Brief Summary of Minutes of Annual Meeting

Annual Meetings

W4004: Marketing, Trade, and Management of Aquaculture and Fishery

Meeting #1:                 In-person meeting

Resources Date:           March 26, 2025

Location:                     La Jolla, CA

 Participants:

Anderson, James (University of Florida)

Asche, Frank (University of Florida)

Garlock, Taryn (Auburn University)

Scheld, Andrew (Virginia Institute of Marine Science)

Uchida, Hirotsugu (University of Rhode Island)

Summary

This was the fourth meeting of W4004 since it was launched in October 2021. In-person attendance was somewhat limited due to a split among members regarding 2025 conference attendance.

While U.S.-based fisheries/aquaculture economics conference choices are generally limited, 2025 included both a triennial aquaculture meeting in the U.S. (Aquaculture 2025 – March 6-10 in New Orleans, LA) and the biennial North American Association of Fisheries Economists (NAAFE) meeting (March 24-27, La Jolla, CA). W4004 membership was fairly evenly split between in-person attendance at Aquaculture 2025 and NAAFE. Due to a slightly larger contingent at NAAFE it was selected as the site of the in-person meeting but it was decided by the membership to hold an additional online meeting in April 2025 (April 25, 2025 – 3pm Eastern).

 Annual Meetings

W4004: Marketing, Trade, and Management of Aquaculture and Fishery

Meeting #2:                 Online Meeting

Resources Date:           April 25, 2025     

Participants:

Anderson, James (University of Florida)

Asche, Frank (University of Florida)

Garlock, Taryn (Auburn University)

Uchida, Hirotsugu (University of Rhode Island)

Fitzsimmons, Kevin (University of Arizona)

Karunakaran, Ganesh (Mississippi State University)

Treviño Peña, Melva (University of Rhode Island)

Anderson, Thomas Jr. (University of Florida)

Miller, Jessica (Oregon State University)

Dhar, Arun (University of Arizona)

Leong, Kirsten (University of Hawaii)

Quagrainie, Kwamena K (Purdue University)

Weir, Michael (Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)

Sullivan, Timothy (USDA NIFA, W4004 NIFA Rep)

Summary

This online meeting was held in addition to the in-person meeting at the North American Association of Fisheries Economists (noted on the previous page) to allow for increased participation and collaboration among group members.

The meeting kicked off with a discussion of the 2024 review of the group and its accomplishments. The group discussed both the need to better highlight collaborative efforts among group members already occurring and increasing collaboration among group members. The group plans to meet more frequently to foster collaboration and has made an additional effort to highlight collaborations already occurring across institutions to address concerns raised in the review of the W4004 group's progress to date.

The meeting also included a discussion of whether the group wishes to continue the project past its end date and what focus would suit the group. There was broad consensus among participants to attempt to continue the project past its expiration date through renewal. In addition, there was discussion of ways to enhance the value of group outputs for a renewed version of W4004. The team is planning to meet again in late 2025 (virtually) to decide on goals and objectives for a renewed project.

There was a discussion on the best strategies for increasing attendance at the annual meetings. The group includes a mixture of aquaculture and fisheries-focused researchers, and not all attend both of the major domestic conferences for each group (Aquaculture America – annual or North American Association of Fisheries Economists – biennial). Ideas discussed included: alternating conferences, including one or two online meetings of the group each year in addition to the annual meeting to boost collaborations, and holding a meeting not associated with a conference focused solely on W4004 projects. We are still considering the idea of a W4004-specific annual meeting, but are implementing online meetings (1 to 2 per year) to enhance collaborations and outputs.

The meeting also included presentations by each group member on their current and planned work. These presentations are designed to allow us to keep each other abreast of projects and foster collaborations.

W4004 Accomplishments (2024)

This section focuses on intended activities, outputs, and short-term outcomes. Committees should build information around the activity's milestones, as identified in the original proposal. Please indicate significant evidence of linkages both internal to the project/committee and to external peer groups, stakeholders, clientele, and other multistate activities. The report should also reflect on the items that stakeholders want to know or want to see. The committee should describe plans for the coming year in no more than one or two short paragraphs. If the committee is filing an annual report, the accomplishments will cover only the current year of the project; for termination reports, list accomplishments from the entire span of the project.

