Aquaculture has been promoted as an enterprise that will provide regional economic development, new employment opportunities for displaced fishers, and the replenishment of commercially important fish stock. Conversely, how will open ocean aquaculture fit into the occupational life of the traditional Northern New England inshore, commercial fisher? Our objective was to identify those fishers with a predisposition to adopt the innovation, as determined by the relationship between the probability of potential adoption and particular explanatory variables. We drew upon adoption of innovations research and fishing-specific studies to establish the explanatory variables: fishers' attitudes toward specific innovation attributes and their personal and situational characteristics. Results suggest that nearly one-third of those surveyed were willing to consider adoption of open ocean aquaculture. We found adoption research to be effective in formulating a model that yielded statistically significant explanatory variables relative to the dependent variable. Respondents' fishing characteristics, communication behavior, and attitudes toward specific innovation attributes were the best predictors in the model. Open ocean aquaculture programs specifically designed to address the needs and interests of these fishers could serve to encourage adoption of the innovation and increase adoption success.

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