use, management, developing new circular, recycling economies, and • Get beyond endless user conflicts that view the global expansion of aquaculture as a “blood sport” by creating stakeholder processes with ethics and values and true meaning. For example, a local NGO, a community, and a shrimp aquaculture company negotiated a deal with the following conditions: 1) all shrimp ponds were to be located 50 m behind the mangroves; 2) no alteration of mangrove cover would be allowed; 3) no alteration of natural water flows by dams, walls, or diversions was permitted; 4) traditional uses and access to mangrove areas would be guaranteed to the local peoples; and 5) ecotourism activities and collaborative research were developed (Ochoa 1997). • Adopt the pedagogy of ecological aquaculture as a “new” (actually ancient) and exciting, knowledge-based creative challenge. Integrate aquaculture planning with communities to maximize job creation and training for displaced “sea workers” or new entrants. • View aquaculture in the context of rural and urban planning and community development. Develop planning mechanisms for aquaculture to fit as a good community citizen. Create community pride by creating a diversity of processed and unprocessed products and provide local market access for both, not only export value- added products catering to the wealthy. • Incorporate aquaculture models and metaphors to help increase math and science standards in coastal schools. • Use market and tax incentives to enhance aquaculture’s efficiencies, eliminate wastes, and improve aquaculture’s economic and social returns to protect ecosystems and ecosystem services. TABLE 1. Authentic community engagement for aquaculture in its new geographies. Modified from the Healthy Food Policy Project document on Food Access Policy Change Through Authentic Resident Engagement. healthyfoodpolicyproject.org