The success of commercial RAS production of Atlantic salmon and other high-value marine species will depend on our ability to break industry bottlenecks to flourish as a sustainable and viable option in finfish production. The Recirculating Aquaculture Salmon Network (RAS-N) helped to identify high-priority constraints in need of support and solutions. Our newest project, Sustainable Aquaculture Systems Supporting Atlantic Salmon (SAS2), is a new iteration of RAS-N, designed to address these needs through research, education initiatives, and extension programming. RAS-N feedback on community perspectives was broad, but there was a strong focus by the industry on public aquaculture literacy and marketing needs. We were left with one question, “What is the role of Extension in all of this?”. In SAS2, Extension chose to focus on needs assessments in rural areas experiencing RAS siting, leasing, and development, starting with the state of Maryland, where an incoming RAS company had begun the permitting process.
As the landscape of commercial RAS production is constantly shifting, our Extension collaborators have had to pivot and reassess programming. Our latest question has been, “How do we shift our programming so that it’s less dependent on changes by industry?”. Our new focus is to assess local support and opposition to commercial RAS facilities to identify suitable counties for siting and leasing. This presentation will cover our proposed work and generate discussion and feedback from our Extension Community, whose collective experience and expertise are invaluable.