Project number: 2017-092
Project Status:
Completed
Budget expenditure: $507,438.75
Principal Investigator: Kate Barclay
Organisation: University of Technology Sydney (UTS)
Project start/end date: 28 Feb 2018 - 31 May 2022
Contact:
FRDC

Need

A study which measures the contribution of Victorian wild-catch and aquaculture fisheries to community wellbeing will meet multiple needs:

• Generate detailed, spatially-defined knowledge on the economic and social contributions of fisheries to community wellbeing, and elicit where contributions could be enhanced
• Inform government (local, state) of the importance of fisheries and likely impacts of policy or management decisions on regional and metropolitan communities
• Enhance community engagement and support for fisheries through demonstrating the benefits that flow from professional fishing and aquaculture sectors into communities

Audience: 1) industry representative organizations; 2) government; 3) general public. Currently, very little data exists about the economic and/or social benefits of professional fisheries to communities in Victoria. Existing data only calculate total value of production (beach/farm gate price x volume), and the number of business owners or fisheries employees identified in the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) Census. There is no reporting of the multiplier effects in communities of having businesses based there, through service industries or seafood product going into markets. The lack of sophisticated information about the contributions of professional fishing puts the industry as a group at a disadvantage compared to competing resource users which do have such reporting and have been persuasive in negotiations.

Information on social contributions dovetails with economic contributions to build a picture of the overall contributions fisheries make. This can help address the lack of community support for fisheries and consumer influence on the regulatory environment, which has grown to constitute a threat to the continued viability of fisheries. While information generated via this project will not fix the problem – relationships between industry and community must be improved via sustained, strategic engagement – credible data on the social and economic contributions commercial fisheries make to Victoria is useful for boosting the industry’s ‘social license to operate’.

Objectives

1. Evaluate the economic contribution of commercial wild-catch fisheries and aquaculture to community wellbeing for seven regions of Victoria, including the regional economic impacts such as multiplier effects and employment and contributions to related sectors within regions, building on previous Australian studies.
2. Evaluate the social contributions of commercial wild-catch fisheries and aquaculture to community wellbeing for the same regions, including the social aspects of economic contributions, food provision, health and nutrition, services and infrastructure, interactions with tourism, consumers, and recreational fishers, contributions to community identity and heritage, and knowledge networks, building on previous Australian studies.
3. Build on and refine a methodology to be used for ongoing social and economic evaluations of industry as part of FRDC national framework.
4. Disseminate findings, identifying the social and economic contributions of seafood production to community wellbeing for each study region, highlighting threats to sustainability and viability, as well as opportunities, in a form suitable for engaging: 1) local and state government agencies
and 2) the general public, to raise awareness of the role of professional wild-catch fisheries and aquaculture in Victorian communities.

Final report

ISBN: 978-0-9953662-5-1
Authors: Abernethy K. Barclay K. McIlgorm A. Gilmour P. McClean N. Davey J.
Final Report • 2020-06-29 • 6.04 MB
2017-092-DLD.pdf

Summary

This project provides the first evaluation of the social and economic contributions of wildcatch professional fisheries and aquaculture of Victoria to the communities in which the industries are located and to the entire state. This project was developed in consultation with the Victorian seafood industry who identified the need to communicate the economic value of their industry, inclusive of the economic contribution of businesses supplying or being supplied by seafood producers. In addition, there was no evaluation of the social benefits of the industry to Victoria.

Project products

Report • 2020-06-29 • 1.10 MB
2017-092-Appendix One.pdf

Summary

Appended Report to the FRDC project 2017-092: Victoria’s fisheries and aquaculture: economic and social contributions, University of Technology Sydney
Report • 2020-06-29 • 692.68 KB
2017-092-Appendix Two.pdf

Summary

The WRI report Economic impact of Victorian commercial fisheries and aquaculture.
Fact Sheet • 2020-06-29 • 523.51 KB
2017-092 Victoria's Fisheries and Aquaculture Factsheet.pdf

Summary

This fact sheet provides an overview of the economic and social contributions of professional fisheries and aquaculture in Victoria.
Fact Sheet • 2020-06-29 • 932.38 KB
2017-092 Victoria's Fareast Fisheries Factsheet.pdf

Summary

This fact sheet provides an overview of the economic and social contributions of professional fisheries the far east region of Victoria, which includes East Gippsland.
Fact Sheet • 2020-06-29 • 931.50 KB
2017-092 Victoria's Farwest Fisheries Factsheet.pdf

Summary

This fact sheet provides an overview of the economic and social contributions of professional fisheries the far west region of Victoria, which includes Warrnambool, Port Fairy and Portland.

Fact Sheet • 2020-06-29 • 717.89 KB
2017-092 Victoria's Neareast Fisheries Factsheet.pdf

Summary

This fact sheet provides an overview of the economic and social contributions of professional fisheries the near east region of Victoria includes communities on the Mornington Peninsula and the Gippsland communities of San Remo and Corner Inlet.

Fact Sheet • 2020-06-29 • 878.30 KB
2017-092 Victoria's Nearwest Fisheries Factsheet.pdf

Summary

This fact sheet provides an overview of the economic and social contributions of professional fisheries the near west region of Victoria includes communities along the Great Ocean Rd, the Surf Coast and the Bellarine Peninsula.

Brochure • 2020-07-27 • 727.26 KB
2017-092 Victoria's Fisheries and Aquaculture Summary_web_FA.pdf

Summary

This brochure summarises the economic and social contributions of professional fisheries and aquaculture in Victoria.
Brochure • 2020-07-27 • 299.89 KB
2017-092 Victoria's Nearwest Fisheries Summary_web_FA.pdf

Summary

This brochure summarises the economic and social contributions of professional fisheries in the near west region of Victoria.

Brochure • 2020-07-27 • 371.81 KB
2017-092 Victoria's Neareast Fisheries Summary_web_FA.pdf

Summary

This brochure summarises the economic and social contributions of professional fisheries the near east region of Victoria.

Brochure • 2020-07-27 • 417.28 KB
2017-092 Victoria's Farwest Fisheries Summary_web_FA.pdf

Summary

This brochure summarises the economic and social contributions of professional fisheries the far west region of Victoria.

Brochure • 2020-07-27 • 419.12 KB
2017-092 Victoria's Fareast Fisheries Summary_web_FA.pdf

Summary

This brochure summarises the economic and social contributions of professional fisheries the far east region of Victoria.

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