10 results

Bursaries to attend the 2022 New Zealand Seafood Industry Conference

Project number: 2022-052
Project Status:
Completed
Budget expenditure: $2,675.22
Principal Investigator: Claire Webber
Organisation: SA Sardine Industry Association Inc
Project start/end date: 12 Aug 2022 - 19 Aug 2022
Contact:
FRDC

Need

Bursary recipient will attend five sessions over the two day conference:
- Fishing with care and precision
- Thriving coastal communities
- Growing market value
- Healthy marine environments
- Modernising fisheries management

Additional conference activities will be attended were possible, including networking functions and FRDC meetings.

Benefits of including the bursary recipient in the Australian delegation to New Zealand include:
- Improvements in trans-tasman industry relationships
- Enhanced learning and sharing on important industry issues (notably electronic monitoring of fleets)
- Relevance and input to group discussion and thinking regarding important session topics and ideas
- Increased understanding of government policy decisions and drivers and other external impacts on fishing industry productivity

Objectives

1. Australian fishing industry participation at the Seafood NZ Conference 2022
Adoption

Bursaries to fund three South Australian Recreational Fishing community members to attend the National Recreational Fishing Conference 2019

Project number: 2019-154
Project Status:
Completed
Budget expenditure: $4,994.78
Principal Investigator: Sam Stone
Organisation: Department of Primary Industries and Regions South Australia (PIRSA)
Project start/end date: 2 Feb 2020 - 29 Apr 2020
Contact:
FRDC

Need

Co-management is an arrangement whereby responsibilities and obligations for sustainable fisheries management are negotiated, shared and delegated at appropriate levels between government, recreational fishers, Aboriginal traditional fishers, the commercial fishing industry and other key stakeholders such as conservation groups (Neville 2008).

The Minister’s Recreational Fishing Advisory Council (MRFAC) was formed to improve dialogue and communication between recreational fishers and Government. The primary role of the MRFAC is to provide feedback and advice to government on recreational fishing development issues, initiatives and policies that impact the recreational fishing sector. The MRFAC strives to pursue opportunities to improve the co-management arrangements for the recreational fishery.

In 2010/11 an engagement project was undertaken by PIRSA to better understand what recreational fishing means to people and what future they want for their sector. Discussions generated consistent themes and issues of concern to recreational fishers, including sustainable fishing, ongoing access, funding and leadership, governance, education and promotion of the sector.

The outputs from this project identified opportunities for incorporating 'grass roots' input from the recreational sector into fisheries management processes in South Australia (Rowling et al. in prep) must include public consultation opportunities and participation in (1) technical working groups; (2) regional recreational committees; & (3) community forums.

This project aims to enhance these jurisdictional-based opportunities by increasing national-level capacity building opportunities for members of the South Australian community. In addition to the personal development aspect, the ability to create connections and links to the recreational community leaders from other states and territories will be invaluable to the future stewarding of the South Australian Recreational Fishing community.

Objectives

1. To ensure increased participation of South Australian Recreational community members in national Recreational forums
2. Increased provision of pathways and opportunities to assist in better representing the Recreational community on both a state and national level.
3. Increased education and knowledge building opportunities for individual members of the South Australian and Australian Recreational Fishing Community
4. Increased capacity building opportunity for members of the South Australian Recreational Community
5. Support in increasing attendance and networking opportunities for the recreational community across states and territories with a view to increase linkages and information sharing nation-wide

Sponsorship: WISA Power Up Breakfast 2024 Seafood Directions

Project number: 2024-002
Project Status:
Completed
Budget expenditure: $15,000.00
Principal Investigator: Kirsten Abernethy
Organisation: Women in Seafood Australasia (WISA)
Project start/end date: 18 Apr 2024 - 31 Oct 2024
Contact:
FRDC

Need

The WISA Power Up Breakfast at Seafood Directions is WISA's premier event. In 2022, the event was sold out within a few weeks of tickets online and we had a long waiting list. An important drawcard for the event was the high profile journalist Annabel Crabb as the keynote speaker (funded by FRDC as part of project 2018-174) who delivered a strong gender equality message while being highly entertaining. WISA received feedback that Power Up was one of Seafood Directions top events.

