Previous research on fin-fish aquaculture has suggested that there is some utility to the models of SLO that have emerged from research of the mining sector. For example, work by Sinner et al. on the SLO of New Zealand aquaculture echoed what was found by Moffat and Zhang, that trust and contact quality were crucial parts of SLO . Sinner et al. also found that the quality of contact with communities was a significant predictor of SLO for fin fish farming. The contact made between community and industry needed to be informative, respectful and positive . This aligns with the idea that SLO cannot be determined simply through acting in a way that creates credibility, but needs to include successful and positive relationship building. Sinner et al’s., work also highlights the prevalent role that culture can play in the creation of SLO . The importance of building relationships is reflected again in further work by Baines and Edward, again in New Zealand, discerning that relational foundations of relationships were key in building trust, and therefore SLO between the aquaculture industry and communities.Research has shown is that a lack of social license cannot just be attributed to conservationist motivations of local communities concerned with the environmental impacts of the industry.Opposition to aquaculture can arise from a multitude of concerns including; environmental, cultural concerns and the identity of the industry itself.Baines and Edwards found that perceptions of company ownership and the scale at which the company was working were a determinant of whether social license was achieved.

It appeared that local ownership was preferred, and ownership outside of the local was viewed more suspiciously.Portrayals in Norwegian papers of the Atlantic salmon industry being run by profiteers and capitalists have also been used as examples of how the perceived identity of the industry could be an important influence on its SLO . Increasingly aquaculture companies are undertaking greater efforts to portray themselves as sustainable.Despite these pledges Young and Liston suggest that the aquaculture industry has previously faced failure at addressing organised opposition to the industry at national and international scales, potted blackberry plant with these campaigns against aquaculture influencing the social license of an aquaculture development.Through outlets such as social media, environmental campaigns now have much greater reach. There is evidence that social license to operate is being utilised in campaigns against fish farms, by environmental nongovernmental organisation,with enough success to bring about change.Murphy-Gregory showed how in campaigns against a Tasmanian fish farm development, social license was utilised by an ENGO to put pressure upon the state to improve their regulatory governance of the industry . ENGOs have also been found to be an influential agent in whether aquaculture developments gain social license, through the sharing of information.Third-party certification has been suggested as another influence that could be impactful in whether an aquaculture development is granted a social license to operate. However, Mather and Fanning suggest that social license to operate is not a strong component of these certification schemes, which instead tend to focus upon environmental performance .Carson and Rønningen further suggest that when an aquaculture company’s focus is too broad, then they may end up remaining ignorant of the importance of local relationships . Instead of putting resources into sustainability schemes industry may be better placed in building relationship with community, if they want gain a social license to operate. In 2019 there were around 300 active sites associated with Atlantic salmon production in Scotland , with 92% of production undertaken by just 5 companies.

Eighty-two percent of sites are producing over 1,000 tons of fish per annum.Atlantic salmon is the major species produced, accounting for 95% of fin-fish production by volume . However, other species are produced in the Scottish fin-fish farming sector, such as Rainbow Trout and Atlantic Halibut . The sector directly employs around 1,880 people in both full-time and part-time jobs across Scotland . These jobs are deemed as essential in rural areas, many of which are undergoing depopulation . The success of the industry has prompted a push for it to grow further, and strategies, such as Aquaculture Growth to 2030, lay out a pathway which would see the sector at least double in size by 2030 . Subsequent estimates suggest that such growth would increase the numbers of jobs tied to the industry to 18,000 and the economic contribution to as much as £3.6 billion . In 2018, the Scottish parliament conducted two reviews into the Scottish fin-fish aquaculture sector, in response to growing concerns at the expansion of the industry and the perceived negative impacts associated with it . Both committees made recommendations that covered a range of topics from fish health and welfare, expansion of the industry to workforce, skills and infrastructure. The overarching conclusion of the inquiry was that the current status quo of the fin-fish farming industry in Scotland was not acceptable. However, the committees stopped short at proposing a moratorium on the expansion of the sector . Multiple ENGOs have also taken positions against the industry, due to concerns about its environmental impacts on Scottish marine and coastal spaces . At a local level, the fin-fish farming sector has seen a loss in SLO, as shown through cases where objecting comments outweighing supporting cases in new farm proposals. Opposition to fish farms have been at an individual level but has also been seen to create collective action through the creation of several community groups, whose specific purpose originated in opposing fish farming . These community groups have galvanized community members together and have also become sources of information about fish-farming.

