Sustaining Our Seas Final Report

Sustaining Our Seas

Sustaining Our Seas | Final Report

Climate change is affecting every part of the Earth, especially our oceans and the sea life within them. As the oceans warm, acidity starts to change, and sea levels rise, we can observe changes in our fish stocks, habitats, and fishing patterns.

The goals of this project

1 | To allow multi-sector stakeholders to network with each other, listen to each other, learn from each other.

2 | To find out what mutually beneficial information from the general public can be solicited in an effort to inform action aimed at addressing the seafood and climate change crises.

3 | To implement public forums that will help elicit this information and relay what is learned back to the primary multi-sector stakeholders.

What we did

• Developed two forums: Public Perception of Seafood and Managing Resources. These forums focused on seafood, climate change, and sustainability with the help of an advisory group featuring a range of stakeholders.

• Held each forum twice, one each at the Museum of Science and a second each in the community.

• Shared results and methodology from these forums at a culminating symposium at the Museum of Science on March 1, 2023. Fifty-five attendees, including our 7 advisors were able to join us for the full day program.

LETTER FROM the Director of the Center for Energy, Environment, and Biodiversity

The forum aims to shed light on the intricate relationship between seafood consumption and sustainability, addressing the evolving public perception, the impact of climate change, and the ever-changing preferences surrounding this vital industry. We believe that by fostering open dialogue and collaboration, we can inspire meaningful change and drive the adoption of sustainable practices.

With the growing concern about the future of our oceans and the global food system, it has become imperative to understand the role of seafood in sustaining both our environment and our communities. This forum will bring together esteemed experts, industry leaders, researchers, and passionate individuals who are committed to exploring innovative solutions and creating a more sustainable seafood sector.

–Tim Ritchie President, Museum of Science, Boston

Public Perception of Seafood

Main Message

Many factors may go into purchasing seafood: Sustainability, location, taste, and cost.

We posed these questions

• What influences the way you (consumers) purchase seafood?

• Where do you get your information from?

• Is cost the most important factor or not?

Forum Locations & Dates

Museum of Science, Boston (MOS)

August 24, 2022

Boston, Massachusetts

65 participants

Age range: adults 18+

Cape Cod Museum of Natural History (CCMNH)

January 29, 2023

Brewster, Massachusetts

53 participants

Age range: primarily retirees

118 participants total

Participant home zip codes Forum locations

Museum of Science, Boston

Cape Cod Museum of Natural History

1 | PARTICIPANT SURVEY

We looked at each of the forum locations separately and then compared them to each other in order to answer “does location affect how someone makes their seafood purchasing decisions?”

SURVEY QUESTIONS

1 | Baseline Perceptions & Purchasing History

Do they fish

Most participants did not fish regularly, and those that did were recreational and not commercial fishermen.

Frequency of purchasing

All attendees purchased seafood at some point, with most people purchasing it at least once per week and many purchasing it 2+ times per week. CCMNH attendees purchased seafood somewhat more often than MOS participants.

Type of seafood purchased

Participants at both sites purchased a wide range of seafood, but salmon was the most frequent at each. CCMNH had much higher amounts of cod, haddock and scallops, most likely because local purchasing was a high priority for CCMNH participants (see next result).

Where they purchase

CCMNH participants were much more likely to purchase their seafood from local markets and directly from the fishers, again highlighting the importance of buying local.

SURVEY QUESTIONS

2 | Which factors were important in purchasing decisions?

Main takeaways

• Taste was the most important factor to both groups

• Cost was more important to MOS group (but still important to the CCMNH group).

• Catch method and buying local were more important to the CCMNH group, highlighting the importance of seafood culture to them.

3 | How did factors rank against each other?

Main takeaways

• Taste was again the most important followed closely by health and cost for the MOS group and by local for the CCMNH group.

• For catch method, both groups preferred wild-caught fin fish to farmed fin fish, but did not seem to mind if their shellfish was farmed. Several CCMNH participants cited that they knew and trusted aquaculturists on the Cape.

