17 results
Industry
PROJECT NUMBER • 1992-126
PROJECT STATUS:
COMPLETED

Electronic marketing of fisheries products

In an earlier ABARE study of the efficiency of seafood marketing (Smith and Reid 1993) it was suggested that alternative marketing arrangements have the potential to improve the efficiency of seafood marketing. Among the options canvassed was the possibility of developing electronic marketing of...
ORGANISATION:
Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry (DAFF) ABARES
TAGS
Marketing
Consumer

Community perceptions of fishing: implications for industry image, marketing and sustainability

Project number: 2001-309
Project Status:
Completed
Budget expenditure: $104,065.00
Principal Investigator: Heather Aslin
Organisation: Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry (DAFF) ABARES
Project start/end date: 29 Aug 2001 - 30 Apr 2003
Contact:
FRDC
TAGS
Values &Amp; Ethics
Sustainability
Stakeholder
Marketing
Consumer

Objectives

1. To conduct focus groups with selected sub-groups of the Australian public to serve as a basis for developing a structured survey instrument.
2. To develop the survey instrument in discussion with the advisory group, conduct a pilot test of the instrument, and administer it to a statistically representative sample of the Australian adult population (18+).
3. To identify implications of survey findings for industry communication, education and marketing activities (from answers to knowledge, perceptions, attitudes and behavioral questions).
4. To identify implications of survey findings for ESD monitoring and reporting frameworks (behavioral questions in particular).
5. In discussions with the advisory group, to develop options and strategies for addressing any negative perceptions of the industry, identifying appropriate actions, agencies to implement actions, and methods for evaluating success of implementing options.
6. To communicate overall survey results to stakeholders in a meaningful and useful form.

Final report

ISBN: 0-642-47539
Author: Heather Aslin
Final Report • 2004-09-09 • 660.85 KB
2001-309-DLD.pdf

Summary

A pioneering national study of Australian public perceptions, knowledge and attitudes towards the fishing industry, has been completed. It covers the commercial, recreational and traditional  fishing sectors, and also examines seafood consumption and factors likely to affect future consumption. ‘Perception’ is used to refer to held beliefs or cognitions that may or may not be correct as judged by those with specialised knowledge of the industry. The traditional fishing sector, as used here, refers to subsistence fishing activities by Indigenous people. Indigenous Australians of course also participate in the commercial fishing sector.) The study involved a literature review; seven focus group discussions with a total of 63 members of the Australian public from a range of locations, ages and occupational groups; and a telephone survey of 1,004 Australian adults, 18 years and over, randomly sampled from the electronic white pages. While the final sample was reasonably representative of the general public in age distribution, it was somewhat skewed towards people with higher incomes. It is also acknowledged that voluntary telephone surveys like this one tend to have an over-representation of people who are interested in the subject matter of the survey. In this case, both recreational and commercial fishers and their views may be over-represented. These issues and their possibly influence need to be borne in mind in interpreting survey findings.
 
Survey findings indicate considerable community knowledge about recreational fishing and high participation, with twice as many men as women participating
(survey percentages were 58% of males and 29% of females participating over the year prior to the survey). Very few members of either the focus groups or telephone sample (collectively referred to as ‘respondents’) had direct experience with the commercial wild-catch sector or traditional fishing, but many focus group members knew about or had visited local aquaculture ventures. Respondents generally viewed recreational and traditional fishing and aquaculture positively, but not commercial wild-catch fishing. The telephone sample rated the sustainability of the different sectors in the order wild-catch (25% said it was sustainable); recreational (56%); traditional (64%), and aquaculture (77%). Respondents’ most important source of information about the industry was the mass media, particularly television. Recreational fishers relied more on books, magazines and fishing clubs than non-recreational fishers. Government and industry were very minor sources of information for most respondents and were not viewed as highly credible sources. Poor perceptions of the wild-catch sector suggest that much mass media information about this sector is negative, and there could be advantages in industry taking a more proactive media stance and trying to achieve better coverage of ‘good news’ stories. 
 
Members of most of the focus groups and the majority of survey respondents rated their knowledge of the industry as relatively low but interest levels higher (only 25% of the survey respondents thought they were ‘knowledgeable’ but 53% were
‘interested’), providing encouragement to those working to improve public understanding and knowledge of the industry. However, like similar surveys, the study concludes that unless they have a special interest, members of the public are unlikely to actively seek information about the industry nor to make much use of the sources they regard as most credible. Specific options for addressing poor public perceptions of the wild-catch sector include developing media campaigns in consultation with professional communicators; enlisting the support of media personalities to deliver messages; developing and disseminating popular material giving basic facts and figures about the sector and making it available in locations the public regularly uses; supporting production of television documentaries that provide a balanced perspective on wild-catch fishing and its contributions; and developing more integrated fisheries websites, preferably managed and maintained by community-based organisations that the public regards as credible. The industry could also develop more ‘on the wharf’ links to the public, for example by establishing fishing industry information sources within commercial precincts. 
 
