Sierra Castillo, L., Ferguson Irlanda, C. E., Gómez Andújar, N., Johnston, E. M., Harrison, H. L., Racine, P., … & Stoll, J. S. (2026). To feed the world, recognize the interconnectedness of aquaculture and fisheries. npj Ocean Sustainability.
Risley, S. C., Britsch, M. L., Stoll, J. S., & Leslie, H. M. (2025). Mapping local knowledge supports science and stewardship. Ambio, 54(10), 1648-1665.
Stoll, J. S., Advani, S., Dubovsky, E., Grinnell, W., & Oyikeke, T. S. (2025). Fish, funding, and food systems: a review of the US Department of Agriculture’s recent history of grant funding in support of the seafood sector (2018–2023). Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems, 9, 1558756.
Introduction Seafood is an important source of healthy animal protein, making it a valuable part of the food system in the United States. Methods We assembled a database of 146,720 grants awarded by the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) from 2018 to 2023. Our database included all grants awarded by the four USDA agencies primarily responsible for grant-making activities designed to enhance domestic food systems. We reviewed the extent to which these grants have supported the seafood sector, including wild capture fisheries and aquaculture. Using interviews with individuals involved in different dimensions of the seafood economy that have applied for USDA grants, we augment our review. Results Of the 31.2 billion in funding awarded, only 261.7 million (n= 768) went to support projects associated with the seafood sector, representing 0.52% of the grants during the 6-year study period. Our analysis shows USDA’s recent grant portfolio has included projects related to aquatic and marine foods, but that overall funding has been limited. Discussion Our review offers insights into why USDA funding is important to the seafood sector, barriers that are limiting the seafood sector’s access to USDA grants, and recommendations for how to better support the seafood sector moving forward.
Stoll, J. S., Burnham, T. L., Kilchenmann, J., MacKeracher, T., McCosker, C. M., Reardon, K. M., & Summers, E. (2025). Fleet-wide stability masks change in the Maine lobster fishery (2008–2022). ICES Journal of Marine Science, 82(6), fsaf097.
Burnham, T. L., Kilchenmann, J., Guenther, C., O’Shea, M., Reardon, K., & Stoll, J. S. (2025). Socioeconomic indicators of resilience in Maine’s American lobster fishery. Marine Policy, 173, 106543.
The American lobster (Homarus americanus) is an iconic component of the sociocultural and economic fabric of the state of Maine, where the commercial lobster fishery supports thousands of livelihoods. However, landings have recently declined, raising concerns about the long-term trajectory of the fishery, and highlighting the need for research to evaluate how changes to the fishery will impact harvesters and coastal communities. To address this need, we used a collaborative, mixed-methods approach to identify eight indicators that describe socioeconomic resilience in the lobster fishery from 2008 to 2022. Sufficient secondary data was available to fully quantify two of the indicators, coastal accessibility and operational condition, which track changes in housing availability and affordability, and the condition of a lobstermen’s business over time, respectively. We found spatial heterogeneity in the trends of both indicators over time, indicating that the socioeconomic impacts of changes to the fishery may vary along the coast. For example, coastal accessibility has declined in all coastal regions of Maine over time but the decline has been the most pronounced in the southern region. Our results lay the groundwork for continued development of socioeconomic indicators of resilience in Maine’s lobster fishery and can support the initiation of a long-term monitoring program to identify and respond to changes in socioeconomic condition of the lobster fleet. This research may also serve as a model for quantifying socioeconomic components of other fisheries around the world, many of which are facing an evolving landscape of social, economic, regulatory, and environmental shifts.
Kilchenmann, J., McCosker, C. M., Cammen, K. M., & Stoll, J. S. (2024). Endeavoring to engage in cooperative fisheries research in a contentious socio-political climate. ICES Journal of Marine Science, 81(10), 1931-1940.
