NSF Award
2417578
Environmental threats and rising consumer demand pose critical challenges for the seafood industry. Recirculating aquaculture systems (RAS), an efficient, land-based technology to cultivate aquatic organisms, is poised to address these challenges. Stakeholder opposition, however, has deterred progress on many proposed RAS developments. This relationship between industrial actors and stakeholders is characterized by social license to operate (SLO), which entails the informal judgment of an industrial actor’s right to operate. Research concerning novel or contentious technologies suggests that SLO is informed by stakeholders’ values, risk perceptions related to the industry, and trust in industry actors, among other factors. While SLO is widely referenced in the aquaculture industry, limited work has tested a predictive SLO model, and no one has tested a predictive SLO model for RAS in particular. This project explores the drivers of SLO in locations where RAS facility proposals have met significant opposition, resulting in stalled or abandoned projects. Findings provide decision makers with evidence-based guidance on how to communicate with stakeholders and facilitate relationships with community partners, increasing the likelihood that the U.S. seafood industry can address urgent sustainability and trade deficit challenges.<br/><br/>Using vignettes featuring a hypothetical RAS facility, the proposed research empirically tests the drivers of SLO progression, and how these factors may change over time. An online survey with an embedded experiment determines drivers of SLO among U.S. residents most likely to encounter such developments. Understanding the influence of environmental and cultural values, trust, and risk perceptions on SLO at varying stages of facility development is a novel approach to assess SLO progression. Results can help guide deliberative processes between community stakeholders and developers – thus, contributing to just and equitable natural resource-based development.<br/><br/>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.