To address low levels of public knowledge about the traditional sector, government and industry need to work with Indigenous organisations to develop communication strategies to raise public awareness of this sector and its economic and cultural contribution to Indigenous community well-being.
 
Study findings about community judgements of the sustainability of the different sectors, and the reasons for these judgements, could potentially be used in ESD reporting frameworks. In order to do this, ESD frameworks need to be made more meaningful to the community and less dominated by expert judgements and specialised knowledge. There may be particular problems with the meaningfulness of current fisheries’ jurisdictional and management boundaries. Better understanding of public perceptions, knowledge and behaviour obtained through social surveys could be a basis for re-working boundaries and reporting frameworks so that they relate better to community and local knowledge. In particular, high levels of participation and interest in recreational fishing justify attention to ways of making fisheries management more meaningful to the public and giving local communities a greater role in near shore fisheries management than they may have had in the past. Many community members appear to be engaged and interested but lack ways of being directly involved in management or monitoring. 
 
In terms of seafood consumption, a high percentage of respondents ate seafood (95% of the telephone sample). For those who did not eat it, their main reason for not doing so was taste, with other factors less important. The amount of seafood respondents purchased was likely to be influenced by price reductions (70% indicated this would influence them); labelling and certification about contamination and health risks (65%); labelling about freshness (59%); and labelling about environmentally friendly production (57%). These findings suggest potential to further influence seafood consumption patterns by expanding labelling and certification schemes.
 
Ongoing monitoring of social aspects of the industry, based partly on surveys like the one reported here, could provide the industry with important feedback about the success of its communication and information activities, complementing existing economic information about trends in production and consumption. 
Industry
Adoption
Industry

Australian fisheries statistics

Project number: 2001-227
Project Status:
Completed
Budget expenditure: $117,919.00
Principal Investigator: Graham Love
Organisation: Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry (DAFF) ABARES
Project start/end date: 22 Jul 2001 - 30 Oct 2004
Contact:
FRDC
TAGS
Trade
Policy
Marketing
Fisheries Management
Economic

Need

The development of statistics on Australian fisheries production and gross value of production (GVP) is required to meet a wide range of demands.

First: The data are extensively used by the fishing industry and by providers of services to the fishing industry in making investment decisions and in longer term planning of marketing strategies. The importance of the information provided by this project was highlighted at the 1997 FRDC Australian Fisheries Economics Statistics Workshop and the Seafood Directions Conference in 1999. Also the information is used extensively in FRDC's publication "From Antarctica to the tropics: a snapshot of the Australian fishing industry".

Second: The existence of these data in a readily accessible form provides the basis for a range of other activities, including the setting of research priorities by fisheries managers, industry and research organisations and the selection of a research portfolio by funding agencies. The Commonwealth government through ABARE, contributes to a number of international databases including databases managed by FAO and OECD. Information at the international level can be important in relation to international negotiations on issues such as transboundary fisheries, in analysing trade opportunities and threats and is essential for participating in fora such as APEC and WTO.

Third: The gross value of production for specific fisheries are used for determining research and development levies for Fisheries Research and Development Corporation (FRDC) and for determining industry contributions to research. Because the estimates form the basis for research levies for each fishery, it is important for the system to be independent from those involved in the management and marketing processes to ensure the neutrality and integrity of the estimates.

Fourth: There are significant economies in centralising the collection, collation and dissemination of the gross value of production data. In the absence of this project the workload of a range of organsations involved with fisheries management would be substantially increased.

Objectives

1. To maintain and improve the data base of production, gross value of production and trade statistics for the Australian fishing industry, including aquaculture.
2. To provide these data in an accessible form.

Final report

Author: Graham Love
Final Report • 2017-09-29 • 166.88 KB
2001-227-DLD.pdf
Adoption
Adoption
Adoption
Industry
PROJECT NUMBER • 2003-060
PROJECT STATUS:
COMPLETED

Byproduct: Catch, economics and co-occurrence in Australias longline fisheries

The longline sector of the Eastern Tuna and Billfish Fishery (ETBF) and the Southern and Western Tuna and Billfish Fishery (SWTBF) target four main species and incidentally take over 80 other species as “bycatch”. Significant amounts of these species are often retained for sale, and...
ORGANISATION:
Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry (DAFF) ABARES
TAGS
Stakeholder
Population Dynamics
Marketing
Fishing Gear
Data
SPECIES
Slender Tuna
Albacore
Blue Shark
Bronze Whaler
Tunas
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