Aquaculture development faces several technical, technological, environmental and economic challenges. However, one of the major constraints that explain the stagnation of aquaculture in Europe is its low social acceptability. This negative image is related to its bad image as a polluting activity. Moreover, the aquaculture sector faces the increase of competition for the use of space and resources in marine and coastal areas from other economic and recreational activities. WP7 aims at better understanding the factors that determine the social acceptability of aquaculture based on the analysis of successful or failures in recent projects of aquaculture development but also in other economic sectors. A confrontation of this analysis with the stakeholders’ perception will be conducted at different local, national and international frameworks. Finally, an analysis will be conducted on how the social acceptability dimensions could be integrated into the existing governance processes in line with European management frameworks.
Objectives
i) Asses the social acceptability of aquaculture in the Mediterranean area
ii) Provide tools and methods enabling to enhance the social acceptability to accompany the sustainable development of the sector
iii) Provide recommendations to improve governance of aquaculture through the integration of social acceptability concerns in decision making processes