Peer-reviewed Journal Articles

Conservation International's science is the foundation for all our work. Our global science team is dedicated to advancing conservation science — pursuing actionable knowledge and amplifying it through partnerships and outreach.

To date, Conservation International has published more than 1,300 peer-reviewed articles, many in leading journals including Science, Nature and the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Here is an archive of our most recent research:

Anticipating trade-offs and promoting synergies between small-scale fisheries and aquaculture to improve social, economic, and ecological outcomes

Elizabeth J. Mansfield, Fiorenza Micheli, Rod Fujita, Elizabeth A. Fulton, Stefan Gelcich, Willow Battista, Rodrigo H. Bustamante, Ling Cao, Benjamin N. Daniels, Elena M. Finkbeiner, Steven Gaines, Hoyt Peckham, Kelly Roche, Mary Ruckelshaus, Anne K. Salomon, U. Rashid Sumaila, Crow White, Rosamond Naylor

npj Ocean Sustainability, 3

January 04, 2024

Blue food systems are crucial for meeting global social and environmental goals. Both small-scale marine fisheries (SSFs) and aquaculture contribute to these goals, with SSFs supporting hundreds of millions of people and aquaculture currently expanding in the marine environment. Here we examine the interactions between SSFs and aquaculture, and the possible combined benefits and trade-offs of these interactions, along three pathways: (1) resource access and rights allocation; (2) markets and supply chains; and (3) exposure to and management of risks. Analysis of 46 diverse case studies showcase positive and negative interaction outcomes, often through competition for space or in the marketplace, which are context-dependent and determined by multiple factors, as further corroborated by qualitative modeling. Results of our mixed methods approach underscore the need to anticipate and manage interactions between SSFs and aquaculture deliberately to avoid negative socio-economic and environmental outcomes, promote synergies to enhance food production and other benefits, and ensure equitable benefit distribution.

CITATION

Mansfield, E. J., Micheli, F., Fujita, R., Fulton, E. A., Gelcich, S., Battista, W., Bustamante, R. H., Cao, L., Daniels, B. N., Finkbeiner, E. M., Gaines, S., Peckham, H., Roche, K., Ruckelshaus, M., Salomon, A. K., Sumaila, U. R., White, C., & Naylor, R. (2024). Anticipating trade-offs and promoting synergies between small-scale fisheries and aquaculture to improve social, economic, and ecological outcomes. Npj Ocean Sustainability, 3(1). https://doi.org/10.1038/s44183-023-00035-5