A Multidisciplinary Analysis of the Spatial Patterns of Marine Aquaculture Development

Florida State University, Tallahassee FL

Investigators

Abstract

This project will examine how mariculture, the cultivation of marine plants and animals, has developed around the world and through time, providing an understanding of the forces that drive the diffusion of new seafood farming practices at global and regional scales. Mariculture production is growing quickly, but the spatial patterns of production are varied, with some regions experiencing rapid expansion while others lack any development despite good conditions for growth. The investigators will analyze the geographic, social, political, economic, and ecological dimensions of mariculture production, examining the importance of each factor in driving mariculture expansion. Mariculture is expected to be an increasingly critical component of the global food system, with far more scope for expansion than land-based agriculture, yet to-date there is limited understanding of what drives the spatial and temporal patterns of production. Additionally, the project addresses societal concerns regarding future food production, including food security, nutrition, environmental sustainability, and livelihoods. Project results will be made available to decision-makers, regulators, and mariculture developers to inform policy interventions, development regulations, and economic incentives that guide sustainable mariculture growth in the future. The project will also provide multidisciplinary research training to graduate and undergraduate students as well as a postdoctoral researcher. By using a multidisciplinary approach, this research will provide novel insights into the expansion of food production systems and the industrialization of the oceans. Existing research on global food systems is heavily focused on land-based systems, despite the growing importance of seafood cultivation in the oceans. It is not well-understood why mariculture exhibits a geographically heterogeneous pattern of development or how farming technologies expand into new locations. The investigators will conduct a global scale analysis of the spatial and temporal patterns of mariculture development and expansion. The study will address questions about how innovations in mariculture diffuse across locations and whether there are certain enabling social, economic or governance conditions that are common pre-cursors to aquaculture development across regions. Using large secondary data-sets, several different quantitative approaches such as spatial statistics, time series analysis, and multivariate regression analysis will be used to answer questions about worldwide mariculture expansion. Project findings will be compared to previous work on drivers of agricultural expansion and intensification, seeking to understand how the distinct human-environment interactions in these two different contexts lead to convergent and/or divergent patterns. In addition to its worldwide approach, the project will develop regional spatial analyses by focusing specifically on case material from New Zealand and Norway, which will examine mariculture drivers operating on sub-national scales. Findings from this research have broad applicability for the expansion of this industry in the United States. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.