34 results

Recreational fishing and human wellbeing: insights from existing data and development of best practice approaches to future measurement

Project number: 2018-095
Project Status:
Current
Budget expenditure: $46,000.00
Principal Investigator: Jacki Schirmer
Organisation: University of Canberra
Project start/end date: 8 Nov 2018 - 28 Mar 2019
Contact:
FRDC

Need

This project is needed as there are knowledge gaps about the effect of recreational fishing on the health and wellbeing of recreational fishers. Recent years have seen many claims about the health and wellbeing benefits of recreational fishing, as well as growing interest in nature connection and outdoor recreation as wellbeing interventions more generally. Measuring and valuing the wellbeing benefits of recreational fishing is not currently possible due to a lack of evidence, and limited methods for monitoring, measuring and reporting wellbeing effects. The FRDC’s RD&E Plan 2015-20 aims by 2020 to have robust community net benefit metrics that enable measurement of the benefits of fishing. This project will develop robust metrics related to health and wellbeing benefits of recreational fishing. Achieving this requires better understanding both (i) whether and under what circumstances engaging in recreational fishing has measurable impacts on health and wellbeing, and (ii) how to measure these benefits to produce readily accessible and understandable metrics. This will help achieve the FRDC’s national research strategy deliverable ‘Social contribution is supported by the fishing and aquaculture sector so it can capture the non-monetary value of activities across sectors.’ This work will also contribute to national science and research priorities in the health field, specifically the priority ‘Build healthy and resilient communities throughout Australia by developing … preventative strategies to improve physical and mental well-being’ (http://www.science.gov.au/scienceGov/ScienceAndResearchPriorities/Pages/Health.aspx). Nationally, this research priority aims to develop strategies for supporting wellbeing. This project contributes by identifying the role recreational fishing can play in building healthy and resilient communities through supporting physical and mental wellbeing. This research will also contribute to the overarching aims of Australia’s rural research, development and extension strategy, which include ‘develop a range of technologies and knowledge to contribute to healthy Australian lifestyles’ (http://www.agriculture.gov.au/SiteCollectionDocuments/ag-food/innovation2/nsrrdip-investment-plan1.pdf)

Objectives

1. Understand whether engaging in recreational fishing (or in particular types or frequency of fishing) is associated with improved health and wellbeing for individual recreational fishers using available datasets
2. Identify best practice methods for establishing a causal relationship between (i) engaging in fishing and (ii) health and wellbeing outcomes for individual recreational fishers
3. Produce proposed set of measures and associated methodology that can be used to robustly measure causal association between engaging in fishing and health & wellbeing for individual recreational fishers and that can be used to provide valuation of these benefits for the broader economy

Our Pledge: Australian seafood industry response to community values and expectations

Project number: 2017-242
Project Status:
Completed
Budget expenditure: $153,484.97
Principal Investigator: Jane D. Lovell
Organisation: Seafood Industry Australia (SIA)
Project start/end date: 14 Aug 2018 - 30 Jul 2019
Contact:
FRDC

Need

Despite considerable investment in RD&E to understand why the Australian seafood industry has been experiencing diminished levels of socio-political and community acceptability, there is still uncertainty regarding the significant values of different segments of the Australian community for coastal and marine systems, their management and industry (Essence Communications 2015). Further, there is evidence these values and associated expectations are highly changeable and can have significant individual, business and national repercussions. While the seafood industry already operates from a strong values-based position of its own - ‘sustainability’, there is evidence the community's concerns have expanded to include animal welfare, supply chain integrity, modern slavery for example.

Understanding community values and expectations is important but not enough. Industry must articulate and demonstrate its commitments to addressing kncommunity expectations. This is critical to breaking the reactive negative cycle that threatens resource access, mental health and viability of our industry. A means of monitoring and tracking industry's success in responding to the community's changing expectations and values must also be developed.

Seafood Industry Australia's (SIA) members have identified social licence. This project is a tangible commitment to a national conversation and action to address community values. It is an opportunity to build seafood industry unity on the basis of a set of shared values and supporting practices.

Australian Council of Prawn Fisheries (ACPF) has initiated a lot of this listening and values-related work relevant to wild catch prawns. ACPF is ready to design, implement and evaluate activities that embed these values as messages and convey the supporting or changing behaviours as proof. ACPF needs to ensure that its outputs reflect the direction of the Australia seafood industry and sees advantages in liaising with SIA as it produces outputs at sector level. In doing so, it will provide a test case for how other seafood industry sectors can undertake to acknowledge and respond to community values and expectations, and make a national set of shared industry-community values their own.