4 | Where did people receive the information that influenced their purchasing decisions and how much they trusted those sources.

Main takeaways

• Friends/family was the most common answer for both groups for where they got their information, with News outlets also being common.

• Both groups answered the trustworthy questions similarly, where they ranked social media as not very trustworthy and academia as being trustworthy.

2 | BACKGROUND CARDS

After the survey was completed, the forum began with background cards that the table participants would read aloud to establish a shared vocabulary and to encourage talking to each other.

BACKGROUND CARDS

• Bycatch

• Finfish

• Shellfish

• Farm-raised/aquaculture

• Carbon footprint

• Wild-caught

3 | SPEAKERS

Jason Tucker (MOS)

One of our advisors, a fisherman, small business manager, farmers market retailer, environmentalist from Bluefin Somerville

Shareen Davis (CCMNH)

Commercial fisherman, community advocate, part of the Chatham Harvesters: A Fishermen’s Cooperative

4 | DISCUSSION CARDS

We had two discussion cards that encouraged conversations around what the terms “sustainability” and “local” meant to them.

DISCUSSION CARDS

What do you consider local?

When asked “what do you consider local”, both groups stated New England. CCCMH also specified Cape Cod, while MOS participants also stated proximity to boat/port.

When asked about supporting local fishing industry, both groups felt it was important, but the CCMNH groups used more emotional language along with capital letters and exclamation points to show their cultural connection.

What do you consider sustainability?

When asked “what do you consider sustainability” there was no difference between the groups, with most people stating something that was on the printed discussion cards yielding no new insights.

Example of a background card

Example of a discussion card

5 | SUSTAINABLE FISH MARKET ACTIVITY

This activity consisted of 6 Fish Market Cards that listed several different assessments for each group to consider and rank. These fish were not representative of actual specific species so as to avoid biasing anyone’s answers or future purchases of certain species. The parameters included catch method, seasonality, bycatch discard rate, ecological impact, and fish stock condition.

1. Participants discussed the cards in their groups

2. They ranked the fish in order of most likely to least likely to purchase.

The groups of 4-6 individuals had to come to a consensus on their ordering.

3. Facilitators revealed the price per pound for each seafood and asked the groups to reevaluate their purchasing order preference.

Results after price reveal

Order changed when cost was known

For most of the groups at both sites (17 out of 19), the order changed and groups confirmed that the ranking did change with the cost. This was highlighted by Fish E frequently going from the #1 ranked fish to the last ranked fish, since it was environmentally friendly, but also the most expensive at $49.99/lbs.

Overall results

The two locations (MOS and CCMNH) had different results

We were not surprised that the results from these two locations were different in many instances. We also thought that we would see different demographics (like how many people fished), but it seems like the experiences, culture and economy of the Cape were driving forces in their criteria for how they purchased seafood.

While cost was the primary factor in both groups, the differences in importance in other factors and where their information comes from suggest that there is no “one size fits all” solution to educate the public about sustainability of seafood. The culture of the community should be taken into account when thinking about how best to influence those choices.

Example of fish market cards

Fish E (most expensive) frequently going from the #1 ranked fish to the last ranked fish

Managing Resources

Main Message

The Gulf of Maine is the fastest warming large body of water in the world due to climate change. As waters warm, we need to learn to both adapt to and mitigate the negative effects.

This forum looked at the effects of climate change in the Gulf of Maine through one specific species—black sea bass—and looked at potential mitigation techniques through offshore wind turbines.

Forum Locations & Dates

Museum of Science, Boston (MOS)

October 25, 2022

Boston, Massachusetts

55 participants

Age range: adults 18+

University of New Hampshire (UNH)

February 20, 2023

Durham, New Hampshire

50 participants

Age range: UNH Undergraduate and Graduate Students 105 participants total

We did not collect participant zip code information for this forum

University of New Hampshire

Museum of Science, Boston

1 | SPEAKERS

We began with a speaker to give an overview of the Gulf of Maine, its importance as an early indicator of ocean warming, how its environment is changing, and what types of mitigation strategies can be employed in it.

