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Y. Olsen et al.
ers of the future developments in fisheries and aquaculture were clustered in three
main groups as follows:
Resource cluster – Availability of resources; e.g., space, feed, and energy
Attitude cluster – Public and Consumer Attitudes and legislation, related to
e.g., ethics, environment and health
Innovation cluster – The ability to develop new knowledge and implement the
required innovation of technologies and markets
The Resource cluster involves factors related to resources, which may for
example be space for operation in coastal and open ocean locations, environmental
quality for safe food production, adequate feed resources, energy at an acceptable
cost, acceptable infrastructure, investments, and human resources (competence).
All of these optional drivers, ranging from natural resources to social issues, can be
interpreted as resource related factors which may affect the development and potentials of mariculture.
The Attitude cluster involves factors more related to emotions, culture, and
legislation, with many groups involved from the public, management authorities,
industries, and political stakeholders. Such driving factors may for example be
public environmental concern, legislation that affects the mariculture industry,
other requirements for sustainable development, sudden unpredictable events coming up, and adverse public relation campaigns from competing sectors and other
stakeholders opposing aquaculture developments. This group of drivers is to a great
extent related to society with its great variety of stakeholders. Many groups define
themselves as producer of premises for mariculture development, among them the
competing industries, for example the chicken industry. The factors that become
important drivers in this cluster cannot always be predicted in advance, and contingencies often play an important, but unpredictable role (e.g., mad cow disease and
bird flue, and their positive impact on fish demand and prices).
The Innovation cluster is different from the others because these factors all
relate to our ability to solve problems of the Resources and the Attitude clusters
through for example generating new knowledge, establishing new break-through
technologies, consensus among stakeholders, new markets, and new applications of
products. Political commitment, strategic decisions of the aquaculture sector and
the states, legislation, and the economic power of the aquaculture industry will certainly affect the innovation capacity.
In most cases, factors within the Resource and Attitude clusters will interact quite
strongly. Any resource limitation, for example the availability of sites for mariculture activity in the coastal zone, will generate discussion and conflicts with other
potential users of the coastal zone. This space limitation may generate a wide range
of public concerns, which indeed may be important to solve the space problem.
For instance, aquaculture development in some Mediterranean locations (e.g.
Balearic Islands) has been largely precluded by the concern of negative impacts on
the tourism industry, which competes with the aquaculture sector for use of the
coastal zone. In cases of a sustained competition for space among many stakeholders, it may be difficult to solve the resource problem for mariculture through timeconsuming consensus processes and industrial improvements. In the ultimate
Y. Olsen et al.
ers of the future developments in fisheries and aquaculture were clustered in three
main groups as follows:
Resource cluster – Availability of resources; e.g., space, feed, and energy
Attitude cluster – Public and Consumer Attitudes and legislation, related to
e.g., ethics, environment and health
Innovation cluster – The ability to develop new knowledge and implement the
required innovation of technologies and markets
The Resource cluster involves factors related to resources, which may for
example be space for operation in coastal and open ocean locations, environmental
quality for safe food production, adequate feed resources, energy at an acceptable
cost, acceptable infrastructure, investments, and human resources (competence).
All of these optional drivers, ranging from natural resources to social issues, can be
interpreted as resource related factors which may affect the development and potentials of mariculture.
The Attitude cluster involves factors more related to emotions, culture, and
legislation, with many groups involved from the public, management authorities,
industries, and political stakeholders. Such driving factors may for example be
public environmental concern, legislation that affects the mariculture industry,
other requirements for sustainable development, sudden unpredictable events coming up, and adverse public relation campaigns from competing sectors and other
stakeholders opposing aquaculture developments. This group of drivers is to a great
extent related to society with its great variety of stakeholders. Many groups define
themselves as producer of premises for mariculture development, among them the
competing industries, for example the chicken industry. The factors that become
important drivers in this cluster cannot always be predicted in advance, and contingencies often play an important, but unpredictable role (e.g., mad cow disease and
bird flue, and their positive impact on fish demand and prices).
The Innovation cluster is different from the others because these factors all
relate to our ability to solve problems of the Resources and the Attitude clusters
through for example generating new knowledge, establishing new break-through
technologies, consensus among stakeholders, new markets, and new applications of
products. Political commitment, strategic decisions of the aquaculture sector and
the states, legislation, and the economic power of the aquaculture industry will certainly affect the innovation capacity.
In most cases, factors within the Resource and Attitude clusters will interact quite
strongly. Any resource limitation, for example the availability of sites for mariculture activity in the coastal zone, will generate discussion and conflicts with other
potential users of the coastal zone. This space limitation may generate a wide range
of public concerns, which indeed may be important to solve the space problem.
For instance, aquaculture development in some Mediterranean locations (e.g.
Balearic Islands) has been largely precluded by the concern of negative impacts on
the tourism industry, which competes with the aquaculture sector for use of the
coastal zone. In cases of a sustained competition for space among many stakeholders, it may be difficult to solve the resource problem for mariculture through timeconsuming consensus processes and industrial improvements. In the ultimate