Access to aquaculture sites: A wicked problem in Norwegian aquaculture development

Increased complexity and interdependencies lead to problems and issues that are hard to solve. Such chronic and enduring problems are often referred to as ‘wicked problems’. This article focusses on Norwegian salmon aquaculture and addresses the problems related to the industry’s and government’s ambitions for growth in aquaculture production and the municipalities’ desire for economic compensation, usually termed area rent, from the aquaculture companies that use municipal waters for aquaculture. The government has resisted the introduction of such an area rent due to several complex institutional and distributional considerations. This complex and enduring issue is analysed here as a wicked problem, where we find that the main source of wickedness does not lie within the definition of the problem rather it’s related to the available solution as the proposed solution requires changes that are not politically viable.