Cultivating Benefit and Risk: Aquaculture Representation and Interpretation in New England

Abstract

Despite having been practiced in U.S. waters for many decades, marine aquaculture (cultivating seafood in salt or brackish water) is less familiar to many Americans than land-based farming. As aquaculture operations multiply across New England in particular, understanding residents’ awareness of the products and practices, as well as judgment of associated risks and benefits becomes critical to gauging acceptance. The present research considers two complementary, exploratory studies: first, a 15-year content analysis of aquaculture coverage in three regional newspapers and second, focus group discussions with Maine and Massachusetts residents. Content analysis results suggest overall widespread attention to environmental risk, as well as some regional differences in attention to risk/benefit information. Focus group participants generally lack awareness of aquaculture, yet rely on direct and mediated experience, as well as impressions of terrestrial agriculture, to form risk and benefit perceptions. Drawing upon risk and strategic communication, future research is discussed.

Keywords:

• Content analysis
• focus groups
• marine fisheries and aquaculture
• news media
• New England
• perceived risk

Acknowledgments

The authors acknowledge the research staff of Market Decisions Research (Portland, ME), particularly Curtis A. Mildner and Nathaniel Mildner, for their assistance in focus group recruitment and moderation, data preparation, and preliminary analysis. Additionally, Jessica Bergstrom (University of Maine) assisted with coding newspaper articles.

Additional information

Funding

This research was supported by National Science Foundation award #1355457 to Maine EPSCoR at the University of Maine.