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Conflict between stakeholder groups around social and environmental issues can fragment communities and disrupt development. For the past decade, salmon farming has globally been one of the most contentious issues within the aquaculture sector. Attempts to mitigate these conflicts have often been counterproductive due to high levels of distrust across stakeholder groups. A lower risk approach is to evaluate strategy options within a virtual socio-ecological system prior to real-world implementation. Using the Tasmanian salmon debate as a case study, this paper describes results from a social influence model that for the first time represents key stakeholder groups. This approach has allowed the responses of different stakeholders and their contribution to overall conflict to be explored and assessed under alternative communication strategies. Reductions in community conflict were achieved through improved …