Aquaculture: an emerging issue for public concern

Abstract

The present paper reviews the literature on the risks and benefits of aquaculture. By bringing together sources from both natural sciences and social sciences, we provide a synthesis of perspectives on the relatively novel activity of modern aquaculture. This review consists of three parts: first, a background to aquaculture; second, an overview of the scientific risks and benefits; and third, an introduction to the related public perception issues. We establish five main risk‐related areas: human health, environment, organizational, fish welfare, and social issues and utilize these to highlight potential divergences in expert and lay perceptions. Drawing on findings from the risk perception literature, particularly those related to previous food‐related controversies, it is argued that aquaculture incorporates a range of issues, which have already been shown to be a catalyst for public concern. As such, we conclude that, in addition to natural science studies, aquaculture requires a social science approach in order to be able to anticipate and address future controversies in a timely and efficient manner. However, to date, only few articles address aquaculture from a social science perspective, and the present paper is offered as a step in this direction.

Keywords:

• aquaculture
• farmed fish
• risk perception
• risk communication
• food

Acknowledgements

The paper is Part I of Strand 4 of the EU‐wide AQUAMAX project sponsored by the DARVMAR grant from the European Union (http://www.aquamaxip.eu/). I would like to thank Ragnar Loefstedt, Henry Rothstein, Bernhard Schlag, Barbara Prainsack, and Dani Kranz for their helpful comments and reviews.

Notes

1. Pauly and Watson (2003) note that there are serious doubts regarding the credibility of the data on China’s harvest.

2. It would be useful to be able to focus on the role of aquaculture for food security. However, as fish once traded are no longer disaggregated as to the source of production, that is, aquaculture or capture fisheries, this is not possible at present (FAO 2006).

3. These trigger events were Hites et al.’s (2004) study and an earlier report by the Environmental Working Group (2003), which found higher contaminants in farmed salmon, and claimed that eating farmed salmon would significantly increase the risk of cancer and birth defects.

4. For a detailed discussion of the social and cultural significance of food, see, for example, Rozin and Fallon (1987), Rozin (1999), and Zwart (2000).