Social Matters Workshop
Given the growing importance of social science research in the seafood industry – or recognition of its relevance – there’s a need to consolidate what we have done in the past, and to look to the future. The workshop will do both. In the past, there has been a tendency for social science to be reactive – to ‘autopsy’ – a crisis in the industry after it has happened (or to be invited to autopsy the crisis by the industry). One of the key gaps in the design of social science research is the capacity to anticipate issues and design responses that can enhance the adaptability of the industry, both socially and economically. In order to do so the discipline needs to be communicating effectively with each other in regards to best-practice methodologies for working effectively with industry. We also need to situate our research within a global context that anticipates and speaks to international imperatives, challenges and frameworks (e.g. FAO Voluntary Guidelines for Securing Sustainable Small-Scale Fisheries in the Context of Food Security and Poverty Eradication. In the Australian context the potential issues to be engaged with at the workshop may include; sharing the fish (resource sharing, property rights, global food security); adaptability (fishing as livelihood, practice, culture, in a climate of rapid change and need for adaptation and innovation); research practice, data and decision support (how can social dimensions be monitored and incorporated more formally into decision making?; what innovations in social science practise are needed?).
Final report
Building an evidence base: The point of order experience for Victorian seafood consumers
The country of origin of seafood available for purchase in Australia is an important but inherently complex area of investigation. There are a number driving ambitions right now including a need to:
o In the longer term, build an evidence base to describe and measure the consumer experience at point of order specifically in regards to the information available around the Country of Origin of seafood they are considering purchasing. Seafood can be purchased at a range of different venues from fish and chip outlets, cafes, pubs and clubs, at sporting and entertainment venues, in facilities like hospitals and aged care facilities, to in flight F&B service through to everyday and top end restaurants. Given this is inherently broad and somewhat unbounded nature of these different purchase channels it has been acknowledged this is a large and complex exercise.
o There are some immediate time pressures with a Seafood Origin Working Group meeting scheduled for November 22 2017. There is a need to be in a position to present some evidence about the consumer point of order experience at this meeting.
From our discussions it is clear we need to focus on the most immediate point, that being the November 22 meeting in Canberra. It is hoped that through a well designed market research study, evidence about the experience consumers have in seeking and receiving information about the Country of Origin of the seafood they are looking to purchase can be provided. To achieve this in the short window available the research will need to be tightly defined in scope and coverage and pragmatic in what we can reasonably achieve.
Pilot - Development of Seafood Nutritional Panels
There is a need for common baseline of information that provides easy accessible compositional profiles in suitable formats about their products to enable them to meet their individual needs.
The information needs to be robust, consistent and cover the minimum needs of a nutritional panel (consumer) and contaminant information.
The project will assist in meeting industry needs for:
- Promoting the public health benefits of seafood consumption more generally.
- Rapid access to credible information to counter negative media claims.
- Assist in addressing current and future technical market challenges.
- Anticipate and quickly respond to market access threats.
Additionally there is a need to ensure that nutritional information on the key species (those covered in the Status of Australian Fish Stocks Reports) and profiled on the FRDC consumer site Fishfiles is available.
It is important to note that FRDC funded two studies that undertook oil analysis for 250+ Australian species. See the Seafood the Good Food volume 1 and 2 for the results. This means the need is on broadening this analysis to include other nutritional elements.
Final report
Project products
Travel bursary: Sustainable Ocean Summit 2017, Canada
Australia possesses significant coastal and near coastal oil and gas reserves within its continental shelf. It follows that oil and gas exploration (especially seismic) is also significant; especially in the the Bass Strait, Great Australian Bight and North-Western 'Kimberley' areas of Australia. Up until recently, the offshore regulatory framework which includes assessment of effects on the aquatic environment and engagement with other users has been somewhat nebulous and Offshore Industry driven, with the development of aquatic environmental benchmarks being based on the same process as offshore OH&S and butressed by disputed sometimes irrelevant science.