SPEAKERS

Doug Christel (MOS)

Fishery Policy Analyst and Greater Atlantic Wind Team Fisheries Lead at NOAA Fisheries.

Jonathan Fanning (UNH)

Current Science Communication associate at Museum of Science

2 | SCENARIO 1

THE E XPANSIO N OF BLACK SEA BASS

How can we manage the expanding range of black sea bass in the Gulf of Maine?

METHODOLOGY

1. Background

Participants were given an information sheet for basic background on black sea bass.

2. Stakeholder cards

Participants were given 6 stakeholder cards. These cards presented a variety of perspectives that may have been different from our participants and in fact may not have originally been considered by our participants.

3. Discussion

Participants were given several discussion questions to talk through as a table.

4. Activity

The table went through an activity on options for managing black sea bass.

Example of a stakeholder card

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

What term do you think ought to be applied to black sea bass in the Gulf of Maine? Invasive, non-native, emergent? Why?

Results

• Many of the responses included comments that invasive was a very negative word and that emergent was a more positive word, but that non-native was a neutral word.

• 18 of the 19 groups also agreed that the word that we use, including its connotation, would have a strong effect on the management of their presence in the Gulf of Maine.

• Before we asked the groups to come up with their own management plan, we asked them who they think should be included in those types of conversations.

ACTIVITY

How should we react to black sea bass expanding their range north? Groups were given 8 options to chose from, citing pros and cons for each option. The top 3 answers chosen by participants are shown below. Results

Both the MOS and UNH groups prioritized similar responses. Create positive marketing campaign around purchasing and consuming black sea bass.

16 VOTES

People love to eat, More people will fish, Easy way to convince Public, Economic upside CON

Could lead to overfishing, More expensive, Increased Boat traffic, pollution, environmental stress

13

9

• Effect on biological processes and species

• Optimal for wind harvesting

3 | SCENARIO 2 WIND TURBIN ES FOR REN EWAB LE ENERGY

Where should we place offshore wind farms?

METHODOLOGY

1. The participants first played a True-False game to give everyone at the table some shared background and to alleviate some common misconceptions

2. The scenario was introduced along with 6 new Stakeholder Cards. These cards presented a variety of perspectives that may have been different from our participants and in fact may not have originally been considered by our participants.

3. The participants worked as a group to decide on a location of an offshore wind farm. They were told to keep in mind the stakeholders and important factors when deciding where to put the turbines.

Results

Both the MOS and UNH groups placed their wind turbines in similar places on the map of our imitation shoreline and listed similar criteria and reasoning behind their choices.

QUESTION 1

What factors were most important to you and why?

• Striking a balance between residential/commercial developments.

• We wanted to stay away from harming wildlife.

• Preserving migratory and fishing paths

• NO NIMBY-ism (Not In My Backyard)

• No cables wanted (bad for whales)

• Want to maximize energy

• Avoiding harm to lobster and fishing industry near coast.

• Want smallest environmental impact

Symposium

We shared results and methodology from these forums at a culminating symposium at the Museum of Science on March 1, 2023. We had 55 attendees, including our 7 advisors for the full day program.

Panel Discussion

Cooperative Research in our New England Fisheries

Anna Mercer, PhD

Chief, Cooperative Research Branch, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Fisheries

Eric Hesse Captain of the FV Tenacious

David Bethoney, PhD

Executive Director, Commercial Fisheries Research Foundation

Questions were taken from both the live and virtual audience through the use of the Q&A platform Slido.

Project Advisors

Glen Gawarkiewicz, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution

Jared Auerbach, Red’s Best

Jason Tucker, Hooked Fish Shop

Jonathan Grabowski, Northeastern Marine Science Center

Meredith White, Mook Sea Farm, Aquaculture

Nicola Williams, Northwest Atlantic Marine Alliance

Valerie Young, Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences

Victoria Luu, NOAA Marine Fisheries - NEFSC Fishery

Monitoring & Research Division

For more information about this project, to download and use the forums, or to see the results of this project scan the code below.

If you have any questions you can contact us at csc@mos.org

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