Improving performance of ITQ fisheries - Project activity paused
Individual Transferable Quotas (ITQs) and Individual Transferable Effort (ITE) systems have been introduced to a wide range of Australian fisheries (FRDC 2017-159). Since 1985, forty-six ITQs have been introduced to a range of fisheries and can be found across all jurisdictions in Australia; six ITEs have also been introduced, mainly in prawn trawl fisheries. Such systems allocate shares or portions of a total allowable catch (TAC), or total allowable effort (TAE), between fishers, vessels, communities, or others with an interest in the fishery.
Experience shows that ITQs as generally designed and implemented have not always fully delivered promised outcomes, have had outcomes that were unintended and unwanted, and in some instances have resulted in outcomes that make it difficult for fisheries managers to deliver against other, in many cases non-economic, objectives of fisheries management. In some instances, these unintended and unwanted consequences may also have been inappropriately attributed to the ITQs/ITEs and may more be down to other drivers such as globalisation or changes in stock abundance.
Building on industry and management’s growing interest in improving ITQ-fishery outcomes (SRL Corporatisation Workshop, Melbourne Airport, October 2019) and on the findings of 2017-159, this work will aim to provide evidence-based advice to managers and industry on options to address any performance gaps or unintended and unwanted consequences, and the potential effects of any proposed interventions on the economic, social and environmental outcomes of ITQs as generally implemented in Australian fisheries. The scope of options will include industry-led private sector initiatives, as well as Government-led changes to management.
Plan
Capability and Capacity: Nuffield Australia Scholarships
The Nuffield Scholarship program relates to the 'People' section of FRDC's RD&E program, needed to attract and advance people who will lead fishing and aquaculture towards a sustainable and profitable future. The FRDC has taken a strong role in this area, facilitating access to leadership development for all sectors of fishing and aquaculture.
Unlike many capacity building programs that place focus on working within communities in their own environments, Nuffield Australia seeks to break the cycle of everyday life in primary production. The approach is to organise and facilitate international study tours that allow participants to break away from their normal routine and gain a global perspective on how other producers around the world operate their businesses and apply leadership in their industry.
A Nuffield Scholarship targets young primary producers who are already on the leading edge of production practices and technology uptake in their respective communities in Australia. The program is necessary to further enhance those individuals’ skills, elevate their status as role models and innovative leaders amongst their own broader community, thus having a ripple effect that goes far beyond their immediate participation.
Report
The Australian seafood industry has a long and proud history of employment of very sound environmental and economic management principles which have made it the envy of much of the world.
An altogether robust Australian seafood industry is hyper critical to the social and economic fabric of the coastal communities it supports, and it is vital this industry is maintained and – wherever possible – continually developed in a way which brings the best possible outcomes for all vested parties.
In an age of social media and 24-hour news cycles, it may be argued the Australian seafood industry and its general social licence to operate finds itself under increasing levels of attack. It is at times easy to consider there is more fearmongering than fishmongering occurring in this new age, and it is vital that the industry takes effective and collaborative steps to ensure that public perceptions pertaining to the industry are in line with the reality of the generally responsible way in which it operates.
The author visited nine countries as part of this research, including commercial fishing operations, aquaculture ventures, general agribusinesses, peak representative bodies, wholesalers, retailers, third-party certifiers and financial institutions in both developing and developed nations. The aim of the study was to understand the importance of maintenance of an industry’s social licence to operate, whilst considering consumer confidence, modern markets, investor confidence, key motivators, brand development, politically motivated policy settings and general public perception.
It is very clear that maintenance of an intangible, but critical, social licence to operate must be a key and ongoing consideration for any business, industry peak body, regulatory body, or other organisation. For an industry such as the Australian seafood industry - which relies absolutely on its right to access public resources - maintenance and development of public perceptions around the socially responsible nature of its operations is fundamental.
This report is in part an anthropological study generated from countless meetings, interviews, observations and individual and collective viewpoints. It aims to explore the concept of the social licence to operate (SLO), why it is important, how it can impact on a business or brand and steps which can be taken to ensure a business maintains it.
Project products
Security of resource access - what is legislative best practice for the commercial seafood industry?
Recfishwest attendance at the World Recreational Fishing Conference in July 2017
With an estimated 740,000 people enjoying recreational fishing in Western Australia every year the recreational fishing industry in WA is extremely important social and economic contributor to Western Australia.
The World Recreational Fishing Conference is being held in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada from July 16-20 2017. The conference unites the global recreational fishing community providing an essential forum to discuss current research. Held every three years, this is the only international conference focused solely on recreational fisheries.
The conference theme this year is : Balancing Values - The Future of Recreational Fishing around the World and key issues that will be addressed include:
1. Use and challenges of catch & release fisheries
2. Understanding angler behavior through human dimensions and economics research
3. Fishers driving fish habitat outcomes
4. Genetic and genomic applications towards improved management practices
5. Management strategies, policy development and governance
6. Integrating social-ecological systems for sustaining fisheries
7. Monitoring and assessment of fisheries
8. Social and economic values of fisheries
9. Citizen science
10. Adaptive environmental management of fisheries
11. Reconciling stocking, management and conservation
12. Engagement of fishers in the management process
13. Recreational fisheries as complex adaptive systems
14. The role of recreation in global fisheries
15. Managing wild stock fisheries under uncertainty
16. Expanding fisheries in economies in transition
17. Allocation issues in fisheries: recreational, commercial, aboriginal, subsistence, artisanal
Western Australia faces many of these issues and learning's from the conference will be directly transferable to Western Australia. This project supports the People Development Drivers, Challenges and opportunities outlined in section 2.2 of the WA Research Advisory Committee RD&E Plan. The objectives of this project also address every one of the FRDC's People Development Program priorities.
more information about the conference can be found at http://www. http:/wrfc8.com/