A social license to operate for aquaculture: Reflections from Tasmania

'Social License to Operate' (SLO) is now a key term in natural resource development vocabulary across the world. Like industries such as mining, forestry and renewable energy, the concept is increasingly found across aquaculture research, policy, and activism. As a state in which SLO has been well-studied but is also continuing to be questioned, Tasmania constitutes a useful case study to investigate the concept and to reflect on the lessons learnt for the state and more broadly. Using a desk-based thematic analysis of scholarly literature and grey literature from industry, government and NGOs, this study shows that aquaculture SLO in Tasmania depends on messaging and perceptions of benefits, sustainability, and procedural fairness as well as historical, international, national, and local industry context and the trustworthiness of a broad range of actors. If SLO for aquaculture is to be achieved and maintained, industry and government messaging should focus on a broader range of factors than only benefits for jobs and economy and environmental sustainability - as is often the focus.

Automated summary

The concept of 'Social License to Operate' (SLO) is widely used in the vocabulary of natural resource development worldwide. This study focuses on Tasmania as a case study to investigate SLO in aquaculture and to reflect on the lessons learnt. The findings show that aquaculture SLO depends on various factors such as messaging, perceptions, industry context, and trustworthiness of actors. The study suggests that industry and government messaging should consider a broader range of factors beyond just economic and environmental sustainability.