The resulting debate between these community groups and the fish-farming industry has become polarized in some areas around Scotland. This has led to the consultation process for new sites becoming a contested space, which in some cases has led to walk outs and protests . Consequently, questions have been raised as to whether the Scottish fin-fish is facing a crisis of social license to operate. The current climate around Scottish fin-fish farming suggests a crises of social acceptance, ultimately questioning whether the industry has a SLO. This study takes an exploratory, qualitative approach to examining the dimensions of this crisis, using the SLO framework, in the geographical communities of Lewis & Harris and Argyll & Bute. A case study approach, looking at these two geographic areas, allows for an indepth exploration of the contextual conditions that could influence SLO . Alongside this, applying a qualitative approach within this supports identification of context, as well as allowing for the nuance of relationships and perceptions that might relate to SLO to be investigated. The central question for this work is therefore, how is the fish farming industry perceived and experienced at a community level? This research was conducted as part of larger study, using a grounded theory approach. In keeping with this an inductive, thematic analysis methodology was applied to semi-structured interview response. Constructivist grounded theory is based upon inductive theoretical analyses of data, with data analysis and collection informing each other through the process. The foundation of analysis is the creation of qualitative codes based upon what is seen in the data .A constructivist grounded theory approach is an appropriate methodology to answer the research question as it focuses upon attempting to understand local people’s perceptions of the Scottish fin-fish aquaculture industry. As such, it is vital to have an inductive methodology that has enough scope so that the varying components that make up an individual’s perceptions of the fin-fish industry can be included in the analysis.

A small study sample means that these results cannot be generalized outside of the context in which they were researched. However,tall pot stand in line with conceptions of SLO, being dependent upon social and contextual factors this method is still appropriate. The focus upon stakeholders, again can be seen as further limitation of this work, as such the results in the following section cannot be seen as reflective of the general population as a whole, even of the two case study sites. However, assessing those who have a particular “stake” in fin-fish farming or its impacts allows for insights into the experiences that are affecting the SLO of fin-fish farming in the two cases. In line with Charmaz’s approach a flexible interview guide was developed .This interview guide was developed after reviewing the literature, in line with the idea that it can “set the stage” for the development of interview guides .The interview guide was developed to try to cover the expansive range of components thought to be part of SLO for aquaculture Table 1. The interview guide began with discussion around the participant’s background and connections to the local coastal spaces, to both examine the contextual factors that could be influential and to examine the access the individual has to local coastal spaces. Following questions upon the industry examined the knowledge and response to the current industry, with the inclusion of questions around opportunities and challenges of the industry meant to highlighted perceptions of environmental challenges, benefits provided to communities and the current ownership structures. The final questions focused upon the relationship between companies and participants, to again examine SLO and the measures the industry might be taking to improve SLO. The questions were kept open in nature and were used as a guide for the conversation with participants. This allowed for the interviewee to bring up new issues and new themes to be explored with further questions . The interview guide can be seen in Table 2. Interviewees were initially contacted through a purposive sampling strategy . The criteria for participant selection was engagement or involvement with the aquaculture industry, maritime stakeholders or community representatives.

This was because these groups are the most likely to have interacted with the aquaculture statistics, the council area of the Outer Hebrides is undergoing depopulation with around 0.4% decrease in population in the area from 2017 to 2018 . Reliance upon the land, coast and ocean has been a central part of the history of life on Lewis and Harris, but this relationship to the land and coast also has a history of disruption and turmoil, the most impactful of which was The Land Clearances in the 18th and 19th century . The Scottish Land Reform Bill, passed in 2003, was a fundamental shift in land ownership, reversing some of the consequences of the clearances, and number of community trusts have since developed to purchase land, beginning with the North Harris Trust in 2002. In terms of use of coastal and marine environments, currently commercial fishing is made up of mostly shellfish species, with 90% of landings being shellfish species, using inshore under-15m boats . However, the industry is in decline, with the number of 10-15m boats decreasing in the last decade Aquaculture and Fisheries, 2021. Outside of the fishing industry, the marine environment is a draw for tourists. As a result, tourism makes a significant contribution to the islands economy. The marine environment also has potential for marine renewable energy developments as the Outer Hebrides has one the most energetic wave resources in the world . Salmon farming makes up the majority of aquaculture on Lewis and Harris, with a small amount of mussel and oyster farming also taking place. There are two major salmon producers with 32 active sites for salmon farming across the islands. Stornoway also has a salmon processing plant, which processes and packages a Hebridean salmon branded product. The town contains a smokehouse which smokes salmon using a traditional, double smoking process. The industry provides 237 full time jobs and 18-part time jobs, directly in fin-fish farming across the Western Isles . This is 1.9% of the total employment in the area . The fish-farming sector on Lewis and Harris has faced controversy in recent years, struggling with disease and sea lice burdens .