Sectors in the blue economy need to understand and manage social expectations in order to maintain their social license and ensure a satisfactory triple bottom line. This is a particular challenge for emerging industries, where data relating to community attitudes and expectations is limited. In the case of Tasmanian seaweed aquaculture, securing social license may be further complicated by existing perceptions and conflict surrounding salmon aquaculture.
The key elements needed to address the challenge of establishing and maintaining a social license for seaweed aquaculture in Tasmania are:
1. A survey of current community attitudes to industry expansion.
2. A tool to understand the evolution of attitudes and test communication strategies, policy options and industry practices in relation to managing social risk.
3. A coherent set of strategies for navigating pathways towards a social licence for seaweed aquaculture.

The Australian aquaculture industry is faced with a number of environmental, social and governance (ESG) expectations and challenges now and into the future as we see a growing expectation from major retailers and an investor and increasingly government focus on offsetting carbon, nutrients and land. Specific challenges include measuring and reporting on greenhouse gas emissions, disease and antibiotic use, use of forage fish in feeds, habitat destruction, fish welfare and husbandry, and effluent discharge. While larger corporate businesses and some sectors have made some progress in these areas, the small-medium business enterprises will require support given they often have little to no resources to measure, report and allocate new funding and action to address ESG challenges. This is particularly important in areas where some of the challenges will become expectation e.g. market access and carbon emissions reporting.
There is a substantial disparity on how key ESG indicators are reported and assured across different sectors of the seafood industry, which is dependent on many different factors. These can include (but are not limited to):

- the size of the enterprise;
- local, State or Federal legislation;
- third-party certification requirements;
- global best practices;
- investor expectations
- export market requirements
- company policies

Consistency of reporting across the industry is vital to improve ESG policy and practices, ensure accountability of organisations, and increase consumer confidence of the seafood sector. A review of ESG challenges, and existing reporting frameworks/incentive programs both nationally and internationally will be key to developing a centralised reporting framework that both satisfies compliance and regulation and leads to tangible improvement outcomes for SME in the ESG space.

The Fisheries Research and Development Corporation (FRDC) is seeking support to plan and develop an Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) framework for fisheries and aquaculture to address the requirements of several stakeholders (government, investor, consumers) and be a leader addressing key current and emerging ESG trends and expectations. The ESG Framework would cover all fisheries and aquaculture sectors (Indigenous, commercial, wild catch, and recreational).

The proposal sets our suggested approach to developing an ESG framework development plan for Australian fisheries and aquaculture. It includes our proposed methodology, budget and work plan, as well as information on our team and experience.
The overarching objectives of this engagement are as follows:
- Identify the unifying purpose of an ESG framework for Australian fisheries and aquaculture, the drivers that will shape it and the intended audience.
- Review relevant frameworks, standards and agreements to identify existing requirements and best practice related to ESG for Australian fisheries and aquaculture.
- Provide options for how the Australian fisheries and aquaculture sector could design and structure an ESG framework aligned to existing frameworks and systems, and reflecting monitoring and evaluation aspirations and the unique needs of fisheries and aquaculture.
- Prepare an ESG framework development plan which clearly outlines and prioritises the steps that need to be taken to establish and build a mature framework for Australian fisheries and aquaculture.

Please refer to the attached file (Our Recommended Approach Section, pages 14 - 22) for our detailed approach based on our understanding of your needs (P0710649 Fisheries and aquaculture ESG Framework_V2_STC).

The uptake of best practice approaches in fisheries and aquaculture is influenced by factors that inhibit or enable behaviour change, including psycho-sociological factors (i.e. how change or approaches are framed).
Previous FRDC research has indicated a need to identify how and where behavioural insights/interventions – which draw on psycho-sociological factors such as cognitive biases, social norms, and emotions – can be used to steer behaviour change towards preferred outcomes (e.g. stewardship, safety) in marine sectors. This project builds on current and emerging research on behaviour change in fisheries and aquaculture to consolidate a review of published literature and available grey literature and R&D (from academic and industry domains, including recent FRDC projects relating to behaviour change) that has identified psycho-sociological factors influencing behavioural change. The aim of this literature review is to identify the types of behavioural interventions that can (or potentially, cannot) achieve preferred outcomes for fishing and aquaculture sectors in Australia. Specifically, the review seeks to explore i) which kinds of behavioural interventions can be effective in achieving positive change, ii) where (and just as importantly, where not) these interventions may be applied in fisheries and aquaculture sectors, iii) identify (potential) limitations of interventions, and to iii) bring these findings together to inform and underpin development of two relevant and engaging training webinars and associated resource materials, and iv) make recommendations for further focused trials/intervention research which could be undertaken to further support and expedite desired outcomes in Australian fisheries and aquaculture.

