Assembling National Marine Aquaculture Policy in the United States by Luke W. Fairbanks Marine ...

237 Pages·2015·1.09 MB·English

The Geographies of Policy:
Assembling National Marine Aquaculture Policy in the United States
by
Luke W. Fairbanks
Marine Science and Conservation
Duke University

Date:_______________________
Approved:

___________________________
Lisa M. Campbell, Supervisor

___________________________
Xavier Basurto

___________________________
Michael K. Orbach

___________________________
Jennifer J. Silver

Dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of
the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in
Marine Science and Conservation in the
Graduate School of Duke University

2015
ABSTRACT
The Geographies of Policy:
Assembling National Marine Aquaculture Policy in the United States
by
Luke W. Fairbanks
Marine Science and Conservation
Duke University

Date:_______________________
Approved:

___________________________
Lisa M. Campbell, Supervisor

___________________________
Xavier Basurto

___________________________
Michael K. Orbach

___________________________
Jennifer J. Silver

An abstract of a dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of
the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in
Marine Science and Conservation in the
Graduate School of Duke University

2015
Copyright by
Luke W. Fairbanks
2015
Abstract
In the United States, marine aquaculture is increasingly viewed as way to offset
stagnating wild fisheries production, help faltering coastal community economies, and
address a growing national seafood trade deficit. The national government has
outwardly supported the development of the sector through policies, plans, and other
statements. However, many social and environmental questions surround prospective
expansion, and actual policy development and implementation has been slow. This
dissertation builds on recent work in human geography and policy studies to explore US
national marine aquaculture policy processes, conceptualizing policy as a dynamic
assemblage of actors, spaces, practices, and relations. It contributes to our understanding
of oceans geography and policy processes by addressing three questions: (1) How do
actors interact within the assemblage negotiate, construct, and develop national policies?
(2) What practices are actors employing to shape aquaculture policymaking, and what
views underlie them? (3) What are the practical, and often local, implications of these
processes, and how do actors interact with and within policy development (or not)?
These questions are approached empirically by tracing the US national marine
aquaculture policy assemblage across time, space, and scale. The dissertation draws on
research conducted within and outside the US government, focusing on the internal
practices of the state and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

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(NOAA), as well as a case of local and regional policy implementation and development
in New England. It also focuses on offshore aquaculture policy, as well as marine
aquaculture more generally. The dissertation uses discourse analysis, ethnography, and
other approaches to conduct a geographic policy analysis that explores the processes
and relationships producing national marine aquaculture policy in the United States.
Overall, this research shows that broad or monolithic conceptualization of the
state, its motivations, its practices, and their implications are oversimplified. The federal
government features a diversity of actors, discourses, and ideas about marine
aquaculture and its policy development, which manifest in different paths to reform and
conflicting efforts within the state itself. Further, national policy processes are not
contained within the national government, but are co-produced by mobile and dynamic
actors and policies across contexts. Actors deploy particular discourses about marine
aquaculture’s risks and opportunities, government agencies and offices claim and
reclaim authority over the sector, bureaucrats engage in diverse everyday policy
practices and interactions, and policy ideas and policies themselves change as they are
translated and deployed in new spaces and by different actors. Together, these processes
suggest that rather than expecting a totalizing form of marine aquaculture development
in the United State, it is important to consider the ruptures and opportunities within the
assemblage that might allow for alternative forms of policy, coordination, and
implementation at all scales.

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Contents

Abstract ......................................................................................................................................... iv

List of Tables .................................................................................................................................. x

Acknowledgements ..................................................................................................................... xi

1. Introduction ............................................................................................................................... 1

1.1 Research Questions .......................................................................................................... 3

1.2. Rationale and Conceptual Framework ......................................................................... 4

1.2.1. Geography of the oceans and marine aquaculture ................................................ 4

1.2.2. Neoliberal natures ...................................................................................................... 6

1.2.3. Geographic policy analysis ....................................................................................... 9

1.2.4. Situating the conceptual framework...................................................................... 12

1.3. Methodology .................................................................................................................. 19