• Short-term Outcomes:Quantitative, measurable benefits of the research outputs as experienced by those who receive them. Examples include the adoption of a technology, the creation of jobs, reduced cost to the consumer, less pesticide exposure to farmers, or access to more nutritious food.
• Outputs:Defined products (tangible or intangible) that are delivered by a research project. Examples of outputs are reports, data, information, observations, publications, and patents.
• Activities:Organized and specific functions or duties carried out by individuals or teams using scientific methods to reveal new knowledge and develop new understanding.
• Milestones:Key intermediate targets necessary for achieving and/or delivering the outputs of a project, within an agreed timeframe. Milestones are useful for managing complex projects. For example, a milestone for a biotechnology project might be "To reduce our genetic transformation procedures to practice by December 2004."

Objective: Marketing, Niches, and New Products

1. Activity: Restaurant and Supermarket Demand of Important Aquaculture Species (collaborators: Taryn Garlock, Frank Asche, Andrew Ropicki - 3 collaborators at 2 institutions): Grant funded research project to address data gaps in the retail and food service sectors by exploring purchaser preferences, sales trends, and product availability of three emerging species in the southeastern region: red drum, oysters, and crawfish. This is part of a USDA NIFA Southern Regional Aquaculture Center (SRAC) Grant. Improved understanding of the market for these important aquaculture species has the potential to benefit US producers of these species by more effectively identifying effective marketing channels for their products. Survey results will be made available to industry members in the coming year.

Objective: Production for Dynamic Markets

1. Activity: On growing aquaculture of Florida spiny lobster (collaborators: Taryn Garlock, Frank Asche – 2 collaborators at 2 institutions):

A hedonic study examined price variation in the Florida spiny lobster fishery. This work was followed up with a bioeconomic analysis to assess the economic feasibility of ongrowing lobsters (a form of aquaculture) for sale later in the season and to rehabilitate low-grade (low quality) lobsters for sale in the live export market. This information is important to Florida’s spiny lobster fishermen as products sold into the live export market receive a substantial price premium relative to other markets. 

Both studies were published in 2024. The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission funded this work.          

Outputs:

Garlock, T., Asche, F., Butler, C., Larkin, S., Matthews, T., Ross, E. 2025. Bioeconomic modeling of on-growing Caribbean spiny lobster in Florida. Aquaculture, 596(2), 741881. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aquaculture.2024.741881Garlock, T., Anderson, J., Anderson, T., Kumar, G. 2025. Aquaculture in the United States: An analysis of seven aquaculture sectors from the Aquaculture Performance Indicators perspective. Aquaculture Economics & Management. https://doi.org/10.1080/13657305.2025.2455411.

Garlock, T., Asche, F., Butler, C., Matthews, T., Ross, E. 2024. Price variation in Caribbean spiny lobster: Incentives for on-growing wild-caught lobsters in Florida. Fisheries Research, 273, 106960. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fishres.2024.106960.

2. Activity: Labor Demand, Supply, and Associated Constraints Under Alternative Production Methods in the Bivalve Shellfish Culture Industry (collaborators: Andrew Scheld, Andrew Ropicki – 2 collaborators at 2 institutions): USDA NIFA grant-funded research project to examine labor usage in US Gulf and Atlantic shellfish aquaculture operations. The project is employing biweekly surveys of industry collaborators to measure labor usage across different business tasks (production, maintenance, administrative, etc.) for various forms of production (clam vs. oyster, on-bottom vs. off-bottom, etc.). The project will develop benchmarks and best practices for different forms of US shellfish aquaculture production that will be shared with industry members. The project team is currently still collecting and analyzing survey data from industry participants and will begin developing benchmarks and best practices information in late 2025 and will share information with industry members in late 2025 and 2026.
3. Activity: Improving Understanding of fish survival in the face of environmental stressors (collaborator: Jessica Miller): Improving understanding of how environmental stressors impact commercially important species (pacific cod) and understanding the dynamics of key fish stocks (chinook salmon) has the potential to improve the resiliency and profitability of U.S fisheries.

