Fishing as a productive activity has long been integral to the identities, livelihoods, and economies of many coastal North Carolina (USA) communities. The nature of seafood production is changing, however, as commercial fisheries evolve, community demographics shift, and new production techniques like shellfish aquaculture grow. Over the past five years, interest in expanding shellfish aquaculture has risen dramatically among state policymakers, regulators, and prospective farmers, mirroring growth in adjacent states and at the US federal level. A shift toward shellfish aquaculture presents both opportunities and challenges for coastal communities, linked to changing livelihoods, re-allocation of coastal spaces, and prospects for new forms of community and economic development. In this paper, we use Q method to understand local values associated with these changing patterns of seafood production, and how they group together to form broad perspectives.
By combining interviews and quantitative data based on the sorting of value statements, Q method offers an approach to identifying a broad range values associated with seafood production, how those values tend to group together into perspectives, and specific areas of greatest agreement and disagreement. Complemented by document review, we report on these findings and discuss their implications for coastal community wellbeing, aquaculture expansion, and the future of North Carolina seafood production. We find that four distinct perspectives exist in our study area about shellfish aquaculture, fisheries, and associated topics like coastal communities and environments. These perspectives represent thinking on seafood production that goes beyond commonly accepted dichotomies like pro/anti-aquaculture or pro/anti-regulation. The results illustrate a need to attend to nuance in policy debates over shifting seafood production, and suggest opportunities for consensus across perspectives and stakeholders. This project also informs emerging work that expands our Q method beyond this case study context to develop a common comparative tool across geographies and communities undergoing transitions in the seafood sector toward aquaculture.