1.4 Dissertation Structure .................................................................................................... 25

2. Searching for Reform: Policy Mobilities in US Offshore Aquaculture ............................ 27

2.1. Context and Methods .................................................................................................... 29

2.1.1. US offshore aquaculture policy .............................................................................. 29

2.1.2. Methods ..................................................................................................................... 31

2.2. Policy Assemblage ......................................................................................................... 33

2.3. The US Offshore Aquaculture Policy Assemblage ................................................... 39

2.3.1. Baseline policy framework for offshore aquaculture .......................................... 40

2.3.2. Three ‘strands’ of policy reform ............................................................................. 44

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2.3.2.1. Federal legislation ............................................................................................. 45

2.3.2.2. Regional management ...................................................................................... 47

2.3.2.3. Administrative cooperation ............................................................................. 49

2.3.2.4. Discussion .......................................................................................................... 50

2.4. Offshore Aquaculture Policy Mobilities ..................................................................... 52

2.4.1. A model for national reform? California SB 201 .................................................. 56

2.4.2. Mobilizing regional reform? From New England to the Gulf of Mexico ......... 68

2.5. Discussion and Conclusions ........................................................................................ 80

3. Studying Up: Finding Heterogeneity in US Government Aquaculture Policy .............. 86

3.1. Opening the Black Box: the Institutional ‘Turn’ in Geography .............................. 89

3.2. Context and Methods .................................................................................................... 94

3.2.1. US national marine aquaculture policy ................................................................. 94

3.2.2. Methods ..................................................................................................................... 99

3.3. Placing Marine Aquaculture in the State: a Genealogy of Territorial Conflict ... 102

3.3.1. Pre-1980s national aquaculture policy................................................................. 103

3.3.2. 1980s national aquaculture policy ........................................................................ 108

3.3.3. 1990s national aquaculture policy ........................................................................ 112
3.4. Negotiating Marine Aquaculture in the State: Discourse and the Meaning of

Aquaculture ......................................................................................................................... 119

3.4.1. Opportunity and risk ............................................................................................. 122

3.4.2. Discourse and institutional conflict ..................................................................... 133

3.5. Discussion and Conclusions ...................................................................................... 141

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3.5.1. Circulating texts and discourse ............................................................................ 141

3.5.2. Everyday state politics ........................................................................................... 145

3.5.3. Finding common ground ...................................................................................... 147

3.5.4. Conclusions ............................................................................................................. 151
4. Localizing Policy: Perceptions of Offshore Aquaculture Policy and Expansion in New

England....................................................................................................................................... 153

4.1. Context and Methods .................................................................................................. 155

4.1.1. Stakeholder perspectives on ocean planning and development ..................... 155

4.1.2. Methods ................................................................................................................... 160

4.2. Results ........................................................................................................................... 162

4.2.1. Opportunities for offshore mussel aquaculture ................................................. 162

4.2.1.1. Technical considerations ................................................................................ 163

4.2.1.2. Environmental conditions ............................................................................. 163

4.2.1.3. Market opportunities ...................................................................................... 165

4.2.2. Challenges for offshore mussel aquaculture ...................................................... 167

4.2.2.1. Regulatory concerns ....................................................................................... 167

4.2.2.2. Financial costs .................................................................................................. 172

4.2.2.3. Social and political issues .............................................................................. 175

4.3. Discussion and Conclusions ...................................................................................... 178

4.3.1. Consensus and tension in development ............................................................. 180

4.3.2. Opportunities and implications for management ............................................. 182

4.3.3. Conclusions ............................................................................................................. 188

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5. Conclusions ............................................................................................................................ 190

5.1. Review of Findings ...................................................................................................... 190

5.2. Key Themes and Future Directions .......................................................................... 194

References .................................................................................................................................. 200

Biography ................................................................................................................................... 225

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List of Tables

Table 3.1. Characterization of two marine aquaculture discourses within NOAA ......... 131
Table 4.1: Summary of New England stakeholder perceptions of the conditions for

offshore mussel aquaculture expansion ................................................................................ 179

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