Cooperative Fisheries Research (CFR) aims to incorporate different types of knowledge into fisheries science through the convergence of diverse perspectives, skills, and expertise. CFR can facilitate knowledge co-production and the salience, credibility, and legitimacy of science, yet it can be difficult to operationalize. In Maine’s American lobster fishery, where CFR is a hallmark of the fishery, pressure to implement conservation measures to protect North Atlantic right whales, one of the world’s most endangered large whale species, poses a major challenge for harvesters. Endeavoring to follow best practices associated with CFR, our research team set out to work with state management and fishing industry partners to evaluate the socioeconomic impacts of new whale conservation regulations on the fishery. We co-defined relevant and actionable research questions and designed a sampling approach that included multiple efforts to contact industry participants. Although the process we engaged in had some of the key ingredients for success, ultimately participation was too low to achieve our research aims. We use this paper to discuss our failure and draw on the theory of scalar politics from critical geography to reflect on challenges we encountered, including how the contentious socio-political backdrop within which the initiative transpired impacted our research.
Nyiawung, R. A., Ehrlick, T., Bennett, N. J., Brunet, N. D., Matos, F., Pita, C., … & Loring, P. A. (2024). Fisheries and the COVID-19 pandemic: A global scoping review of the early pressures, impacts, and responses in least developed, emerging, and developed countries. Regional Studies in Marine Science, 74, 103501.
The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted fisheries at every step of the global seafood supply chain, through such challenges as trade stoppages, lockdowns, and restaurant closures. We performed a scoping review of the literature published during the first two years of the pandemic to examine the challenges of new and unpredictable shocks to fisheries in countries around the world, with a specific focus on development status. We identified a robust body of published work that illustrates a rapid mobilization around COVID-19 research by scholars around the world. Pressures were governmental, economic, and societal in nature. Across developed and emerging countries, we found the greatest number of reports of impacts on fish harvest/production and fish trade. In least developed countries, impacts reported were often more cross cutting, affecting multiple aspects of the supply chain simultaneously. Individuals were most frequently reported as bearing the burden of responses to COVID-19 pressures in lower development status nations, while a larger proportion of responses reported for developed nations happened at the fishery and farm/firm level. In developed nations the pandemic also created new opportunities for people to respond innovatively and capitalize on supply chain disruptions. Importantly, while the literature offers robust details on fishers and fisheries from geographically and economically diverse locales, it fails to provide the necessary baseline information or other quantitative details that would be required to evaluate the magnitude and extent of harms experienced that may create long-term legacies for fisheries and small-scale fishing communities in least developed and emerging economies.
Advani, S., O’Hara, J. K., Shoffler, S. M., da Silva, P. P., Agar, J., Arnett, J., … & Stoll, J. S. (2024). Estimating the scope, scale, and contribution of direct seafood marketing to the United States seafood sector. Marine Policy, 165, 106188.
Different seafood supply chain pathways contribute to or conversely detract from the resilience and adaptive capacity of the fishing sector. Direct seafood marketing strategies shorten the link between seafood harvesters and consumers. These strategies appear to be relatively resistant to systemic food system disruptions, making them a potentially important segment of a resilient food system providing benefits to consumers and harvesters. However, little is known about the scale and diversity of the direct seafood marketing sector in the United States. This paper outlines the advantages of collecting data on direct seafood marketing in the US. Additionally, we describe our methodology for creating a sampling frame of direct seafood marketers. We provide initial results from the first national assessment of direct seafood marketing practices, including results from a questionnaire distributed to 39,511 commercial seafood harvesters engaging in wild capture fisheries. Direct seafood marketing was a common strategy among respondents, and the most popular strategy involved selling to a source-identified distributor, i.e. intermediaries who identify the harvester at the point of sale. When combined with data on direct seafood marketing permits, it is estimated that 12% of US seafood harvesters engage in direct seafood sales. These findings suggest that direct marketing is a ubiquitous practice in the commercial fishing sector in the US. Understanding scale and diversity of direct seafood marketing in the US can provide information needed for targeted investments in policies, funding, and technical assistance programs that build diverse, resilient seafood supply chains, and benefit the fishing sector and food security of the nation.
