Tactical Research Fund: Establishing regional indicators of social sustainability in the Tasmanian aquaculture industry - a pilot study
Tasmanian government, communities and industry recognise that a key to increasing aquaculture’s positive impact on regional communities in Tasmania is continued access to shared coastal and marine resources.
The existing aquaculture planning system delivers social licence by including the community in the process that examines the pros and cons of development in their region. Despite this, future opportunities for linkages and collaborative partnerships between industry and the community are less well understood.
Critical to building and maintaining a “social license to operate” are robust and collaborative partnerships between industry and the communities in which it operates. Such partnerships need to be structured to allow meaningful dialogue aimed at increasing the positive impacts of aquaculture development to the community as a whole, balanced against the potential costs.
Community perceptions of aquaculture vary widely. The challenge for planners and the industry is to understand regional perceptions in order to develop policies and approaches that respond to community concerns, improve community understandings and bolster the recognition and acceptance of this sector as a valuable community member.
Specifically, industry and policy makers need to understand the social and economic profiles of specific regions as well as community perceptions of the industry, as the foundation for designing a community engagement strategy that will:
• establish a sound platform of social understandings and values from which the industry can develop its business case, and
• maximise the benefit communities derive from sustainable aquaculture development.
This project has been designed as a pilot study to test methodology and to deliver outputs that will contribute to the needs mentioned above, thereby helping to increase public good outcomes from marine farming in Tasmania.
Final report
Understanding the social contribution of aquaculture and fisheries activities is becoming increasingly important as community and market expectations continue to demand greater ethical and responsible social and environmental stewardship from the industry.
The SROI processes and principles offer a structured approach to assessing social impact in partnership with the relevant stakeholders, or communities of interest. In other contexts, the SROI has delivered strong, two-‐way relationships with stakeholders (Social Ventures Australia, 2012), creating a context within which an enterprise’s future direction, including growth, can be discussed and designed on realistic terms that take into account social impact.
The purpose of this research project was to pilot the use of the SROI principles and processes as a basis for structured community engagement within the aquaculture industry in Tasmania.
This project sought to engage two sectors (mussels and salmon) within the aquaculture industry so as to explore ways to build effectiveness in engaging with comparable communities of interest, and to develop a better understanding of what can support building and maintaining a social licence to operate.
Keywords: Social indicators, social return on investment, SROI, social licence to operate, community engagement, regional communities.
