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People Development Program: 2014 International Travel Award - Kate Brooks

Project number: 2008-314.41
Project Status:
Completed
Budget expenditure: $6,000.00
Principal Investigator: Kate J. Brooks
Organisation: KAL Analysis
Project start/end date: 29 May 2014 - 30 Dec 2014
Contact:
FRDC

Need

The practical integration of social and economic elements in assessments is important in Australia, and is also an international challenge. Recent research in Australia (2010/040 and the Integrated EBFM workshop held in March 2014) which contributes to developing this field should be shared internationally and used to leverage further knowledge. To this end, the applicant is recognised as one of the leads in this field in Australia and accordingly can bring benefit from developing further aligned international connections. There are events occurring in September and October 2014, being two sessions at the ICES conference and a workshop in Canada with the CFRN that provide unique opportunities to progress the development of integrated EBFM methodologies.

To maximise progress in this domain, it is necessary to draw together as many sources of knowledge and experience as possible. Consequently, participation in the activities proposed here and through the development of the Community Of Practice by the CFRN, FRDC and Australia's exposure will be increased to new and emerging approaches that can address the current integration challenge, while also profiling the already significant progress we have made in Australia.

Objectives

1. To present Australia's activities and developments in the areas of social and economic assessment and integration into ecosystem (based fisheries management ) assessments in Europe (ICES) and Canada (CFRN)
2. To participate in the development of an international Community of Practice on the integration of applied social science and natural science methods for fisheries and integrated coastal marine planning.
3. To develop additional international collaborations with other researchers in the area of social and economic assessment integration into ecological management systems.
4. Review the Canadian Fisheries Research Network framework for its applicability to the Australian context.
Industry

Investigating drivers of environmental change in Pipe Clay Lagoon

Project number: 2023-176
Project Status:
Current
Budget expenditure: $38,400.00
Principal Investigator: Carryn Manicom
Organisation: Marine Solutions Tasmania Pty Ltd
Project start/end date: 15 Sep 2024 - 29 Jun 2025
Contact:
FRDC

Need

Coastal lagoon systems in Tasmania form a fundamental part of coastal ecosystems. Healthy lagoons support local biodiversity, and play a key role in nutrient cycling and flood protection. They provide opportunities for sustainable aquaculture, fishing and tourism, while also being appreciated for their recreational amenity and cultural values. Sustainable management of coastal lagoons is essential to environmental and socioeconomic development.

There is limited information about the ecosystem drivers that are influencing the changes being observed in Pipe Clay Lagoon, leading to knowledge gaps in decision making tools and monitoring strategies required to identify and mitigate these changes. The proposed application is a multifaceted approach to investigate the environmental drivers of change in Pipe Clay Lagoon. The findings can then be used to provide valuable guidance for the management and conservation of other coastal lagoons in Tasmania facing similar challenges, providing a model for proactive monitoring and ongoing sustainability.

The FRDC has a responsibility to ensure that research is undertaken to assist in the management of fisheries and aquaculture resources for ongoing sustainability. The changes being experienced in Pipe Clay Lagoon will have implications on the availability and suitability of the lagoon as a sustainable aquaculture site. The planned approach and objectives of the application align with the FRDC’s R&D Plan for 2020-2025 through:

- Building people's capacity and capability
- Ensuring that resulting knowledge and innovation is adopted for impact through awareness of the needs of the ‘adopter’, local context and effective networking
- Continual improvement and collaboration of industry and community to deliver competitive advantage, healthier ecosystems and community support
- Provision of foundational information

Equally and importantly the application aligns with the NRM Strategy for Southern Tasmania 2030 for Pipe Clay Lagoon and similar systems in that wetland health is improved for socio-economically important systems by working with key partners and encouraging investment in monitoring, land and water management practices and on-ground works.
The enthusiasm of those engaged in the stakeholder consultation process was a strong indication of the need, interest and urgency of the application.

Objectives

1. Characterise and quantify environmental changes in Pipe Clay Lagoon, providing an evidence base for anecdotal observations of change.
2. Understand the drivers and interactions behind observed environmental changes in Pipe Clay Lagoon.
3. Identify management mechanisms to safeguard the values of Pipe Clay Lagoon and other Tasmanian coastal lagoons, including sustainability of the aquaculture industry.
4. Capacity building and increased marine literacy within community and industry to help observe and report change.
5. The applicant would welcome feedback and suggestions from FRDC and/or key beneficiaries for additional objectives.

