By Hayley R. Lemoine, Adriane K. Michaelis, and Sarah E. Lester.
Farmed seafood (i.e., marine aquaculture) is a fast-growing, multi-billion-dollar part of the U.S. seafood industry that is currently dominated by shellfish farming. At the same time, commercial fishers are facing challenges due to different factors like environmental change and restrictive regulations. Some experts have proposed that farming seafood for a living could be a good option for these fishers, but there is limited research on whether that idea is likely to be successful in the U.S. We interviewed commercial fishers, shellfish farmers and those who do both (“fisher-farmers”) in Maine, New York and Florida about their livelihoods, and what they thought about shellfish farming as a livelihood option for fishers. We wanted to understand what commercial fishers and shellfish farmers think about switching to or adding shellfish farming as a source of income. We found that fishers have a lot of useful experience working on the water, but they may not have some of the business (e.g., marketing) or technical skills (e.g., site design) that people from other backgrounds bring to aquaculture. In fact, switching to farming was not seen as a better choice for fishers than for people from non-fishing backgrounds. We found that whether aquaculture was perceived as a good fit for fishers depended heavily on social factors, like personal networks, and psychological attributes, like grittiness. These findings suggest that future programs aimed at growing seafood should try targeting groups beyond just fishers, and should also consider relevant personal characteristics and local social and cultural dynamics when designing relevant policies and programs. As we contend with global crises like climate change and biodiversity loss, better understanding how livelihoods might shift, especially for those dependent on natural resources like seafood production, is important in our transition to a more sustainable world.
Relational Thinking 