Meeting the challenge of preparing and adapting for climate change is arguably the most important task confronting the management of our national marine resources. Climate change is expected to result in significant impacts for marine ecosystems with flow on social and economic implications for resource users and communities. Importantly, coastal rural communities have greater dependency on marine industries that provide social and economic benefits through fishing, aquaculture and tourism (e.g. recreational fishing and diving). The success of adaptation decisions in terms of meeting objectives, capturing opportunities and overcoming barriers, being cost effective and minimising negative flow on effects will be influenced by the level of understanding of the needs, priorities, perceptions and attitudes of stakeholders including knowledge of the social and economic consequences of adaptation options. Without such information, our ability to make timely and effective adaptation decisions will be limited. Developing the tools that provide the relevant information to reduce risks and increase capacity to cope with, and benefit from, change is urgently needed for these coastal communities. These tools need to cross discipline boundaries and provide linkages between the vulnerabilities of the biological system with the adaptive capacity and vulnerabilities of the human system.
To meet this need, this project brings together leading marine multi-disciplinary researchers with proven expertise in inter-disciplinary, participatory research approaches to engage stakeholders in the process of developing a suite of strategically targeted marine adaptation tools that will represent a blueprint for marine stakeholders nationally. The blueprint will facilitate these tools being readily adopted by different marine communities, industries and individuals enabling them to make informed decisions based on a range of climate change adaptation options designed to minimise impacts and maximise opportunities. The project focuses on NARP themes 2 and 4, and addresses areas 2 and 3 of the regional programs.

In order to secure the future of Australian wild-catch and aquaculture fisheries, it is increasingly clear that, alongside effective and responsible management and production, building and maintaining societal support is vital.

There are a number of recent examples in Australia where wild-catch and aquaculture fisheries have been threatened, even shut down, as a result of not having a ‘social license to operate’. This is despite having good ecological, economic and management credentials. Examples include: the 2016 closure of the Victorian small scale Port Phillip Bay net fishery as a result of pressure from the recreational fishing sector; the environmental controversy over mid-water trawling (‘super trawlers’) for small pelagic species despite scientifically-determined healthy stock status; and environmental non-governmental organisations (eNGOs) campaigns against Tassal’s proposed fish farm operations in Okehampton Bay on Tasmania’s east coast.

The wild-catch and aquaculture industries are increasingly and acutely aware of the need to garner societal support. But, they are unsure of how to address poor societal support at its root, who needs to be involved to address the problem, and effective pathways to improving societal support. From an industry perspective, there are gaps in knowledge in terms of 1) identifying the determinants of poor/high societal support; 2) identifying stakeholder groups to target who determine societal support and outcomes for wild-catch and aquaculture fisheries (e.g. other resource user groups, eNGOs, decision-makers and government, consumers, other publics); and 3) appropriate, effective and innovative pathways to improve societal support through engagement strategies and interventions.

However, there is a wealth of information available that is not directly or easily transferable currently. It requires collation and synthesis to address the knowledge gaps, including learnings from other industries, international wild-catch and aquaculture fisheries, as well as historical case studies of successes and failures within Australia. This project will draw together knowledge from existing literature and documentation and also use key informant interviews to address the above gaps.