Oyikeke, T. S., Advani, S., & Stoll, J. S. (2024). Seafood independence is within reach: a multi-scale assessment of seafood self-reliance in the United States. npj Ocean Sustainability, 3(1), 31.
As a vital source of nutrition, cultural identity, and economic activity, seafood has become one of the most globally traded commodities worldwide. However, increased concerns about food security, coupled with the disruptive effects of climate change, contagious diseases, and geopolitical conflict, are bringing acute attention to the need for food system transformation at multiple scales. Here, we investigate the United States’ potential to achieve seafood “independence” and maximize health benefits to the nation by integrating production, utilization, yield, and consumption data across seven regions of the United States and nationally over 50 years (1970–2021). Although the United States is the second largest importer of seafood worldwide, findings from this study show that self-reliance at the national level is achievable, though the ability of different subregions to meet demand is variable. Achieving greater seafood independence would require shifts in consumer behavior, investments in infrastructure, and continual adaptation in the face of climate change.
Partelow, S., Asif, F., Béné, C., Bush, S., Manlosa, A. O., Nagel, B., … & Turchini, G. M. (2023). Aquaculture governance: five engagement arenas for sustainability transformation. Current opinion in environmental sustainability, 65, 101379.
Love, D. C., Asche, F., Gephart, J. A., Zhu, J., Garlock, T., Stoll, J. S., … & Bloem, M. W. (2023). Identifying opportunities for aligning production and consumption in the US fisheries by considering seasonality. Reviews in Fisheries Science & Aquaculture, 31(2), 259-273.
Seasonality is a natural feature of wild caught fisheries that introduces variation in food supply, and which often is amplified by fisheries management systems. Seasonal timing of landings patterns and linkages to consumption patterns can have a potentially strong impact on income for coastal communities as well as import patterns. This study characterizes the relationship between seasonality in seafood production and consumption in the United States by analyzing monthly domestic fisheries landings and imports and retail sales of farmed and wild seafood from 2017 to 2019. Analyses were conducted for total seafood sales, by product form, by species group, and by region of the United States. The data reveal strong seasonal increases in consumption around December and March. Seasonal increases in consumption in Spring and Summer occurred in parallel with domestic fishing production. Domestic landings vary by region, but most regions have peak fishing seasons between May and October. Alaska has the largest commercial fishery in the United States and seasonal peaks in Alaska (July/August, February/March) strongly influence seasonality in national landings. Misalignment between domestic production and consumption in some seasons and species groups creates opportunities for imports to supplement demand and lost opportunities for domestic producers.
Stoll, J. S., Risley, S. C., & Henriques, P. R. (2023). A review of small-scale marine fisheries in the United States: Definitions, scale, drivers of change, and policy gaps. Marine Policy, 148, 105409.
Small-scale fisheries make important socioeconomic, cultural, and environmental contributions to society, yet are often poorly characterized. In the United States, there is not a formal definition of the term “small-scale” in fisheries, making it difficult to monitor the status of the sector, discern drivers of change, or design and implement targeted policies that ensure its long-term viability. In this paper, we aim to bring attention to the sector by: (1) developing a set of preliminary definitions of small-scale fisheries; (2) describing the diversity, catch composition, and economic value of landings harvested by the sector; and (3) summarizing key drivers of change. We identify 1019 small-scale fishing “units” in the United States, which can be understood as semi-discrete fisheries based on five characteristics. Those who participate in these fisheries collectively harvest 350 commercially reported taxa. We estimate that these fisheries represented between 1 % and 25 % of the total commercial landings in the United States by weight and as much as 68 % of total value. Climate change and loss of social capital are viewed as key threats to small-scale fisheries, as is the decline of working waterfront infrastructure, nearshore habitat loss and degradation, and the privatization of access privileges. We identify a range of impediments to studying the sector in the United States and offer recommendations for improving data collection, monitoring, evaluation long-term. To support small-scale fisheries through improved decision-making, systematic changes to the ways in which data are collected and archived are critically needed.