Marine heatwaves (MHW) in 2014-2016 and 2019 in the Gulf of Alaska (GOA) and the subsequent closure of the Pacific Cod fishery highlight the need to understand how ocean warming affects reproduction, growth, and recruitment. Our recent work focused on how these MHWs influenced the early life stages of Pacific Cod. We partnered with federal fisheries scientists to complete a retrospective study on larval Pacific Cod collected before, during, and after these recent MHWs. We found that the notably larval Pacific Cod, contrary to expectations, grew slower and were smaller in size at-age during ocean warming.  The larger size during & between MHWs could be entirely explained by older ages due to earlier hatching or shifts in phenology. Daily growth variation was well-explained by an interaction among age, temperature, and hatch date. Under cool conditions, early growth was fastest for the latest hatchers. However, this variation converged at warmer temperatures, due to faster growth of earlier hatchers. Stage-specific growth did not vary with temperature, remaining relatively similar from 4 to 8 ℃. Temperature-related demographic changes were more predictable based on phenological shifts rather than changes in growth, which could affect population productivity after MHWs.

Miller examined patterns of growth and survival for ICR yearling spring Chinook salmon collected in coastal waters off of Oregon and Washington during late May by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Juvenile Salmon and Ocean Ecosystem Survey (JSOES) across several years (2015-2019 and 2021). We identified consistent differences in the size and condition of juvenile Chinook salmon collected after weeks of marine residence and survival to adulthood varied across salmon hatcheries. These results indicate there are carry-over effects associated with hatchery rearing that are detectable after in-river migration and early marine residence, which may differentially affect survival to adulthood. Longer-term examination of hatchery-specific migratory behavior can improve our understanding of early marine residence and variation in survival rates across discrete hatcheries and geographic regions.

Outputs:

Miller JA, Almeida LZ, Rogers LA, Thalmann* HL, Forney RM, Laurel BJ (2024) Age, not growth, explains larger body size of Pacific cod larvae during recent marine heatwaves. Scientific Reports 14:19313.

Strait N, Taylor D, Forney RM, Amos J, Miller J (2024) Otoliths, bones, teeth, and more: Development of a new polishing wheel for calcified structures. Limnology and Oceanography: Methods.

Thalmann, H.L., Laurel, B.J., Almeida, L.Z., Osborne, K. E., Marshall, K., and J. A. Miller. 2024. Marine heatwaves alter the nursery function of coastal habitats for juvenile Gulf of Alaska Pacific cod. Scientific Reports 14:14018 

Objective: Analyzing the ‘seascape’ of the aquaculture industry in the U.S.

1. Aquaculture Performance Indicators (W4004 collaborators: Taryn Garlock, Frank Asche, Jim Anderson, Ganesh Kumar, Kevin Fitzsimmons, Hirotsugu Uchida – 6 collaborators at 5 institutions): The Aquaculture Performance Indicators are an assessment tool designed to measure economic, community and environmental performance in aquaculture systems. Data has been collected for more than 70 aquaculture systems around the world. The first paper on the APIs was published in Nature Communications in 2024 and examines the relationships among the three pillars of sustainability and some key sustainability challenges in aquaculture. A second paper was drafted which explores the relationships between enabling factors and sustainability outcomes in aquaculture.

The Fishery Performance Indicators (also created by W4004 researchers) and the Aquaculture Performance Indicators are assessment tools designed to measure how well fishery and aquaculture systems perform in economic, community and environmental dimensions. Currently, more than 150 fishery and 70 aquaculture systems have been assessed using the indicators, and more than 100 people have used or are presently using the indicators in research and development projects.  

