Integrating social objectives and indicators for Australian fisheries management

Sustainability and economic efficiency are well established and defined objectives in Australian fisheries management. Many Australian States and Territories include some reference to social considerations in their fisheries legislation, but this is poorly defined and has little direct influence on policy formulation. From the literature, many fisheries social objectives are difficult to quantify, and performance measures against these objectives have either not been clarified or are difficult to assess at broad level scales. In 2010, a project was initiated to determine a nationally applicable set of social objectives and associated indicators for Australian fisheries management. Quantitative indicators were developed, and an overall performance measure was developed using a Bayesian belief network approach. In this paper, the approach undertaken to develop, quantify and assess social objectives and the performance of management against these objectives is presented. This method allows clear social objectives to be utilized and an integrated assessment of them undertaken in line with economic and biological sustainability objectives

Social objectives of fisheries management: What are managers' priorities?

Increasingly, social considerations are having an influence on fisheries policy as well as day-to-day management decision making. Social objectives, unlike economic or conservation objectives, are often poorly defined in fisheries policy, providing substantial leeway for managers to develop management plans in response to the perceived importance of different social outcomes, and potential inconsistencies between different fisheries and jurisdictions. In this paper, through a literature review and workshop with managers across different Australian jurisdictions, we develop a set of social objectives that may be applicable in Australian fisheries. We assess the importance of these different objectives using the Analytic Hierarchy Process, and find considerable diversity in opinion as to which social objectives fisheries management should prioritise to achieve. This diversity of opinion is not directly related to jurisdiction, but does seem related to the context and social environment in which fisheries managers are operating

Selecting and assessing social objectives for Australian fisheries management

This paper details Australian research that developed tools to assist fisheries managers and government agencies in engaging with the social dimension of industry and community welfare in fisheries management. These tools are in the form of objectives and indicators. These highlight the social dimensions and the effects of management plans and policy implementation on fishing industries and associated communities, while also taking into account the primacy of ecological imperatives. The deployment of these objectives and indicators initially provides a benchmark and, over the life of a management plan, can subsequently be used to identify trends in effects on a variety of social and economic elements that may be objectives in the management of a fishery. It is acknowledged that the degree to which factors can be monitored will be dependent upon resources of management agencies, however these frameworks provide a method for effectively monitoring and measuring change in the social dimension of fisheries management.Essentially, the work discussed in this paper provides fisheries management with the means to both track and begin to understand the effects of government policy and management plans on the social dimension of the fishing industry and its associated communities. Such tools allow the consideration of these elements, within an evidence base, into policy arrangements, and consequently provide an invaluable contribution to the ability to address resilience and sustainability of fishing industries and associated communities