Murray, G. D., Fail, R., Fairbanks, L., Campbell, L. M., D’Anna, L., & Stoll, J. (2023). Seafood consumption and the management of shellfish aquaculture. Marine Policy, 150, 105534.
As aquaculture has expanded, researchers and governing authorities have increasingly considered the nature and distribution of the environmental, economic, and social impacts of the industry. Much of that consideration, however, has focused primarily on areas where seafood is produced. This article draws on a case study of the North Carolina oyster aquaculture industry to explore how the preferences and behaviors associated with consuming aquaculture products as well as the management relevant priorities of state residents outside of producing areas might also be important considerations for governing authorities. The study draws on an analysis of North Carolina’s management objectives for the shellfish aquaculture industry and compares those objectives to findings from a survey (n = 1040) of seafood consumers (who are also residents) in the state. Results show that consumers tended to prioritize ‘consumer-facing’ product attributes such as taste, health benefits and price over ‘production-facing’ attributes such as local origin, sustainability, economic or cultural benefits to local areas, and whether the product was farm-raised or wild-caught. Consumers also consistently stated a preference for wild-caught products and reported that oysters are consumed infrequently as compared to tuna, shrimp, and salmon (the ‘big three’). Response patterns varied geographically and across other respondent characteristics, highlighting the importance of both place and culture in shaping both seafood preferences and management objectives. The article concludes with a comparison of these patterns with the objectives of the State, revealing areas of alignment as well as areas of apparent disconnection. The article concludes with a discussion of management implications of the findings, suggesting that attention to seafood consumption patterns should be an important area of management attention in addition to issues associated with production.
Love, D. C., Asche, F., Gephart, J. A., Zhu, J., Garlock, T., Stoll, J. S., … & Bloem, M. W. (2023). Identifying opportunities for aligning production and consumption in the US fisheries by considering seasonality. Reviews in Fisheries Science & Aquaculture, 31(2), 259-273.
Seasonality is a natural feature of wild caught fisheries that introduces variation in food supply, and which often is amplified by fisheries management systems. Seasonal timing of landings patterns and linkages to consumption patterns can have a potentially strong impact on income for coastal communities as well as import patterns. This study characterizes the relationship between seasonality in seafood production and consumption in the United States by analyzing monthly domestic fisheries landings and imports and retail sales of farmed and wild seafood from 2017 to 2019. Analyses were conducted for total seafood sales, by product form, by species group, and by region of the United States. The data reveal strong seasonal increases in consumption around December and March. Seasonal increases in consumption in Spring and Summer occurred in parallel with domestic fishing production. Domestic landings vary by region, but most regions have peak fishing seasons between May and October. Alaska has the largest commercial fishery in the United States and seasonal peaks in Alaska (July/August, February/March) strongly influence seasonality in national landings. Misalignment between domestic production and consumption in some seasons and species groups creates opportunities for imports to supplement demand and lost opportunities for domestic producers.
Silver, J. J., Okamoto, D. K., Armitage, D., Alexander, S. M., Atleo, C., Burt, J. M., … & Stoll, J. S. (2022). Fish, people, and systems of power: understanding and disrupting feedback between colonialism and fisheries science. (2022) American Naturalist
This essay explores shifting scientific understandings of fish and the evolution of fisheries science, and it grapples with colonialism as a system of power. We trace the rise of fisheries science to a time when Western nation-states were industrializing fishing fleets and competing for access to distant fishing grounds. A theory of fishing called “maximum sustainable yield” (MSY) that understands fish species in aggregate was espoused. Although alternatives to MSY have been developed, decision-making continues to be informed by statistical models developed within fisheries science. A challenge for structured management systems now rests in attending to different systems of knowledge and addressing local objectives, values, and circumstances. To deepen and illustrate key points, we examine Pacific herring (Clupea pallasii) and the expansion of commercial herring fisheries and state-led management in British Columbia, Canada. A feedback between colonialism and fisheries science is evident: colonialism generated the initial conditions for expansion and has been reinforced through the implementation of approaches and tools from fisheries science that define and quantify conservation in particular ways. Some features may be unique to the herring illustration, but important aspects of the feedback are more broadly generalizable. We propose three interconnected goals: (a) transform the siloed institutions and practices of Western science, (b) reimagine and rebuild pathways between information (including diverse values and perspectives) and decision-making, and (c) devolve governance authority and broaden governance processes such that multiple ways of knowing share equal footing.
