Sustainable Aquaculture System: Institutional Scientific Collaboration Network in Alborz Watershed, Iran

The current research aimed to explore application of social network theory toward sustainable aquaculture system through Institutional Scientific Collaboration Network study conducted by interviews with key informants and follow-up organizational surveys at Alborz Watershed scale. The study was descriptive and explanatory, using social network analysis as a most analytical tool to systematically describe certain aspects of the social diversity and complexity of institutional scientific collaboration network. The needed data for social network analysis related to scientific collaborations in the form of research and scientific consulting, technical support, and implementation of joint project networks and was collected through a questionnaire. Research results revealed that the number of central actors in research and scientific consulting network was less than the other two networks. In this study, some powerful organizations such as the Institute of Ecology of the Caspian Sea and Shahid Rajai and Shahid Bahonar Reproduction Center had satisfactory research and scientific consultancy cooperation, as well as technical support for joint projects with other organizations, such as the Provincial Department of Fisheries, and Research Center for Agriculture and Natural Resources, which reflected dynamics of the organizations in the network. These three organizations can play a key role in the distribution of information, knowledge, and inter-sectoral cooperation among different institutions and can take responsibility of this process. If so, these organizations can develop a sustainable aquaculture in the basin of the Alborz Dam, based on scientific principles and in an interactive and dynamic path and, consequently, activate the implementation of projects and conducting scientific and executive studies by these organizations within the network. Although the approach is developed and tested using empirical social network data in the basin of Alborz watershed, the results can generally be useful for other regions and scales as well. Also, research finding could help in improving sustainable management through strengthening of intuitional scientific collaboration network and providing better understanding of the scientific needs and real interactions of diverse actors.