Chaired by: Kelly, R. & Mackey, M.
Panel introduction
Involvement of the social sciences in marine management efforts is increasing, with great potential to advise and increase management success. Exploitation, conservation, and user conflict in multi-use marine areas are some of the of issues apparent at the fore of the marine socio-ecological research agenda. Our snapshot of exciting research brings together multiple components that can inform and contribute to this development of effective marine management, and which we hope can provoke interesting and inspiring discussion with our colleagues at the MARE Conference. Within this session, we will:
- Deliver novel and compelling research on social licence, support, and conflict in marine spaces.
- Present specific case studies, including management preferences of local stakeholders, a social network analysis of stakeholders involved in turtle conservation, and the role of media in marine environmental conflict, and
- Outline prospective thinking for effective participatory processes and marine management.
Regional Fisheries Management Organizations and developing best practice
Bianca Haas, Marcus Haward, Jeffrey McGee & Aysha Fleming
Regional Fisheries Management Organizations are key bodies responsible for managing fisheries on the high seas and in areas under national jurisdiction and are essential to achieve Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 14, ‘Life below water’ SDG Goal 14 addresses the sustainable use and conservation of the oceans and marine resources and is highly linked to other goals, such as poverty reduction (SDG 1) or zero hunger (SDG 2). While millions of people rely on oceans and marine resources for food, income, and well-being, concerns over overfishing (fishing above sustainable levels) have, however, led to criticism of the performance of Regional Fisheries Management Organizations. Performance Reviews provide one possibility to assess and improve the functioning of the organizations, discuss and assess current management approaches, and increase awareness of important issues such as climate change. These assessments emphasize best practices among fisheries management organizations, foster cooperation among them, and have considerable potential to positively influence management processes. Performance assessments can be an important tool to improve not only the performance of the fisheries sector but can also play a relevant role in enhancing ocean governance in terms of the aspirations established by SDG14.
Social licence for marine protected areas
Rachel Kelly
Protected areas are considered one of the most important and valuable tools for conserving biodiversity and protecting natural habitats. Despite increasing evidence on the benefits of marine protected areas (MPAs) for biodiversity conservation and improving socio-economic conditions for local communities, designation and governance of MPAs has proved problematic. Understanding and improving social licence for marine protected areas is expected to reduce conflict and contestation and improve likelihood of MPA ‘success’. Social licence is a concept that reflects community views and expectations on the use and management of natural resources, including the ocean. This presentation will outline the role social licence can play in improving MPA governance and management capacities, using Tasmania, Australia as a case-study. In 2014, as a result of historical opposition and a lack of social licence for MPAs, the Tasmanian State Government issued a moratorium on MPAs. We apply both qualitative and quantitative research methods (including interviews and Q-method) to understand the current status of social licence for MPAs in Tasmania. We identify causes and events and which resulted in a lack of social licence and discuss how social licence for MPAs can be created and improved, aiming to further current understanding of social acceptance and support for marine conservation initiatives (e.g. marine spatial planning, co-management approaches) globally elsewhere.
A Fiduciary Model for Citizen Participation in Marine Space Decision-Making
Lisa Uffman-Kirsch
Conflicts over government decisions on marine space activities are common and geographically widespread. My research focuses on the official decisions reached about marine space projects and the methods utilized to reach them. It considers governmental institutions functioning as fiduciary agent trustees under a public trust model of ocean governance. Legal recognition of marine space as an asset of the public trust corpus, held in common by humankind as trust beneficiaries, can have significant effects in marine project decision-making processes. The model envisions a legal framework encompassing governmental duties of care. I propose one of these procedural duties is upholding a right of participatory consent by stakeholder beneficiaries before reaching decisions with significant risk of breaching duties of care designed to prevent detrimental effect on the marine space and its natural resources. Introduced is a preliminary rubric for decision-making protocol that includes the principle of Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC). The protocol differentiates between stakeholders having a voice and having a say. I hypothesize that embedding degrees of participatory consent into official approval procedures for marine-based activities provides a template for reduced conflict and mutually beneficial, socially-licensed relationships between stakeholders. To test this hypothesis, preliminary results of empirical research with diverse stakeholders in two marine development industries—aquaculture in Tasmania, Australia and Nova Scotia, Canada, along with proposed offshore oil and gas drilling in proximity to Nova Scotia, Canada—will explore whether a positive relationship exists between levels of social license in diverse marine stakeholder relationships and the government decision-making processes utilized. Included is an early overview of potential for and benefits of legal reform in ocean governance.
Limits of participation and rethinking representation in participatory processes
Maree Fudge
As uses of the marine environment multiple, and set to further expand under ‘Blue Economy’, the problems of sharing access and balancing economic with civil or commons marine values and of implementing integrated marine management are also set to increase. For governments and industries seeking to negotiate access to marine estates and negotiate differing, sometimes seemingly irreconcilable marine values and interests, civil and ‘stakeholder’ participation in both planning and implementation and monitoring has become a largely settled norm and practice. Benefits promised from participatory processes include the reduction of conflict between sectors or industries and communities (including the so-called ‘social license to operate’), social learning and adaptation to new conditions and increased democratic legitimacy. In practice, however, participatory processes continue to present institutional challenges and deliver questionable democratic legitimacy outcomes. Through analysis of two case studies, one Australia and one Canadian, of efforts at participatory marine governance, I will introduce three ‘conditions’ for democratic legitimacy. These conditions, from classical political representation theory, have been reconceptualised to serve the participatory turn in marine governance. I then propose that the ‘conditions’ provide useful insights into the democratic legitimacy of participatory processes, assess the limits of such processes and introduce fruitful ways to think about institutional responses for policy makers, industry actors and civil society actors.
