Abstract
As wild fisheries decline, aquaculture, or the cultivation of species in fresh and salt water, will provide the majority of seafood consumed worldwide. Given that aquaculture is an increasingly critical food “technology” – with implications for public opinion formation – we apply theory of social function systems and sustainability to a U.S. news media content analysis. We examine coverage of aquaculture (N = 493 articles) over a ten-year period (2005-2015), comparing four regional and four national newspapers for discussion of risks, benefits, science, economics, political/legal issues, and environmental sustainability. Results suggest the dominance of risk in regional and national news; however, we also find more recent attention to benefit and sustainability. Differences within and between regional and national newspaper coverage further suggest that the conversation about aquaculture varies within the U.S., is multi-dimensional, and involves frequent co-occurrence
Highlights
As wild fisheries decline and world population grows, breeding, rearing, and harvesting species in salt- or fresh-water environments—known as aquaculture—will continue to provide the majority of the finfish and shellfish consumed globally [National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), 2016]
As has been the case with other products emerging from new “agri-food technologies” (Frewer et al, 2011), as genetically modified (GM) salmon swims toward the supermarket shelves, consumer concern about product safety, as well as the potential for misinformation, may proliferate, posing implications for the future of the industry (Gurău and Ranchhod, 2016)
Little is known about how Americans perceive aquaculture products, whether GM salmon or rope-grown mussels, or aquaculture practices, whether in land-based tanks or in offshore ocean pens, and how these perceptions might inform related behaviors, such as purchasing decisions or policy support (Chu et al, 2010; Hall and Amberg, 2013)
Summary
As wild fisheries decline and world population grows, breeding, rearing, and harvesting species in salt- or fresh-water environments—known as aquaculture—will continue to provide the majority of the finfish and shellfish consumed globally [National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), 2016]. Luhmann’s social function systems are the broad-based systems within society that are used to respond to broad-based environmental issues such as climate change or pollution These systems include, but are not limited to, those connected to sustainability such as science, economics, policy, and law. To account for differences in aquaculture development and practices across the country, we compare four regional news outlets and four national newspapers for discussion of aquaculture-related: risks and benefits; scientific, political/legal, and economic systems; and environmental sustainability. We examine both prominence and co-occurrence of these themes. Our results both confirm media analysis findings in other (e.g., European) contexts, and raise important questions for future research
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