Hart, D. D., K. P. Bell, L. A. Lindenfeld, S. Jain, T. R. Johnson, D. Ranco, and B. McGill. 2015. Strengthening the role of universities in addressing sustainability challenges: the Mitchell Center for Sustainability Solutions as an institutional experiment. Ecology and Society 20(2):4.http://dx.doi.org/10.5751/ES-07283-200204

Aquaculture has been responsible for an impressive growth in the global supply of seafood. As of 2016, more than half of all global seafood production comes from aquaculture. To meet future global seafood demands, there is need and opportunity to expand marine aquaculture production in ways that are both socially and ecologically sustainable. This requires integrating biophysical, social, and engineering sciences. Such interdisciplinary research is difficult due to the complexity and multi-scale aspects of marine aquaculture and inherent challenges researchers face working across disciplines. To this end, we developed a framework based on Elinor Ostrom’s social–ecological system framework (SESF) to guide interdisciplinary research on marine aquaculture. We first present the framework and the social–ecological system variables relevant to research on marine aquaculture and then illustrate one application of this framework to interdisciplinary research underway in Maine, the largest producer of marine aquaculture products in the United States. We use the framework to compare oyster aquaculture in two study regions, with a focus on factors influencing the social and biophysical carrying capacity. We conclude that the flexibility provided by the SESF is well suited to inform interdisciplinary research on marine aquaculture, especially comparative, cross-case analysis.

Johnson, T. R., J. A. Wilson, C. Cleaver, and R. L. Vadas 2012. Social-ecological scale mismatches and the collapse of the sea urchin fishery in Maine, USA. Ecology and Society 17(2): 15. https://doi.org/10.5751/ES-04767-170215

This article presents a cooperative fisheries research effort aimed to improve the science and management of the U.S. Illex squid fishery. This collaboration between government scientists, the squid industry, and a consultant scientist produced new biological information about squid and improved the assessment of this species. This case illustrates the challenges and possibilities of involving nonscientific citizens in scientific research for policymaking. The involvement of the lead government assessment scientist for Illex squid was critical to the utility of the data collected. In this case, the integration of fishermen's contributory expertise in science occurred through the work of key boundary spanners with interactional expertise. Here this included a consultant scientist and key fishermen who were able to communicate with government scientists and the industry. The collaboration also provided some fishermen with interactional expertise related to doing science such that they were able to communicate their contributory expertise to scientists.

Understanding how industry-science collaborations work and how the resulting knowledge is used is critical for improving the incorporation of fishers' knowledge in policy-making. We use the concept of 'trading zones' to analyze a collaborative effort to integrate fishers' and scientists' expertise in the Northeast U.S.: the Trawl Survey Advisory Panel. The aim of this collaboration was to improve the production of knowledge for fisheries management by developing a new and improved trawl system (survey net and gear) for the routine data-gathering survey carried out by the federal government. The collaboration was expected to increase the legitimacy and credibility of the science by increasing transparency through a participatory process that made use of fishers' contributory knowledge. We describe how this collaboration shifted among “trading zones,” as well as the role of boundary processes in this transition. Although the government scientists invested heavily in the collaboration, they were ultimately not able keep the process going, as industry members left, sensing that their expertise was not appreciated, boundaries had been erected, and the trading zone for genuine collaboration was closed.