Outputs:

Anderson, J.L., Eggert, H., Garlock, T.M. 2025. Special issue Introduction—Aquaculture performance indicators: A low-cost tool for comparison and evaluation of data-scarce aquaculture sectors around the world. Aquaculture Economics & Management. https://doi.org/10.1080/13657305.2025.2458972.

Anderson, J.L., Asche, F., Eggert, H., Garlock, T.M. 2025. Introducing the aquaculture performance indicators: A tool to assess the triple bottomline in aquaculture systems. Aquaculture Economics & Management. https://doi.org/10.1080/13657305.2024.2446143.

Garlock, T., Anderson, J., Anderson, T., Kumar, G. 2025. Aquaculture in the United States: An analysis of seven aquaculture sectors from the Aquaculture Performance Indicators perspective. Aquaculture Economics & Management. https://doi.org/10.1080/13657305.2025.2455411.  

Publications organized by W4004 objective (W4004 collaborators bolded)

Objective: Marketing, Niches, and New Products

Love, D.C., Brown, M.T., Viglia, S., Asche, F., Garlock, T.M., Jenkins, L., Nguyen, L., Anderson, J.L., Nussbaumer, E.M., Neff, R. 2025. Environmental Impacts and Food Loss and Waste in the U.S. Aquatic Food System. Global Environmental Change, 90, 102964. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2025.102964.

Love, D.C., Asche, F., Fry, J., Brown, M., Nguyen, L., Garlock, T.M., Nussbaumer, E.M., Sarmiento, G.L., Tveteras, S., Neff, R. 2024. Fisheries and aquaculture by-products: Case studies in Norway, United States, and Vietnam. Marine Policy, 167, 106276. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpol.2024.106276. 

Objective: Production for Dynamic Markets

Asche, F., Garlock, T., Anderson, J., Pincinato, R.B., Anderson, C., Camp, E., Jingjie, C., Cojocaru, A., Eggert, H., Lorenzen, K., Love, D., Tveteras, R. 2025. A review of global fishery performance. Fish and Fisheries. https://doi.org/10.1111/faf.12890.

Fry, J. P., Scroggins, R.E., Garlock, T.M., Love, D.C., Asche, F., Brown, M.T., Nussbaumer, E., Nguyen, L., Jenkins, L.D., Anderson, J., Neff, R.A. 2024. Application of the food-energy-water nexus to six seafood supply chains: Hearing from wild and farmed seafood supply chain actors in the U.S., Norway, and Vietnam. Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems, 7, 1269026. https://doi.org/10.3389/fsufs.2023.1269026.

Garlock, T., Asche, F., Butler, C., Matthews, T., Ross, E. 2024. Price variation in Caribbean spiny lobster: Incentives for on-growing wild-caught lobsters in Florida. Fisheries Research, 273, 106960. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fishres.2024.106960.

Garlock, T., Asche, F., Butler, C., Larkin, S., Matthews, T., Ross, E. 2025. Bioeconomic modeling of on-growing Caribbean spiny lobster in Florida. Aquaculture, 596(2), 741881. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aquaculture.2024.741881.

Ropicki, A., Garlock, T., Farzad, R., Hazell, J. 2024. Recirculating Aquaculture System-Based Production as a Pathway to Increase Aquaculture in Developed Countries: The Case of United States Aquaculture. Aquaculture Economics & Management, 28(3), 515-536. https://doi.org/10.1080/13657305.2024.2330051. 

Miller JA, Almeida LZ, Rogers LA, Thalmann* HL, Forney RM, Laurel BJ (2024) Age, not growth, explains larger body size of Pacific cod larvae during recent marine heatwaves. Scientific Reports 14:19313. http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41598-024-69915-1.

Strait N, Taylor D, Forney RM, Amos J, Miller J (2024) Otoliths, bones, teeth, and more: Development of a new polishing wheel for calcified structures. Limnology and Oceanography: Methods. http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/lom3.10662.

Thalmann, H.L., Laurel, B.J., Almeida, L.Z., Osborne, K. E., Marshall, K., and J. A. Miller. 2024. Marine heatwaves alter the nursery function of coastal habitats for juvenile Gulf of Alaska Pacific cod. Scientific Reports 14:14018. 10.1038/s41598-024-63897-w.

