Expansion of the aquaculture industry hinges on the backing of local residents and other stakeholders capable of withholding necessary social, political, or financial support. Regional and individ ual variations in level of enthusiasm for marine aquaculture have prompted several public opinion surveys as a way of assessing overall support for, or resistance to, the expansion of aquaculture in the US. These studies generally find that although the majority of the public do not have strong objections to the sector, there is consistently a smaller, but vocal, group that opposes marine aquaculture. A second common finding is a broad lack of awareness of marine aquaculture in the US. Two important unanswered questions concern 1) how malleable public opinion about aquaculture is; and 2) what specific benefits of aquaculture in general and seaweed farming in particular most influence support for the industry.
We will share the outcomes of two surveys conducted by a consulting firm, Prime Group LLC, as part of a series of aquaculture perceptions projects managed by the Aquarium of the Pacific’s Seafood for the Future program in Long Beach, California. We will focus particularly on the findings from our before-and-after assessment of how different thematic messages (i.e., environmental, economic, social) resonated across survey participants of different sociodemographic attributes (i.e., income, education, ethnicity, state of residency). We will also speak to how baseline familiarity with marine aquaculture/seaweed farming affects malleability of participant opinion about the sector. Altogether, this work provides critical insight to aquaculture literacy efforts which aim to equip community members with the knowledge needed to engage in decision making processes for marine aquaculture development in their ‘ocean neighborhoods’.