Framing Community-Decision-Making: Opportunities and Challenges for Community-Based Planning of Aquaculture through Participatory Marine Spatial Planning

Marine Spatial Planning (MSP) can provide new opportunities for planning and management of local marine resources, but coastal communities have not fully utilized MSP for community economic development. While different levels... [ view full abstract ]

Marine Spatial Planning (MSP) can provide new opportunities for planning and management of local marine resources, but coastal communities have not fully utilized MSP for community economic development. While different levels of government, including local governments, can undertake marine spatial planning, it is mostly an activity of higher government levels or across jurisdictions (regional, national, sub-national). In these cases, consideration of local community interests may be overshadowed by broader interests or more powerful stakeholders. Our work aims to develop a framework for participatory MSP for community-based planning of coastal resources, with a focus on fin-fish aquaculture. The work is part of a research program within the Ocean Frontier Institute on social licence and planning for sustainable aquaculture.  Aquaculture development and management is both an area of change and challenge: aquaculture is important for the continued survival of some coastal communities but, in some communities, aquaculture – especially fin-fish aquaculture, is fraught with conflict and tension. Coastal communities of Atlantic Canada have not yet widely utilized aquaculture as a mechanism to support community economic development. Marine spatial planning and its supporting technology, specifically GIS, combined with participatory community-based planning techniques provide an opportunity to engage communities in collaborative planning for aquaculture development. A participatory MSP approach for community-based planning of aquaculture may support opportunities for local resource development through community decision-making and collaboration. This presentation provides an overview of participatory planning best practices globally and the challenges of and opportunities for a participatory MSP framework for community-based aquaculture planning.