Benchmarking Australia's small pelagic fisheries science against world's best practice

Project number: 2013-063
Project Status:
Completed
Budget expenditure: $75,000.00
Principal Investigator: Timothy M. Ward
Organisation: South Australian Aquatic Sciences Institute
Project start/end date: 30 Apr 2014 - 27 Feb 2015
Contact:
FRDC

Need

This project is needed to address concerns expressed by stakeholder groups and the broader Australian community during the recent "super-trawler debate" that the current assessment and management framework for the SPF may have technical deficiencies and not be consistent with world's best practice.

This project is also needed because these concerns have the potential to undermine stakeholder and community confidence in other Australian fisheries for small pelagic fishes, such as the SASF.

A technical workshop is needed because it will provide an efficient and transparent process by which to benchmark the research and management frameworks of Australia's fisheries for small pelagic species against world's best practice and to identify opportunities for improving current approaches.

A stakeholder forum is needed to provide key stakeholders and the broader community with the opportunity and information required to objectively assess how Australia's fisheries for small pelagic species compare to other fisheries worldwide. This forum is a critical first step towards re-establishing stakeholder and public confidence in the assessment and management framework for the SPF. It is also needed to help maintain a social license to operate for other Australian fisheries for small pelagic species, such as the SASF.

Issues that have been identified as matters of particular stakeholder and public concern and that need to be addressed in both the technical workshop and stakeholder forum include:
1) options for increasing the reliability of estimates of spawning biomass obtained using the Daily Egg Production Method (DEPM);
2) opportunities to further reduce operational interactions with threatened, endangered and protected species;
3) potential for improving current approaches to assessment and mitigation of potential trophic effects on other components of the ecosystem;
4) innovative methods for reducing possible impacts of localised depletion on predatory species and other (especially recreational) fisheries that target small pelagic fishes.

Objectives

1. Benchmark the research and management frameworks for Australia's fisheries for small pelagic fishes against world's best practice and identify opportunities for improvement
2. Provide the Australian community with the opportunity and information required to objectively assess how Australia's fisheries for small pelagic species compare to other fisheries worldwide
People

Identifying and synthesizing key messages from projects funded by the FRDC Indigenous Reference Group

Project number: 2018-183
Project Status:
Completed
Budget expenditure: $167,738.00
Principal Investigator: Leila Alkassab
Organisation: Land to Sea Consulting
Project start/end date: 31 Aug 2019 - 8 Mar 2020
Contact:
FRDC

Need

The IRG has raised a need to synthesise the key messages from previous projects that they have supported. In order to ensure that the data and information from these projects are accessible and easily understood for various audiences (includes Indigenous, commercial and recreational stakeholders, researchers, policy makers and the general public), the IRG has identified a need to create succinct materials that can be useful to those that seek to develop policy and stimulate community driven engagement.

Objectives

1. To gain an understanding of the materials and formats that policy-makers and key fisheries organizations need in their utilization of research to develop policy.
2. To improve general stakeholder awareness of the key research findings in of FRDC and IRG projects.
3. To provide Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities with material that they can use in their engagement with government and non-government agencies.
4. To develop a succinct fact-sheets and a report that integrate the key messages of eight previous IRG projects in a user-friendly and culturally appropriate way.

Final report

ISBN: 978-0-646-82309-6
Author: Leila Alkassab
Final Report • 2020-08-01 • 492.72 KB
2018-183-DLD.pdf