Objective: Analyzing the ‘seascape’ of the aquaculture industry in the U.S.

Anderson, J.L., Asche, F., Eggert, H., Garlock, T.M. 2025. Introducing the aquaculture performance indicators: A tool to assess the triple bottomline in aquaculture systems. Aquaculture Economics & Management. https://doi.org/10.1080/13657305.2024.2446143. 

Anderson, J.L., Eggert, H., Garlock, T.M. 2025. Special issue Introduction—Aquaculture performance indicators: A low-cost tool for comparison and evaluation of data-scarce aquaculture sectors around the world. Aquaculture Economics & Management. https://doi.org/10.1080/13657305.2025.2458972.

Ferreira, J-P. Garlock, T., Court, C.D., Anderson, J.L., Asche, F. 2024. Economic contributions of seafood imports to the U.S. economy – A value chain perspective. Marine Policy, 169, 106375. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpol.2024.106375.

Garlock, T., Anderson, J., Anderson, T., Kumar, G. 2025. Aquaculture in the United States: An analysis of seven aquaculture sectors from the Aquaculture Performance Indicators perspective. Aquaculture Economics & Management. https://doi.org/10.1080/13657305.2025.2455411.

Garlock, T., Ropicki, A. 2024. Aquaculture supply chains: Insights from mature and emerging industries.  Aquaculture Economics & Management, 28(3), 369-375. https://doi.org/10.1080/13657305.2024.2359803.

Garlock, T., Asche, F., Anderson, J.L., Eggert, H., Anderson, T.J., Che, B., Chavez, C.A., Chu, J., Chukwuone, N., Nsukka, N., Dey, M.M., Fitzsimmons, K., Flores, J., Guillen, J., Kumar, G., Liu, L., Llorente, I., Nguyen, L., Nielsen, R., Pincinato, R., Surkatal, P.O., Tibesigwa, B., Tveterås, R. 2024. Environmental, economic, and social sustainability in aquaculture. Nature Communications, 15, 5274. doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-49556-8.

Guillen, J., Asche, F., Borriello, A., Carvalho, N., Druon, J.N., Garlock, T., Llorente, I., Macias, D. 2025. What is happening to the European Union aquaculture production? Investigating its stagnation, species diversification, and sustainability. Aquaculture, 596, 741793. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aquaculture.2024.741793.

Lijun, L., Anderson, J., Che, B., Chu, J., Garlock, T., Jingtao, X. 2025. Too Big to Be Sustainable? An analysis of China’s aquaculture sector in the three pillars of sustainability. Aquaculture Economics & Management. https://doi.org/10.1080/13657305.2025.2455403.

Nielsen, R., Guillen, J., Llorente Garcia, I., Asche, F., Garlock, T., Kreiss, C.M, Novakovic, S.V., Danatskos, C., Cozzolino, M., Pokki, H., Kanakainen, M., Dennis, J., Jackson, E., Mytlewski, A., Kulikowski, T., Rakowski, M., Tveteras, R. 2025. An analysis of the European aquaculture industry using the Aquaculture Performance Indicators. Aquaculture Economics & Management. https://doi.org/10.1080/13657305.2025.2453747.

Marin, C., Asche, F., Garlock, T., Kristofersson, D.M., Lorenzen, K., Olugbenga, M.A., Yang, B. 2024. Does Seafood Trade Enhance Seafood Availability in Developing Countries? The case of Nigeria. Marine Policy, 161, 106030.  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpol.2024.106030. 

Kumar, G., S. Hegde, J. van Senten, C. Engle, N. Boldt, M. Parker, K. Quagrainie, B. Posadas, F. Asche, M.M. Dey, S. Aarattuthodi, L.A. Roy, R. Grice, Q. Fong, M. Schwarz (2024) Economic Contribution of U.S. Aquaculture Farms. Journal of the World Aquaculture Society. 55(6), e13091.