Love, D., et al. “An overview of retail sales of seafood in the USA, 2017–2019.” Reviews in Fisheries Science & Aquaculture 30.2 (2022): 259-270.
While a large number of studies have investigated seafood consumption in various markets, surprisingly little is known about the types of seafood sold in retail outlets or their product forms in the USA. This is particularly true for fresh seafood, which is generally regarded as the most valuable product form of seafood. In this article, a unique dataset on retail in-store seafood sales that includes information about three main product forms (fresh, frozen, and shelf-stable products) was analyzed. Fresh seafood is important, as it makes up 43% of sales revenue. Moreover, some species are almost exclusively sold fresh, with trout and lobster as prime examples. Fresh also includes the greatest diversity of species and, as such, is the most likely product form for new producers to succeed. National sales are dominated by a few species, with salmon and shrimp accounting for a large portion of the fresh (27%) and frozen categories (43%), respectively, and tuna dominating the shelf-stable category (75%). There are also a large number of species with mostly small market shares. There are few differences in regional sales patterns for the main species, with notable exceptions such as whitefish in New England and crawfish in Louisiana and Texas. The degree of urbanization and income level appears as the important drivers for seafood sales.
Stoll, J. S., Oldach, E. J., Witkin, T., Reardon, K., Love, D. C., & Pinto da Silva, P. (2021). Rapid adaptation to crisis events: Insights from the bait crisis in the Maine lobster fishery. Ambio, 1-17.
Abstract: Climate change, overfishing, and other anthropogenic drivers are forcing marine resource users and decision makers to adapt—often rapidly. In this article we introduce the concept of pathways to rapid adaptation to crisis events to bring attention to the double-edged role that institutions play in simultaneously enabling and constraining swift responses to emerging crises. To develop this concept, we draw on empirical evidence from a case study of the iconic Maine lobster (Homarus americanus) industry. In the Gulf of Maine, the availability of Atlantic herring (Clupea harengus) stock, a key source of bait in the Maine lobster industry, declined sharply. We investigate the patterns of bait use in the fishery over an 18-year period (2002–2019) and how the lobster industry was able to abruptly adapt to the decline of locally-sourced herring in 2019 that came to be called the bait crisis. We found that adaptation strategies to the crisis were diverse, largely uncoordinated, and imperfectly aligned, but ultimately led to a system-level shift towards a more diverse and globalized bait supply. This shift was enabled by existing institutions and hastened an evolution in the bait system that was already underway, as opposed to leading to system transformation. We suggest that further attention to raceways may be useful in understanding how and, in particular, why marine resource users and coastal communities adapt in particular ways in the face of shocks and crises.
Britsch, M. L., Leslie, H. M., & Stoll, J. S. (2021). Diverse perspectives on aquaculture development in Maine. Marine Policy, 131, 104697.
Love, D. C., et al. “An Overview of Retail Sales of Seafood in the USA, 2017–2019.” Reviews in Fisheries Science & Aquaculture (2021): 1-12.
Cucuzza, M., Stoll, J. S., & Leslie, H. M. (2021). Evaluating the theoretical and practical linkages between ecosystem-based fisheries management and fisheries co-management. Marine Policy, 126, 104390.
Stoll, J. S., et al. “Alternative seafood networks during COVID-19: Implications for resilience and sustainability.” Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems 5 (2021): 97.
Campbell, L. L. Fairbanks, G. Murray, J. Stoll, L. D’Anna, J. Bingham. (2021). From Blue Economy to Blue Communities: reorienting aquaculture expansion for community wellbeing. Marine Policy.
