Building environmental and economic resilience for the shellfish aquaculture industry through transdisciplinary action research involving industry and academia

Abstract:

Multi-species ocean farming is an emerging aquaculture technique that produces sustainable food sources whilst potentially aiding in mitigating ocean acidification and hypoxia impacts. This ocean farming model co-cultures seaweed and shellfish, and can potentially lead to increases in pH and oxygen that offset acidification and hypoxia. Transdisciplinary action research has emerged as a dynamic pathway to encompass sustainable blue economy transitions. Here, we present an update on our coastal transdisciplinary action research that incorporates the co-production of knowledge between industry and academia to address the need to build environmental and economic resilience to the shellfish aquaculture industry. To determine environmental resilience, we are measuring the impact of multi-species ocean farming on water quality and local biodiversity through the use of continuous unattended logging multi-probes and environmental DNA (eDNA) analysis, respectively. Go-Pro footage and plankton tows are also being used to supplement our biodiversity analysis. The potential development of a highly marketable sustainable ecolabel for aquaculture products from multi-species ocean farms will be used to build economic resilience for the shellfish aquaculture industry. This applied research initiative has connected natural science academics with expertise in water quality and environmental DNA (eDNA) analyses, social science academics with expertise in the blue economy, and industry stakeholders who are experienced multi-species ocean farmers. This presentation details that while sectors can value independent departures and prioritize different needs in a transdisciplinary action research process, supporting a shared objective holds potential to support ocean sustainability.

Keywords: aquaculture, shellfish, ocean sustainability

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