Objectives

1. Identify values of major segments of the Australian community for fisheries resources and seafood industries, and expectations of industry behaviours that support those values
2. Identify values of the Australian seafood industry that are common across the industry at national and sector/regional scales
3. Establish industry response to community values and expectations, including measurable benchmarks of industry behaviours and performance that demonstrate commitment
4. Demonstrate and evaluate the effectiveness of a community engagement and communication strategy that is built on recognised shared values and committment to supporting industry behaviours (Extension proof of concept – Prawns)
5. Increase capacity of industry's current and emerging leaders to engage in values-and-behaviours conversations with community leaders on an ongoing basis

Report

Author: Futureye
Report • 2020-09-07 • 1.02 MB
2017-242_Review of Community Attitudes.pdf

Summary

Seafood Industry Australia commissioned Futureye to review existing research into the Australian communities attitudes toward seafood, as well as other market research, that has been undertaken since 2014. The findings from this review were used to make recommendations to Seafood Industry Australia about what to address in their pledge to demonstrate the industry’s intent to earn its ‘social licence to operate.’

Project products

Report • 2020-09-07 • 354.06 KB
2017-242_The Pledge - Industry Values & Practices.pdf

Summary

Seafood Industry Australia commissioned Sea Change Consulting Australia to review values statements and recorded practices of 52 Australian seafood organisations. This review collated the most common Australian industry values and underpinning behaviours (practices), which provides evidence to demonstrate the industry’s effort and performance regarding to meet shared practices and values to earn its social licence to operate.

Report • 2020-09-07 • 1.12 MB
2017-242_Community Sentiment Research.pdf

Summary

Essence was engaged by Seafood Industry Australia to undertake a research program to help inform the development of a pledge to the Australian community and provide a benchmark of community sentiment towards the Australian seafood industry.

Final Report • 2020-09-15 • 3.70 MB
2017-242-DLD.pdf

Summary

The Australian seafood industry has clearly identified social licence and community perceptions as critical issues for its ongoing viability and prosperity. This is because current research shows substantial proportions of the Australian public are concerned or knows little about the ethics, environmental impact and governance of the seafood industry. To help improve industry’s social licence, this project aimed to develop a clearer understanding of community and industry values and underpinning behaviours to identify both threats to social license and behaviours community would like to see reinforced by industry.

Industry
PROJECT NUMBER • 2019-060
PROJECT STATUS:
COMPLETED

The Detection of Ciguatera Toxins in NSW Spanish Mackerel

Ciguatera Poisoning (CP) is an illness through the consumption of fish containing naturally occurring toxins, and is considered a high risk for Australian seafood safety. Ciguatoxins (CTXs) are produced by benthic microalgae (Gambierdiscus spp). In Australia, CP cases are related to fish caught in...
ORGANISATION:
University of Technology Sydney (UTS)
Industry
PROJECT NUMBER • 2017-145
PROJECT STATUS:
COMPLETED

Pilot - Development of Seafood Nutritional Panels

Understanding the nutritional composition of seafood products is both a regulatory requirement and a consumer demand. Although a considerable body of data exists that covers key fish species, the majority of commercially important species within the wild catch sector still lack a basic...
ORGANISATION:
Department of Primary Industries (QLD)
Industry
Industry
PROJECT NUMBER • 2019-213
PROJECT STATUS:
COMPLETED

Tackle Box - Fishing at home during Covid 19

This project examined the impact of Covid-19 on recreational fishing using a citizen science approach. The Australian Recreational Fishing Foundation (ARFF) teamed up with Infofish Australia Pty Ltd to use recaptures of tagged fish in Queensland and fishing competitions around Australia in novel...
ORGANISATION:
Australian Recreational Fishing Foundation (ARFF)
Communities
PROJECT NUMBER • 2016-417
PROJECT STATUS:
COMPLETED

National People Development: Membership of PIEFA to support and encourage the teaching and learning in Australian schools of information related to the Australian Fishing Industry

PIEFA was established in 2007 with bipartisan government support following an extensive series of roundtables and working party meetings supported by the federal Minister of Agriculture. PIEFA became operational in April 2010 with support from the government, education and industry sectors. The...
ORGANISATION:
Primary Industries Education Foundation Australia (PIEFA)
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