Love, D., et al. (2021). Risks Shift Along Seafood Supply Chains. Global Food Security.
Stoll, J., M. Bailey, M. Jonell. (2020). Alternative pathways to sustainable seafood. Conservation Letters.
Silver, J., J. Stoll. (2020). How do commercial fishing licences relate to access? Fish and Fisheries.
Stoll, J., H. Leslie, M. Britsch, C. Cleaver. (2019). Evaluating aquaculture as a diversification strategy for Maine’s commercial fishing sector in the face of change. Marine Policy.
Runnebaum, J., E. Maxwell, J. Stoll, K. Pianka, N. Oppenheim. (2019) Communication, Relationships, and Relatability Influence Stakeholder Perceptions of Credible Science. Fisheries.
Farr, E., J. Stoll, and C. Beitl. (2018). Effects of fisheries management on local ecological knowledge. Ecology and Society.
Stoll, J., Crona, B., Fabinyi, M., & Farr, E. (2018). Seafood trade routes for lobster obscure teleconnected vulnerabilities. Frontiers in Marine Science.
Fuller, E., J. Samhouri, J. Stoll, S. Levin, J. Watson. (2018) Characterizing fisheries connectivity in marine social-ecological systems. ICES Journal of Marine Science.
Stoll, J., E. Fuller, B. Crona. (2017). Uneven adaptive capacity among fishers in a sea of change. PloS One.
Stoll, J. (2017). Fishing for leadership: the role diversification plays in facilitating change agents. Journal of Environmental Management.
Witter, A. and J. Stoll. (2017) Participation and resistance: alternative seafood marketing in a neoliberal era. Marine Policy.
Otto, S., S. Simon, J. Stoll, P. Lawson. (2016). Making progress on bycatch avoidance in the ocean salmon fishery using a transdisciplinary approach. ICES Journal of Marine Science 73: 2380-2394.
Stoll, J., C. Beitl, and J. Wilson. (2016). How access to Maine’s fisheries has changed over a quarter century: the cumulative effects of licensing on resilience. Global Environmental Change 37: 79-91.
Bolton, A., B. Dubik, J. Stoll, and X. Basurto. (2016). Describing the diversity of community supported fisheries in North America. Marine Policy 66: 21-29.
Stoll, J., P. Pinto da Silva, J. Olson, and S. Benjamin. (2015). Expanding the geography of resilience in fisheries: Seafood distribution in the Atlantic herring and spiny dogfish fisheries in New England. Ocean and Coastal Management 116: 185-192.
Stoll, J., B. Dubik and L. Campbell. (2015). Local seafood: rethinking the direct marketing paradigm. Ecology and Society. 20.
Stoll, J., and T. Johnson. (2015). Under the banner of sustainability: The politics and prose of an emerging US federal seafood certification. Marine Policy 51: 415-422.
Campbell, L. N. Boucquey, J. Stoll, H. Coppola, and M. Smith. (2014). From vegetable box to seafood cooler: applying the Community Supported Agriculture model to fisheries. Society and Natural Resources 27: 88-106.
Boucquey, N., L. Campbell, G. Cumming, Z. Meletis, C. Norwood, and J. Stoll. (2012). Interpreting amenities, envisioning the future: common ground and conflict in North Carolina’s rural coastal communities. GeoJournal. 77: 83-101.
Other publications
Stoll, J. “A New Take on Working Waterfront in Coastal North Carolina.” A Sustainability Plan for the Walking Fish Cooperative. (2015).
Stoll, J., and M. Holliday. “The Design and Use of Fishing Communities and Regional Fishery Associations in Limited Access Privilege Programs.” Technical Guidance. U.S. Department of Commerce. NMFS-F/SPO-138. (2014).
Showalter, S., J. Stoll, et al. “Starting and Maintaining Community Supported Fishery Programs: A Resource Guide for Fishermen and Fishing Communities.” National Sea Grant Law Center. NSGLC-12-04-03. (2012).
