A Call to Focus on Intuition for Improved Management Decision-Making in Aquaculture

The marine ecosystem faces constant threats from climate change, overexploitation, pollution, and other stresses. Global harvesting knowledge, which can enhance production and environmental stewardship, is abundant in the expanding aquaculture industry. Some technological tools fail to consider the complex and dynamic factors that influence decisions in the maritime realm, thereby overlooking local ecological knowledge. This study offers a novel perspective by focusing on human cognition. Complex challenges require wise decisions amid uncertainty about the future. However, people often dismiss intuition as an appropriate basis for decision-making. Intuition provides access to important tacit knowledge that enables investigation and implementation of more resilient decisions. The article urges fish farmers and researchers to pay greater attention to intuition because it is an immediate and significant component of decision-making. It further explores how emerging technologies, such as AI, could support intuition, addressing potential benefits, challenges, and strategies for integrating intuition into mainstream aquaculture practices. This article is the first to synthesize different cognitive perspectives on decision-making within aquaculture. Further empirical studies of these interactions will open promising pathways for future interdisciplinary research.