Objectives

1. increase awareness of the FRDC, WISA and industry’s understanding of gender inequality issues, opportunities and solutions
2. Enable a larger event and high calibre speaker at Power Up 2024
3. increase understanding of gender inequality issues, opportunities and solutions in fishing and aquaculture
People
PROJECT NUMBER • 2019-124
PROJECT STATUS:
COMPLETED

Shared science and Indigenous knowledge to support fisheries capacity building in Torres Strait

This report presents the results of a collaborative science capacity building project involving CSIRO researchers and Torres Strait Islander Fishing Industry representatives. Project participants worked together in the development and delivery of science capacity building programs tailored to each...
ORGANISATION:
CSIRO Oceans and Atmosphere Hobart
People

Quantifying inter-sectoral values within and among the Indigenous, commercial and recreational sectors

Project number: 2020-088
Project Status:
Completed
Budget expenditure: $92,972.00
Principal Investigator: Buyani Thomy
Organisation: Natural Capital Economics
Project start/end date: 10 Jan 2021 - 29 Jun 2021
Contact:
FRDC

Need

In developing the 2020-25 Strategic Plan, FRDC identified five outcomes and associated enabling strategies, including Outcome 4: Fair and secure access to aquatic resources. In developing Outcome 4, FRDC realized that it did not have a shared appreciation of the different beliefs and values that underpin perceptions of fairness and security. Furthermore, it was acknowledged that such values differ within and between different sectors of the fishing and aquaculture sector and can be the source of tension and conflict.

The FRDC is therefore seeking to understand contrasting and complementary values among Indigenous, commercial, and recreational fishing sectors. The proposed project will provide valuable information towards building trust across the industry through an improved understanding of the social, economic and ecological values within and among the three sectors. It will also provide FRDC with the basis for monitoring progress towards the achievement of Outcome 4.

The primary objective of the project is to collect, analyse and report on the values held by the Indigenous, commercial and recreational sectors. Findings from the project will be used to inform resource management and support for fair and secure access to aquatic resources. The findings will also be valuable to regulators’ through an enhanced understanding of values across the different sectors leading to more efficient and effective consultation processes.

Objectives

1. To collect, analyse and report on the values held by the Indigenous, commercial and recreational sectors using a robust and systematic methodology that is repeatable (i.e., using Q-methodology).
2. To identify complementary and contrasting values among Indigenous, commercial and recreational sectors through an extensive survey.
3. To report findings and provide recommendations for efficient and practical data collection mechanisms to FRDC. Findings from the project will be used to inform resource management and to support fair and secure access to aquatic resources. The findings will also be valuable to regulators’ through an enhanced understanding of values across the different sectors leading to more efficient and effective consultation processes.

Final report

ISBN: 978-0-6489972-1-4
Authors: Schultz T. Thomy B. Hardaker T. Perry M. Faranda A. Gustavsson M. Chudleigh P. and Binney J.
Final Report • 2022-03-31 • 1.91 MB
2020-088-DLD.pdf

