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Gender equity in fisheries and aquaculture is a consequential economic, social, and human rights global issue. Women are the backbone of the seafood and aquaculture industry worldwide, but their contributions are often undervalued or unrecognized. While women are increasingly entering the field and leading in aquaculture (e.g., Kobell, 2020), opportunities have generally not kept pace with industry growth, despite aquaculture being the fastest-growing food production sector globally. This dearth is attributed to inequities in training, financing, and decision-making power, among other institutional and systemic socio-cultural, economic, and political factors (FAO, 2016; Brugere and Williams, 2017). As aquaculture requires training and competencies in a breadth of ecology, biology, oceanography, and technology subjects, individuals in the discipline often share similar educational or professional experiences as peers in other ocean science fields. Consequently, aquaculture is affected by many of the same structural barriers that hinder diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility (DEIA) in ocean sciences generally.
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Diverse state‐level marine aquaculture policy in the United States: Opportunities and barriers for industry development
Abstract Marine aquaculture (mariculture) plays a relatively small role in the United States’ domestic seafood production, despite considerable scope for industry development and high volumes of imported farmed seafood resulting in a significant trade deficit. Currently, most mariculture in the United States occurs in nearshore waters or land‐based tanks and is regulated and guided using state‐level policy, with a relative absence of national coordinating mechanisms to link the patchwork of state policies. There is no comprehensive evaluation showing how different state policies may be enabling or impeding mariculture development. In response, we provide the first systematic overview of state‐level mariculture policy for the 23 coastal marine states in the United States. We compiled information for 16 aquaculture and mariculture policy attributes, including legislation, regulations and management characteristics, particularly those that could enable mariculture development. We found considerable heterogeneity in how states govern and regulate mariculture. As examples, 48% of states have an aquaculture development act, 35% have spatial zoning specifically for mariculture and only 26% have a government‐provided mariculture best management practices document. We examined the relationship between enabling policies and metrics of mariculture output (e.g. production value, number of farms), and while the effect of enabling policy is often equivocal, certain features stand out as important (e.g. government‐provided best management practices). Overall, this policy synthesis suggests approaches that may be influential in enabling mariculture development, which could inform new state‐level policies, an effective overarching federal policy in the United States, or policies in other countries seeking to support an expanded mariculture industry.
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- Award ID(s):
- 1759559
- PAR ID:
- 10364037
- Publisher / Repository:
- Wiley-Blackwell
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Reviews in Aquaculture
- Volume:
- 14
- Issue:
- 2
- ISSN:
- 1753-5123
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- p. 890-906
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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