2 results

Social and Economic Evaluation of the Victorian Wild-catch Seafood and Aquaculture Industry – STAGE 1

Project number: 2016-263
Project Status:
Completed
Budget expenditure: $6,200.00
Principal Investigator: Johnathon Davey
Organisation: Seafood Industry Victoria Inc (SIV)
Project start/end date: 24 Jan 2017 - 30 Mar 2017
Contact:
FRDC

Need

The need to evaluate the economic and social contribution of the Victorian Seafood Industry to Victorian communities has been identified by the VicRAC (formally VicFRAB) as an urgent and high priority. Currently no such data exist, but the need is clear. Firstly, an evaluation is required to inform the Victorian Government of the likely impacts of resource management decisions on coastal communities. Second, an evaluation is necessary to provide information to the Victorian public about the benefits that flow from the professional fishing sector, beyond a total annual value calculated from beach prices.

FRDC also have identified a strong need for a coordinated approach to evaluate the Industry across the States and Territories, so that a national picture of the value of Australian Seafood Industry can be determined.

Recent FRDC-funded research in NSW, led by A/Prof Kate Barclay, to evaluate the social and economic value of coastal professional wild-catch fisheries, has provided a strong basis for developing this national framework, and the methods suitable for addressing the specific needs of the Victorian Industry.

We propose the Victorian social/economic evaluation study consist of a two-stage approach, in order to ensure the most appropriate methods are used, the outputs are relevant, and that the evaluation achieves a high level of industry support and participation.

Stage 1 consists of developing a fully-costed methodology for a Victorian evaluation which also could be scaled up for a national evaluation. This stage would also develop collaborative partnership with, and support from, the Victorian Industry sectors.

Stage 2 would consist of the Evaluation Study itself – data collection, analysis and dissemination – based on the outputs of Stage 1.

Stage 1 would run in January 2017 – March 2017. Stage 2 EOI would be submitted to VicRAC for consideration in March 2017.

This application seeks support for Stage 1.

Objectives

1. To develop a proposed set of work packages to evaluate the social and economic contribution of the Victorian seafood industry
2. To prioritise work packages in terms of cost, available data, feasibility, time, and what would be lost if not included in a Victorian evaluation of the seafood industry
3. To collaborate with the seafood industry to develop priorities and good engagement for a Victorian evaluation of the seafood industry
4. To collaborate with national stakeholders to ensure a Victorian study will be appropriate for scaling up to a national evaluation of the seafood industry
5. To use the workshops to develop a proposal for Stage 2, the social and economic evaluation itself

Final report

ISBN: 978-0-9953662-3-7
Authors: Kirsten Abernethy Kate Barclay Johnathon Davey
Final Report • 2018-01-01 • 323.32 KB
2016-263-DLD.pdf

Summary

The FRDC Victorian Research Advisory Committee identified the need for a research project to measure the multiple social and economic contributions of the professional fishing and aquaculture sectors as an urgent and high priority. FRDC and the Human Dimensions Research (HDR) subprogram also identified a strong need for a coordinated approach and framework to evaluate professional fisheries across the States and Territories in Australia.

As such, 2016-263 Social and Economic Evaluation of the Victorian Wild-catch and Aquaculture Industries – STAGE 1 was funded by the VicRAC in early 2017. The purpose of the project was to determine the appropriate approach to take for Victorian fisheries in collaboration with industry. This scoping project had two aims. The first was to develop engagement, collaborative partnerships and support from the Victorian wild-catch and aquaculture industry sectors, for a fully-funded 2-year FRDC project to measure the social and economic contribution of Victorian wild-catch and aquaculture industries to Victorian communities. This culminated in an industry workshop, which informed research design and dissemination, built support, and developed pathways to ensure participation from industry. The second aim was to develop a fully-costed methodology for a full FRDC application for a Victorian ‘contribution study’ to be submitted in 2017 that was appropriate for the Victorian context, in-line with the HDR framework, built on the methodologies used in NSW work FRDC projects 2014-301 and 2015-302, and identified an appropriate and experience team and their roles.

This scoping project was undertaken in partnership by Seafood Industry Victoria (SIV) and University of Technology Sydney (UTS) in 2017.

Optimising processes and policy to minimise business and operational impacts of seismic surveys on the fishing industry and oil and gas industry

Project number: 2013-209
Project Status:
Completed
Budget expenditure: $119,950.00
Principal Investigator: Johnathon Davey
Organisation: Seafood Industry Victoria Inc (SIV)
Project start/end date: 30 Jun 2013 - 11 Jan 2015
Contact:
FRDC

Need

The fishing and the oil/gas industries have rights to operate their respective businesses in the marine environment. At sea, there is a degree of spatial/temporal overlap between marine seismic activity and established fishing grounds. For shared access to work effectively, a high level of respect, cooperation, communication, coordination and compromise is required between industries.

With some notable exceptions, many fishing operators in areas of high offshore prospectivity report this doesn’t always occur. They feel as a result, their businesses are negatively impacted, with little if any recognition by the oil/gas industry. Importantly this does not only relate directly to loss of catch, possibly arising from seismic activity, but to disruptions at an operational and business level including; time and resources to input into the process, reduction of fishing opportunities during peak/open seasons and marketing/staffing issues (onshore and offshore) due to unplanned variations in fishing activity. Oil and gas explorers also report that interactions can negatively impact on their operations at high cost.

These issues were highlighted at a FRDC supported ‘Empowering’ workshop in 2011 attended by the fishing and oil/gas industries, agencies and researchers. It was agreed that a project designed to examine and improve processes and policies to minimise impacts of seismic surveys on operations and businesses was a priority.

Since then, National Offshore Petroleum Safety and Environmental Management Authority (NOPSEMA) was established. This authority is the national regulator for a range of offshore oil and gas operations, including environmental management.

DPI Vic indicated the project approach is a long time coming and stressed the need for discussions before exploration leases are released, the benefits in educating both sectors on impacts of their activities on the other and the value this will provide in forward planning for both sectors to minimise negative interactions and optimise efficiency and profitability.

Objectives

1. Review legislative consultation, notification and response processes and policies regarding interactions between fishers and seismic exploration activities
2. Use case studies to assess interactions and impacts between seismic exploration activities and the fishing industry
3. From case studies outline key areas and types of impacts experienced by businesses
4. Highlight key pathways within current legislative framework for both sectors to effectively raise and address concerns
5. Recommend improvements to current practices for both stakeholders to improve consultation and minimise impacts on both stakeholders
6. Identify key information needs from both sectors to aid consultation and minimise two-way impacts.
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