Summary

This study explored the extent to which values are shared (or not shared) by fishers across three key sectors (i.e., Indigenous, commercial and recreational). The study was run online using Q-Method Software (https://qmethodsoftware.com), a semi-quantitative technique used to explore human perspectives in a systematic and repeatable manner.
Fishers across the three sectors were required to sort and rank the pre-listed value statements. Participants were recruited through emailed invitations, social media posts and newsletters from key fishing sector representative bodies as well as snow-ball sampling. In response to a very low response rate from the Indigenous sector, additional participants (n = 6) were recruited by a member of the project team at a conference held in Far North Queensland. A total of 116 fishers completed the Q study. The collected data was analysed using inverted factor analysis to allow for the identification of distinct sub-groups of people whose responses are highly correlated. Through examining the Q-methodology outputs, five distinct sub-groups emerged: Sub-group A – “social-value fishers” (n = 39); Sub-group B – “economic-value fishers” (n = 19); Sub-group C – “environmental-value fishers” (n = 24); Sub-group D – “traditional-value” fishers (n = 10); and Sub-group E – “fish-focused” fishers (n = 15). Each subgroup comprises fishers who ranked the value statements similarly in terms of those statements they felt were very important to them and those that were less important to them. As such, the analysis provided information about complementary and contrasting values among different groups of fishers. 

This study indicated that values (i) do not “neatly” align to the different industry sectors; and (ii) do not differ based on the different industry sectors. However, the Q-methodology analysis indicated that there were five distinct groups based on how values were ranked. 
Across the five distinct groups the top four complementary values were: (1) fishing is environmentally sustainable, (2) accountability for industry participants who break the rules, (3) having access to fish and fishing, and (4) access to the ocean/sea. Environmental sustainability was the highest ranked value even among the sub-group that was dominated by economic type values (sub-group B), suggesting that even for productivity-based research and development (R&D), the focus should be on R&D that drives productivity and/or profitability improvements without reducing/ compromising environmental sustainability. Environmental sustainability is also key driver of production and there seem to be general appreciation of its importance across the fishing sectors.
 
The three lowest ranked values across the five distinct groups were cultural values: (1) fishing’s support of cultural practices and requirements, (2) fishing provides a connection to ancestors/previous generations, and (3) opportunity to barter and trade goods. Some of the social values not considered to be important by any of the sub-groups included catching lots of fish or large fish, and spending time fishing alone. 
 
In terms of contrasting values across the five sub-groups, economic type values were generally not highly ranked except by one group which was dominated by commercial fishers (sub-group B). Statements like fishing’s economic returns and employment/income from fishing, industry innovation and advancement, fishing’s contribution to the local economy were not considered to be important by the remaining groups.
 
The use of Q-methodology to identify values for the different sectors revealed that online survey may not also be practical and effective. For example, there was very limited responses to the online survey by Indigenous sector participants and further effort was required to capture their values in a face-to-face approach. It is recommended that future research should seek to include face-to-face data collection methods to improve efficiency in capturing views of diverse groups.
 
Values play a key role in decision-making and in creating public policy. One of the primary implications of the current study is that it would likely be ineffective and inefficient to make decisions or set policies based on sectoral classifications in the fishing industry such as Indigenous, commercial and/or recreational. The project findings strongly demonstrate that the values held by fishers cannot be neatly delineated into standard industry sector classifications. However, the project findings also show that there are a number of values shared by all fishers across sectors that may provide ‘common ground’ and ‘common language’ that in turn would provide a basis for better engagement and communication both between the sectors and between researchers, fisheries managers, Government and Australian fishers. 
 
Dissemination of the findings that all sectors have several complementary values will help improve engagement and communication between the sectors and enhance effective and efficient implementation of future fisheries policies. Notably, the dissemination of the findings of this study is a step towards building a shared understanding of complementary values among different sectors and contrasting values within individual sectors. The shared knowledge will help improve trust among the sectors and between regulators and resource users. The improvements in trust among the various stakeholders will further enhance effective decision-making processes, particularly co-management and resource access.
 
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PROJECT NUMBER • 2018-016
PROJECT STATUS:
COMPLETED

Improving data on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander marine resource use to inform decision-making

Through two national workshops, Indigenous community and agency representatives and researchers discussed issues around collecting, sharing and ownership of Indigenous fishing data. Challenges and opportunities were shared from all perspectives and expertise, knowledge and information came together...
ORGANISATION:
Department of Primary Industries and Regions South Australia (PIRSA)