90 results
Industry
PROJECT NUMBER • 2018-154
PROJECT STATUS:
COMPLETED

A market research-driven and co-management approach to developing an industry strategy for the SA Charter Boat Fishery

This project investigated the South Australian Charter Boat Fishery by conducting analyses to identify potential actions for growth to counter the declining level of activity and profitability in the industry. The SA Charter industry has shown declining in trends in economic returns and...
ORGANISATION:
BDO EconSearch

Non-market values to inform decision-making and reporting in fisheries and aquaculture – an audit and gap analysis

Project number: 2018-068
Project Status:
Completed
Budget expenditure: $118,293.91
Principal Investigator: Louisa Coglan
Organisation: Queensland University of Technology (QUT)
Project start/end date: 3 Feb 2019 - 29 Jun 2020
Contact:
FRDC

Need

Most Australian fisheries policies require that fisheries management take account of the cumulative effect of all human users of marine resources, including professional, recreational and Indigenous Australian fishers. The triple bottom line (TBL) approach is the general framework used to assess performance against economic, social, and environmental dimensions. TBL requires articulation of these broad values, but these may be qualitatively assessed. Significant progress has been made in incorporating some of these elements into fisheries management decision, particularly prioritising different objectives of fishery management [e.g. 1, 2]. In some cases, development of semi-quantitative approaches have been used to assist in decision-making across these multiple dimensions [e.g. 3], including in some cases indigenous value [e.g. 4]. Recent research has also extended this focus to develop a robust articulation of Indigenous Australian customary fishing values to enable their inclusion when developing fisheries management policies [5].

Optimal decisions require the trade-off between costs and benefits to be considered. TBL approaches do not explicitly consider this trade-off, resulting in challenges in identifying optimal outcomes. Where these costs and benefits are expressed as explicit monetary values, assessing the trade-off requires deducting the expected costs from the expected benefits (commonly referred to as cost-benefit analysis (CBA)).

However, in fisheries, many costs and benefits do not have an explicit monetary value. Hence, decisions about the use and management of marine resources increasingly requires objective information on the non-market value of benefits (and costs). Some attention has been focused on the estimation of non-market values of recreational fishing [e.g. 6, 7], although only limited attempts to-date have been made to use these values in supporting management decision making [e.g. 8]. Many other values have not been quantified, and their use in fisheries management has not been fully explored.

Objectives

1. To support robust and defeasible evidence based decision-making in fisheries and aquaculture decision making that is understood and supported by key fisheries and aquaculture managers.
2. To provide managers with an understanding of the resources available to account for non-market values in fisheries and aquaculture decision making
3. To identify key research gaps and make recommendations related to the need for further empirical non-market valuation studies

Final report

ISBN: 978-1-925553-26-0
Authors: Louisa Coglan Sean Pascoe Gabriela Scheufele Samantha Paredes and Aimee Pickens
Final Report • 2021-03-19 • 3.77 MB
2018-068-DLD.pdf

Summary

This study examined the issues around non-market values requirements and identified potential sources of robust and defensible estimates of key values, including those generally viewed as difficult to measure.  
The project identified thirteen types of non-market values that fisheries and aquaculture managers considered as potentially important to their decision making. Of these, the top four involved values related to users of the fisheries resources, including fisher satisfaction, values to Indigenous Australian fishers, and the value of fish and experience to recreational fishers. The next four involved impacts of fishing on others, including habitats, species, local communities and other users of the marine environment.
The gap analysis identified that recent values for most of the values of potential use to fisheries and aquaculture management were unavailable. This limits the role of benefit transfers and identifies a need for further primary studies of non-market values.

Indigenous fishing subprogram: Business Nous - Indigenous business development opportunities and impediments in the fishing and seafood industry

Project number: 2016-206
Project Status:
Completed
Budget expenditure: $225,000.00
Principal Investigator: Jill Briggs
Organisation: Affectus Pty Ltd
Project start/end date: 6 Mar 2016 - 28 Jun 2018
Contact:
FRDC

Need

Fisheries Research Development Corporation Indigenous Reference Group (FRDC-IRG) has identified the following need:-
Indigenous business development opportunities and impediments in the fishing and seafood industry, the components that have been detailed by the FRDC-IRG include understanding opportunities and impediments for business development, identify the supply chain and research business structures to build enterprise development.

The indigenous fishing sector have commenced the important work of building businesses that can provide product needed by the market and communities; develop employment opportunities for indigenous people; community development through economic development and; recognition of the value of indigenous people and their knowledge and skills.

