The circular economy (CE) approach can be a way to rebalance the intensification of the aquaculture sector and the depletion of the seas’ resources, ensuring more efficient systems at the same time (FAO, 2022 ). The European Green Deal, the European Maritime, Fisheries, and Aquaculture Fund stressed the benefits of the Pauli’s blue economy model (2010) since it promotes the resources’ use imitating natural systems. The possibility to overcome a linear paradigm that has dominated production systems for decades is in doubt. Many studies (Ruiz-Salmón et al., 2020) offer circular aquaculture processes and products, but they are still experimental. Uncertainty exists, regarding the viability of this strategy and over the long-term success of this approach. As Masi al., (2023) showed, imagining what means becoming circular is not straightforward. The circular transition implies changes in product operations, in farm vision, but also producing new dynamics to dialogue with the external environment (Lacy et al., 2020). C ircular practises need to grow community -based, requiring new models of integration between socio-technical systems and agro-ecosystems (Prost et al., 2023). Comprehending the perspectives of the producers, or in other words those directly acting around the aquatic resource—should be prioritised. Several studies highlight the existence of a gap between producers’ and blue policies’ perspectives about future challenges for the aquaculture sector (Krause et al., 2015, Vecchio et al., 2023). To build responsible blue policies, the knowledge should derive both from the aquaculture value chains and its institutional context.
This paper aims to deepen the perspective of the farmers acting for the aquaculture sector in Italy about CE. Following the Lacy et al., (2020) theoretical model (See Tab.1) , a questionnaire with a list of circular practices have been proposed .
Initially, an initial qualitative analysis of the responses brings out a generally positive opinion of the CE concept, seen as an opportunity of self-sustaining aquaculture systems, efficient use of natural resources by reducing waste and environmental impact, and finally, an approach to innovate. Then, a multicriteria analysis has been carried out , the results emphasize a definite idea of the circular strategies they considered as prioritizing to be implemented in the future. These results can be useful: i) in understanding the dimensions in which circularity is most supported by different stakeholders, for example in operations, rather than in the organisation culture and ii) the “openness” of group of stakeholders. This study could provide insights for building responsible aquaculture policies in the face of future challenges.