Summary

What the report is about
This project identifies, synthesises and summarises the key messages of eight projects that have been funded by the Fisheries Research and Development Corporation (FRDC) and the Indigenous Reference Group (IRG) on fisheries. These key messages have been presented through a series of materials including a synthesis report, summary booklets and an infographic, all of which were developed as a way of raising awareness of the latest research findings regarding the Indigenous fisheries in Australia. They are presented in a manner that is useful and accessible to a wide-range of audiences including Indigenous communities, decision makers and other fisheries stakeholders.
The materials have specifically developed with the aim of empowering Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities by providing them with resources that they can use to engage government and non-government agencies. This project also involved a two-way learning component which entailed engaging an Indigenous student as a researcher for the duration of this project.
Background
In 2011 the Fisheries Research and Development Corporation (FRDC) and the Indigenous Reference Group (IRG) on fisheries held a national forum to discuss issues around Indigenous involvement in fishing and seafood based Research, Development and Extension (RD&E). Participants at the forum included Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people with experience or expertise in fishing, seafood, or natural resource management across Australia as well as a small number of non-Indigenous participants (Calogeras et al. 2012). In 2012, participants from the forum reviewed and endorsed the work and confirmed that the outputs and the outcomes aligned with the desires of the group. Through this process, the IRG developed a set of five priorities to guide RD&E for and about Indigenous fishing in Australia (Calogeras et al. 2012).
The FRDC-IRG have supported a number of projects focused on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander fisheries that focus on elements of the RD&E priorities (Calogeras et al. 2012). These projects have information that the IRG needs to communicate with Indigenous, commercial and recreational stakeholders, researchers, policy makers, agencies and the general public. Their findings bridge certain knowledge gaps about the Indigenous fisheries and highlight key issues and priorities of Indigenous fishing communities in terms of access and use of their fisheries.
Aims/objectives
This project was undertaken in response to the need identified by the IRG to ensure that the research findings from the previous eight projects are made accessible and easy to understand. The project consisted of the following objectives:
  1. To gain an understanding of the materials and formats that policy makers and key fisheries organisations need in their use of research to develop policy.
  2. To improve general stakeholder awareness of the key research findings in of FRDC and IRG projects.
  3. To provide Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities with material that they can use in their engagement with government and non-government agencies.
  4. To develop succinct fact-sheets and a report that integrate the key messages of eight previous IRG projects in a user-friendly and culturally appropriate way.
Methodology
The project team conducted a desk-top review of eight project reports, their appendices, conducted phone meetings with the principle investigators of each project and liaised with the IRG. Project materials were subsequently developed with the use of qualitative data analysis software NVIVO and designed through Canva, a graphic design program.
Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander artwork was used for the materials produced and where appropriate the artist engaged was from the region that the original project was for or about. An Indigenous student was also recruited as an employee of Land to Sea Consulting for the purposes of two-way capacity building.
Results/key findings
The project findings echo the key messages drawn from the eight recent FRDC-IRG projects that took place on country through participatory and ethical research methodologies. The five themes identified provide an insight into Indigenous priorities for:
  1. Indigenous fisheries
  2. Governance and management
  3. Legislation and policy
  4. Economic empowerment
  5. Capacity building
These five themes have been developed as a way of understanding the key messages of recent FRDC-IRG research and for providing a step forward in offering fisheries stakeholders with in-depth insights into the challenges and opportunities facing the Indigenous fisheries sector. They support and align with the IRG RD&E principles and priorities while emphasising the particular findings and core assertions of the research projects analysed.
Implications for relevant stakeholders
The significance of this project lies in the materials created to communicate with Indigenous communities, fisheries managers, policy makers and other stakeholders involved in the Australian fisheries. They are short, easy-to-read and accessible versions of eight comprehensive research projects and clearly summarise their findings and synthesise their key messages.
The also provide Indigenous communities with material that they can use to engage decision makers. For policy makers and managers, they provide a synthesised and summarised version of recent research bout Indigenous fisheries from which proactive policy can be built and based upon.
Recommendations
The five key messages that have been created through the synthesis of the FRDC-IRG projects have come to shape the very core of this project. Therefore, it is ultimately inevitable that these are the same messages that must embody the recommendations of this project. They are particularly aimed at policy makers and the direction for further development in the Indigenous fisheries sector.

Project products

Brochure • 2020-08-01 • 33.17 MB
2018-183-synthesis report.pdf

Summary

Indigenous communities in Australia have utilised, shared and traded marine resources since time immemorial. These communities continue to hold strong connections and knowledge to aquatic ecosystems and biological resources, and fishing remains embedded in their cultural, social and economic lives.
Since the early stages of colonisation, the ability of Indigenous fishing communities to access their fisheries for both cultural and commercial purposes has been disrupted by external factors, including the policies and practices of the Australian state. In recent history international agreements have been put in place to protect Indigenous rights to access and manage their fisheries worldwide. The Australian government has an obligation to ensure the protection of Indigenous peoples access to their land and sea. Yet there still remains a gap in the aspirations of Indigenous community for their fisheries and formal fisheries management arrangements.
Presently, the Commonwealth, States and Territories define and recognise Indigenous fisheries through different legislation, policy and practices. In turn, there is an identified need for a comprehensive set of national principles to guide the development, implementation and monitoring of Indigenous fisheries policy across all jurisdictions.
The key messages that have been identified through the findings of recent FRDC-IRG research projects present opportunities for various levels of government to proactively assist and support Indigenous fishing communities to access and utilise their fisheries in ways that align with Indigenous aspirations.
Communities
PROJECT NUMBER • 2012-300
PROJECT STATUS:
COMPLETED

Social Science Research Coordination Program (SSRCP) II

This report summarises the key activities of the Social Sciences and Research Coordination Program II (SSRCP II), which was implemented in 2012 and concluded in 2015. It focuses on the key objectives of the Program, achievements and recommendations for future iterations of this type of Program, or...
ORGANISATION:
KAL Analysis
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