Additionally this project will address needs developed through the FRDC Indigenous Reference Group principles developed in Cairns in 2012. This project address Principle 4 RD&E - Leads to Improved Capacity That Empowers Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders.

Against the IRG document the project will also address the following identified concepts:-
• Provide Resourcing Options in a User Friendly and Culturally Appropriate Manner to Encourage Greater Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Involvement
• Leads to Agencies Developing Capacity to Recognise and Utilise Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Expertise, Processes and Knowledge
• Leads To an Increased Value for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders (Economic, Social, Cultural, Trade, Health, Environmental)
• Leads To Benefit Sharing

This project will also address a number of key areas in the Federal Governments ‘Our North, Our Future – White Paper.’ Specifically it will move some way to addressing these areas:-
• Making it easier to use natural assets, in close consultation with, and the support of,
• Indigenous communities
• Investing in infrastructure to lower business and household costs
• Reducing barriers to employing people
• Improving governance.

Objectives

1. An analysis tool to assess the success elements of indigenous fishing businesses and non-fishing indigenous businesses
2. A gap analysis of skills available and skills needed to develop and/or enhance the skills of people involved in indigenous fishing businesses.
3. Draft and finalise a Business template with conversation and workshop materials to enhance the indigenous communities connected to indigenous fishing
4. Enhance the business skills of indigenous fishing communities through the delivery of workshops, community conversations and virtual information sharing sessions

Final report

ISBN: 978-0-9872781-6-6
Author: Jill Briggs
Final Report • 2020-07-06 • 3.28 MB
2016-206-DLD.pdf

Summary

The Business Nous Project (BN) research and outputs have been finalised in November 2019 with the completion of the website and workshop outputs and the project evaluation. The project delivered successfully on three of the four objectives with the workshop component of the project is being held in abeyance until specific groups and/or communities are identified.

Twenty-two individuals from twenty-one existing, closed or about to commence businesses were interviewed. These twenty-two people were drawn from a range of locations but were from Northern Territory, Queensland, New South Wales and Tasmania.

Interviewees were drawn from many age groups, but the highest percentage were from the 55+ age group. Both males and females were interviewed the gender bias was skewed to males. Interviewees were from both fishing and non-fishing businesses and most were sole traders.

The interviewees were generous with their information and were able to provide insight into the skills and knowledge they had used to build and grow their businesses. The interviewees were also able to detail the areas of knowledge that all business owners should have been commencing or running a business.

The findings from twenty-one interviews were the base for developing the information presented on the Business Nous website. However, it should be noted that this output was modified from a decision-making tree. The working group presented the decision-making tree to the Indigenous Reference Group (IRG) and the consensus was that the decision-making tree would either be too complex or too simplistic in assisting Indigenous fishers with relevant fishing business nous.

The key findings suggest that to manage and/or own an Indigenous fishing business, standard principles need to be followed and structures implemented. Business concepts that most business owners understand such as:

Payroll
Book-keeping
Regulations
Cash-flow
Staff Management
Planning and marketing

All of the interviewees indicated that they understood and adopted many of the above and one business embraced all standard business practices covered by the questionnaire.

Additionally, the Indigenous business owners interviewed highlighted a second layer of expectations that were regularly considered when planning for and opening a business. This additional layer of requirements included consideration for:

Community expectations.
Cultural obligations.
Guidance from Elders. 
Consideration of Traditional Knowledge.

The above and other expectations highlighted one of the fundamental questions the working group considered - Is it different for Indigenous people to plan and operate a successful fishing business?

The BN project has developed materials that will assist people think through the essential elements when operating a fishing business.

The three main outputs for Indigenous fishing businesses are:

Business Nous Website – https://www.irgbusinessnous.com.au/ 
Business Nous promotional videos – https://www.irgbusinessnous.com.au/about-business-nous-project
Business Nous workshop materials – found in Appendix 9

There are key project materials that have been managed to ensure the above outputs were delivered.

Capability and Capacity: Understanding diverse learning approaches and knowledge transfer opportunities to inform and enable change

Project number: 2023-131
Project Status:
Current
Budget expenditure: $130,000.00
Principal Investigator: Nicole McDonald
Organisation: CQUniversity (CQU) Rockhampton
Project start/end date: 1 Jul 2024 - 10 Jul 2025
Contact:
FRDC

Need

FRDC recently co-funded a cross-commodity project on Designing the integration of extension into research project (James, 2022), which sought to improve adoption of outcomes from RD&E project. At the conclusion of this report, recommendations for Phase 2 were made, and these included several focused on developing and trailing different learning approaches for knowledge transfer. Understanding learning approaches required for different topics and cohorts is an essential next step to improve practical outcomes associated with development, change, and adoption processes. This project represents an opportunity for FRDC to build on this initial investment and generate new knowledge on the connection between learning approaches and knowledge transfer to enhance the fisheries and aquaculture sector’s capability and capacity for adaptability and change.

