WWW.WAS.ORG • WORLD AQUACULTURE • DECEMBER 2024 19 barriers are valuable to study different scenarios. To understand key factors and variables that may influence the future development of salmon farming in Norway from the point of view of relevant stakeholders, a series of workshops were conducted in the period 2021-2023. A Fuzzy Cognitive Map (FCM; Kosko 1986) which illustrates the relatedness between factors highlighted by stakeholders was created. FCMs are essentially mental maps describing how variables in a system, such as Norwegian salmon production, interact and influence one another. Industry stakeholders decided on relevant variables to include in models, how they influence each other, and discussed feedback mechanisms in participatory workshops. Data collected during workshops were then used as the basis for the creation of a FCM, which describes stakeholders’ perception of salmon farming in response to potential future scenarios, such as the increased adoption of one of the proposed production systems. The results from models (i.e., values that represent the FIGURE 2. A screenshot of the lightweight web application used to illustrate workshop results. The tabs allow users to navigate from a short explanation of how to use the app and of the model (“Brukerveiledning” in Norwegian, “User manual” in English), plot results “Plot (norsk)” shows text on the axes in Norwegian and “Plot (English)” shows text in English, and “Summary/sammendrag” presents a table with each variable in the model with a brief definition and the category assigned for plotting. Users are able to select what category of variables from the model to plot in the left-hand panel interactively. A link to the description of the project (Compareit) is embedded in the project logo to provide users background information. FIGURE 3. A screenshot of the digital tool showing the table with descriptions of the 38 variables included in the model and their definitions in both English and Norwegian. Variables were sorted into categories by researchers to facilitate discussions of results with industry stakeholders. (CONTINUED ON PAGE 20)
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