Aquaculture Innovation and the Role of Popular and Trade Media

Aquaculture has existed for thousands of years, yet as the capture fisheries decline precipitously aquaculture has recently gained fresh prominence, and intensive aquaculture now represents an innovative departure from our past practices. The technological advances propelling innovative aquaculture are sometimes complementary to integration with the capture fisheries, and at other times disruptive. Together or separately, these two aspects of aquaculture innovation – and other, less obvious effects such as disruption of viewscapes or recreational areas – affect coastal communities and everyone in the aquaculture value chain. Yet to portray aquaculture innovation and social transformation in such sweeping terms obscures the day-to-day, pragmatic business of being in the aquaculture industry, and how the activities of the industry, including the adoption of new technologies, are discussed and reported within the industry and to the public.