A systematic review of the literature on the topics of adult learning, knowledge transfer, and transformational change will identify and evaluate relevant findings for the fisheries and aquaculture sector. These will be further ground-truthed through extensive stakeholder consultation within (a) wild catch organisations, (b) aquaculture organisations, and (c) through the wider industry knowledge network (e.g. extension officers and research teams). A compilation of informal and formal learning and development opportunities in fishing and aquaculture within organisations and in the wider industry will be analysed, and case studies of best practice identified, analysed and showcased as examples of successful change, adoption, skill development and shift in mindset.

These evidence-based context-specific insights will be translated into a guide, tool or micro-credential for best practice in designing and delivering knowledge transfer and practice change activities. The usefulness and ease of use of this resource will be tested in a workshop with FRDC extension professionals and other interested stakeholders, refined and then introduced to the fisheries and aquaculture community for application to learning and training in organisations and throughout the wider industry. It is expected that the findings of this project will have implications for the project Capability and capacity: Navigating leadership pathways in fishing in aquaculture, in particular insights on how learning approaches for the topic area of non-technical skills development (e.g. communication, team effectiveness, career self-management, problem-solving, strategic thinking and foresight) occur within organisations that may prove to be the start of the leadership pathway for people within fisheries and aquaculture, and if done effectively may widen and diversity the talent pipeline into mid to high leadership level development opportunities.

This project has been designed with a 12-month timeline, with options to scale down if required by FRDC.

Objectives

1. This project will establish a practicable evidence-base for understanding the interaction between learning approaches and knowledge transfer to enhance human, organisational, and industry capacity and capability for adaptive change in the fisheries and aquaculture sector
2. A guide/tool/micro-credential to apply insights regarding successful learning approaches and knowledge transfer for the design and delivery of interventions targeting change, adoption, skill development and shift in mindset for a diverse range of relevant topics and segments of the fisheries and aquaculture sector
3. Deliver 2 workshops to test the use and ease of use of the guide/tool/micro-credential for key industry stakeholders
4. Deliver a webinar to share research findings and launch the guide/tool/micro-credential to the wider fisheries and aquaculture community
5. Determine multiple pathways to delivery for use of the guide/tool/micro-credential including integration and alignment to other relevant project such as Capability and capacity: Navigating leadership pathways in fishing and aquaculture and the Fishing and Aquaculture Workforce Capability Framework
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PROJECT NUMBER • 2018-070
PROJECT STATUS:
COMPLETED

Opportunities and impacts of range extending scalefish species: understanding population dynamics, ecosystem impacts and management needs

This work set out to quantify the biology and diet of three key range-shifting species in Tasmania with both recreational and commercial fishery value. The project was heavily reliant on engagement from the recreational fishing community and multiple citizen science initiatives, as well as...
ORGANISATION:
University of Tasmania
Communities

Indigenous Aquaculture Workshop 2010 - Key Participant Travel Bursaries

Project number: 2009-336
Project Status:
Completed
Budget expenditure: $25,000.00
Principal Investigator: Dan Machin
Organisation: National Aquaculture Council (NAC)
Project start/end date: 31 Jan 2010 - 29 Jun 2010
Contact:
FRDC

Need

The lack of participation in any real market economy by people in Indigenous communities has ramifications for the social and cultural security of indigenous people. Aquaculture can, in specific settings, provide a genuine business or subsistence opportunity. In order to that Indigenous Aquaculture workshop achieves its objectives by contributing to developing local, regional and national capacity and empowerment, it requires to offer travel and conference registration bursary to 10 key people driving mainstream, commercial indigenous aquaculture business ventures.

Objectives

1. Support 10 key members of the indigenous aquaculture sector to participate in the DAFF funded Indigenous Aquaculture Forum
2. Increase social capital and knowledge sharing amongst key members of the indigenous aquaculture sector
3. Provide input into relevant FRDC funded projects that are focused on indigenous participation in aquaculture.

Final report

ISBN: 978-0-9808007-4-6
Author: Dan Machin
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