Seismic expoloration in recent years has seen increased interaction between different aquatic ecosystems and marine users, resulting in a "contact" situation that was initially calamitous; but which has resulted in significant investment in Marine biological R&D, an increase in the deployment of the precautionary principle and marine environmental policy innovation.
Johnathon Davey (SIV) and Aaron Irving (NAC) will deliver a presentation that will draw on a number of aquatic environmental effects research project where Australia's fishing sectors were or are driving, policy innovations that we assisted in driving or supporting and case studies including the pearling Industry story, to provide a snapshot of the exciting work being undertaken in Australia currently in the marine environmental space with regard to the effects of seismic surveying and the ability for different users to play together successfully.
Final report
New tools to assess visual fish health
The right conversations - Identifying optimal stakeholder engagement and evaluation practices for fisheries
Improved seafood industry engagement with its stakeholders/communities remains a high priority for the Fisheries Research & Development Corporation (FRDC) to address low rates of societal acceptance and/or support. The FRDC recognises that social support for the seafood industry relies heavily on members’ improving their understanding of people’s views about the industry, and on building more trusting relationships with those people - especially those with direct influence on resource access decisions. In addition to being more effective ‘engagers’, the industry also needs to be able to evaluate how effective their engagement activities are and how they can continually build community trust. Towards that end, the FRDC commissioned a range of projects focusing on building the seafood industry’s capacity for effective stakeholder/community engagement (e.g. Ogier & Brooks 2016, FRDC 2014/301, 2011/525; Ham 2010, 2001/310), long term industry leadership (e.g. FRDC 2011/410), and adaptation and well-being (e.g. 2012/402) - all of which are necessary for the industry to build social support.
However, it remains unclear how and to what extent industry members are using these and other resources to help them ‘engage’ with their stakeholders/communities. It is believed that there are obstacles that can limit industry members’ use of these resources and their general engagement practices, including:
1. Industry members not seeing the full relevance or need for engagement;
2. Industry members perceiving ‘engagement’ as marketing and/or product promotion;
3. Industry members lacking the necessary expertise, capability and capacity in engagement;
4. Lack of knowledge and information about the comparative effectiveness of various engagement activities and strategies, particularly in a fisheries context; and
5. Ineffective extension of existing information (e.g. unsuitable formats).
This Project is designed to explore how and to what extent these and other barriers keep the seafood industry from making substantive progress towards building greater stakeholder and community trust.
Final report
Media messages about sustainable seafood: how do media influencers affect consumer attitudes?
From television cooking shows to social media, an intensified media focus on food has increased public visibility of issues of food provenance and sustainability in recent years. This has profoundly changed the communications landscape in which Australian food industries operate. There is now increased scrutiny and criticism of food industry activities not just from the ‘usual suspects’ (such as environmental activists), but also from a range of new players: celebrity chefs, food bloggers, social media ‘clicktivists’, and other media influencers. On the issue of sustainable seafood, these influencers have often been successful in securing a greater share of media ‘voice’ than industry itself. This is concerning because influencers’ messages are not always aligned with industry claims or with Government sustainability assessments. We know from international research that food celebrities and food media can either encourage or deter seafood consumption depending on the message (Bowman & Stewart 2013), but we don’t yet know what the impact is of Australian media, and media influencers, on consumer purchasing intentions, their attitudes and beliefs regarding the sustainability of Australian seafood, and the social acceptability of the industry. Aligning with National Priority 1 and its focus on industry communications strategy, this project will examine media coverage of Australian domestic fisheries sectors to identify: the messages about sustainable seafood prominent in Australian media; the media influencers, strategies, and professional networks underpinning their circulation; and how these messages are understood and interpreted by consumers. This knowledge will be used to inform communication strategies that will ensure clearer sustainability messages, reduce consumer confusion, and improve consumer trust in the Australian seafood industry.