Aquaculture America 2020

February 9 - 12, 2020

Honolulu, Hawaii

BEYOND MAPPING: CAPTURING THE COMPLEXITIES OF FISHERIES SPACE USE TO BETTER INTEGRATE AQUACULTURE WITH OTHER OCEAN USES

 Carolynn Culver*, Caroline Pomeroy and Nadine Heck
 
California Sea Grant, Marine Science Institute, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA 93106-6150, c_culver@lifesci.ucsb.edu
 

In recent years, federal agencies  have taken steps  to  encourage the expansion of  ocean aquaculture in the U nited States .  The State of  California  likewise has sought to advance  development of  this  ocean use . However, project proposals  have faced challenges related to potential or real conflict, most notably  with existing commercial and recreational fishing activities .  These experiences have highlighted the need for a better process for obtaining, appropriately  interpreting  and integrating  information about ongoing  fishery uses, and for engaging affected groups, in the aquaculture development process.

We investigated  the  information  needs related to aquaculture development decision-making,  with a particular focus on  fishery and aquaculture  ocean space use needs . Using  California's Santa Barbara Channel as a test case , we interviewed commercial and recreational fishery participants, aquaculturists, and  relevant  state and federal agency staff. We also observed  public meetings and other activities related to proposed aquaculture projects. We found that  efforts  for  siting aquaculture  projects  have  relied heavily on the use of  geographic information systems (GIS), using data typically collected for other purposes, to map space use. Th is  approach has proven useful, especially when considering fixed space uses such as  offshore  oil and gas  production and aquaculture projects. However, these efforts  have fallen short  in  being able to  adequately portray the  dynamic and variable nature  of fishery  space use. For example, fisheries landings data  have  limited utility for  aquaculture siting.  Further,  efforts to o btain  more useful data through engagement with fish ery participants  has  had notable shortcomings , in part due to  a fixation  on  particular places identifiable on a map as opposed to the  valued characteristics of  the places . T rust in the information and how it is portrayed and integrated  into decision-making processes also have been common concerns .

Potential solutions for obtaining  and using  local, fine- scale fisheries information  include  1) engaging knowledgeable,  local  third parties and/or a liaison to work with  and account for needs and values of both sectors , and 2) developing  materials  that  fully and accurately  identify  and describe regional fisheries  along with key contacts who can provide reliable, valid information and facilitate communication with the larger fishing community . Together these  can support  a process that recogniz es and better accommodates  the space needs of both groups while  providing  agencies  with  the information  necessary  for evaluating aquaculture projects and integrating  the two activities.