There is rapidly growing interest in the development, application and evaluation of behavioural interventions and they show great potential, however, they are also complex to design, test, and implement. Individuals are more likely to change their behaviours if they have the necessary skills and perceive they can do so (capability), if their environment (physical as well as social) provides an opportunity to do so (opportunity), and if they are motivated to achieve a particular endpoint through this behaviour (motivation), either through conscious decision-making or automatic processes, such as momentary cues. Further, the use of behavioural interventions has not been without critique, with concerns about ethics, manipulation, or risk to human agency. There are also concerns about the effectiveness of behavioural interventions, which may derive from several reasons: for example, due to misunderstanding the behaviour that is intended to be changed and the expected response by the audience. A behavioural intervention will be ineffective if the messaging or delivery causes confusion or if it only has a short-term effect. Some interventions can cause unintended consequences or compensating behaviours resulting in no net effect. These reasons highlight the importance of appropriate contextual understanding and well-defined outcomes for the design of effective behavioural interventions.

There are also different avenues for intervention beyond cognitive biases: education, persuasion, incentivisation, coercion, training, restriction, environmental restructuring, modelling and enablement, and the framing and implementation of these can differ depending on who the intervention is targeted at and under what context. Targeting behaviours in fisheries and aquaculture may enhance engagement and sustainable changes in the longer term (e.g. via development of new social norms), but to achieve this, changes in the determinants of behaviour are required. Actions (e.g. citizen science projects, local management practices), feelings, values (e.g. connectedness to oceans, the realisation of links between ocean health and human health) and social norms are embedded in and influenced by, local environments and social spheres that can transcend geographical boundaries. Our project will explore these nuances and convey concise summaries of behaviour change interventions for end-users via webinars, fact sheets, a simple decision tree tool (described below) and several short videos. The project intentionally has a broad focus (across fisheries and aquaculture sectors) in its review and outputs, as it is designed to equip potential developers and implementers of behavioural interventions with the skills and knowledge to do so in their own unique context. However, we will engage with industry partners (including FRDC extension officers and the industry advisory groups) to specifically ensure that the knowledge and tools produced (i.e. extension products) will be accessible and adaptable to the diversity of relevant contexts across these sectors - and useful for end-users seeking to motivate behaviour change whilst still retaining industry trust and engagement.

The project brings together necessary interdisciplinary research expertise (details outlined below) in the fields of behavioural economics, resource and fisheries economics, socio-ecology, fisheries ecology, science communication and cognitive psychology. In addition, the transdisciplinary potential of this project will be achieved via collaboration with a research advisory panel (to ensure rigorous research outcomes) and an industry level advisory panel (to ensure that the results and suggested interventions/activities are fit-for-purpose and accessible to the sector). Working with these panels (which would ideally include FRDC partners), we will ensure that the research is co-designed – and thus, project outputs are fit-for-purpose/context. Our team’s existing collective research on adoption and uptake of interventions clearly shows that engaging and involving end-user at creation stages increases uptake of results – hence, the value of our industry advisory panel. In addition, by engaging with industry leaders, we will create industry champions for the project who may assist with the dissemination of outputs. Together, the advisory groups will help to further define/adapt the scope of the project to achieve impact.

Overall, these collaborations and contributions will ensure that this project will deliver a comprehensive and industry-relevant overview of current understanding of behaviour change interventions, that addresses end-users’ identified needs, and that inspires community trust, in formats that are palatable and accessible to them and the fisheries and aquaculture sectors more broadly..