World Aquaculture Magazine -December 2021

WWW.WA S .ORG • WORLD AQUACULTURE • DECEMBER 2021 25 today. Conventional scaling models for businesses move quickly from a pilot scale to phase one then attempt commercial viability. All along the way in the new geographies for aquaculture, especially in common property resource areas, scaling issues play a central role in the political and regulatory obstacles to aquaculture (Knapp and Rubino 2016, Stead 2018). Woltering et al. (2019) point to the multiple, systemic problems and failures that new pilot projects, systems and species introductions in agriculture have faced because of the lack of cogent analyses of the scale that was needed to create sustainable systems changes. Kohl and Foy (2018) created a scalability assessment tool for agriculture technologies that every aquaculture revolutionary needs to examine closely and adapt for aquaculture development, especially in aquaculture’s new geographies where “big plans” for new aquaculture systems are being considered/developed. A scaling assessment tool for aquaculture using their model is shown in Table 2. Pro-active, comprehensive analyses of the multiple issues around scaling requires different skills, approaches, and ways of collaborating than those required for the successful implementation of pilot projects. Development actors need a mindset that allows them to navigate creatively across multiple, overlapping systems. A clear vision must be developed about which elements in the system identified actors can and cannot address, and where they need to collaborate strategically to exert influence. Woltering et al. (2019) state that, “Although it is tempting to hope for the silver bullet solution that changes the world, we argue for an approach that takes scaling serious in its own right and recognizes the complexities involved in facilitating a transition to a new normal.” As one example of political and regulatory obstacles in a common property resource area, I feature our story here in the Gulf of Maine, USA, a water body with tremendous potential for additional development of both fed and non-fed aquaculture, in a bioregion that has an historical affinity for seafoods, thus has a higher rate of seafood consumption but meets its seafood needs from imports. Conflicts between and within state and federal agencies over the legal protection of endangered right whales have stymied aquaculture developments. This story is unique locally but parallels many I hear worldwide. Radical transformation is required, and there is another pathway communities and networking to thousands. As mature institutions that have embraced the wisdom of teaching the “scoping” of aquaculture practices from the local to the global —what activities and peoples we are involved in here are also present elsewhere fromwhich we all can learn. Change is always present in applied academia but the ones I recommend to study—both their foundations, past, presents and possibly emulate in the future—are: the Institute of Aquaculture at the University of Stirling, Wageningen University, Ocean University of China, Asian Institute of Technology, Coastal Resources Center at the University of Rhode Island, and the Department of Fisheries and Allied Aquacultures at Auburn University. All of these are mature institutions founded on deep local to global, applied, transdisciplinary aquaculture and fisheries that created entire new food systems, institutions and trained thousands. Studies have shown that citizens have a very low awareness of seafood and its sustainability issues, especially in the large markets of Europe and North America. Pieniak et al. (2013) asked over 3,000 Europeans six true/false questions about wild versus farmed fish. Overall knowledge was very lowwith only two questions answered correctly by 50 percent or more. MacKay and Thompson (2019) found a similiar lack of education by American consumers. It remains questionable if consumers can understand the concepts of sustainable seafood and the too many eco-labels to make better choices (Gutierrez and Thornton 2014). However, there is clear evidence that the actions of well-funded NGOs in seafood education can change the views of millions of consumers. The Monterey Bay Aquarium SeafoodWatch card has been distributed to over 40 million times and their smartphone app has been downloaded over a million times (Monterey Bay Aquarium, www.Seafoodwatch.org) . Tlusty and Thorsen (2016) make a more transformative suggestion for seafood producers and retailers to move away from calling products sustainable; instead, to work towards continually improving their sustainability in practice and communicate those attributes of seafood products. They state that “focusing on measuring the impact of our actions generates a wealth of substance and establishes a direction of travel towards seafood of greater sustainability and…will help educate, inform and inspire consumers to make good choices for their own….” Radical Transformation—RationalizingScaling inAquaculture Scale is one of the most controversial aspects of aquaculture FIGURE 2. Traditional scaling for new aquaculture development follows a strict industry model of pilot projects that usually are at a very small scale, followed by Phase 1 testing under experimental permits and leasing systems; lastly by commercialization where entrepreneurs promise investors that innovations will make money at a larger scale. Expert discussions which led to the “Bremerhaven Declaration ” (Rosenthal et al. 2012) called for a radically different vision. Interest groups (species development groups) would be formed that would use the principles and practices of ecological aquaculture to select and develop agreed-upon sites as cooperative, science-based testing platforms having international to national partnerships between industry, academia, civil society, agencies, and government at all levels as needed. Platforms would be developed not at small, pilot scales but at meaningful commercial scales. Groups would incorporate the best available participatory knowledge tools for improving knowledge exchange through wider engagement. One result would be the development of better aquaculture governance founded upon the strength of evidence-led aquaculture science developed at the platforms. ( C O N T I N U E D O N P A G E 2 6 )