Common Approach To Greenhouse Gas Accounting; Platform – Build 1 (AIA Environmental Accounting Platform)
Funder
Fisheries Research and Development Corporation
Funding Amount
$370,000.00
Summary
AIA is in active conversations with a private sector consortium. These discussions continue to validate AIA’s approach and solution design. They see clear efficiencies in bringing the RDCs’ commodity-specific carbon research and knowledge together and want to be able to include this type of carbon footprint solution in their own client service offerings.
They are concerned about growers’ lack of preparedness to respond to increasing pressures around demonstrating their carbon footp ....AIA is in active conversations with a private sector consortium. These discussions continue to validate AIA’s approach and solution design. They see clear efficiencies in bringing the RDCs’ commodity-specific carbon research and knowledge together and want to be able to include this type of carbon footprint solution in their own client service offerings.
They are concerned about growers’ lack of preparedness to respond to increasing pressures around demonstrating their carbon footprint and have confidence in a not-for-profit company like AIA housing the solution and being trusted by growers.
There is acknowledgement that Australia is in a prime position to get this right from the start and avoid the duplication and fragmentation that other countries are now facing.
There were 13 RDCs participating in this phase, involving over 120 interviews across multiple commodities/sectors. Insights gathered include: • Many growers are operating mixed enterprises or are keeping that option open to manage risk into the future. • Concerns include market access, social license, environmental impact. • Most see a level of reporting required in the near-to-medium future, related to pressure from supply chains, finance or insurance sectors. • They want the ability to understand and make decisions for their enterprises before regulatory or supply chain pressures intensify. • Recognition of the need to bring all commodity calculators into one, consistent platform.
These insights speak to the growing importance of and need for the solution approach that AIA is taking.
A Discovery Insights Report, including a specific fishing and aquaculture report, was provide to FRDC in May 2023. Objectives: 1. To develop core infrastructure, being the digital infrastructure required for the initial integration and digitisation of calculators for access and use through the platform 2. To access calculators through the Platform updates recommended by the Technical Advisory Panel and approved by the Governance Group 3. To maintain the Platform to September 2024. 4. To supply resources to support communication of the Platform with FRDC levy payers 5. To integrate with Olrac, Deckhand, Catchlog and an aquaculture farm management software provider Read moreRead less
TNFD (Taskforce For Nature Related Financial Disclosure) - "Blue TNFD Pilot" - Three Case Studies Applying The TNFD Nature Related Risk And Opportunity Management And Disclosure Framework To Commercial Fisheries: Austral Fisheries, Western Rock Lobster Council (WRL) And Spencer Gulf And West Coast Fishermen’s Association (Spencer Gulf Prawns)
Funder
Fisheries Research and Development Corporation
Funding Amount
$138,700.00
Summary
Commercial in confidence. To know more about this project please contact FRDC. Objectives: Commercial in confidence
Attendance And Participation At The Governing Changing Oceans Workshop And PICES-5th International Symposium On The Effects Of Climate Change On The World’s Ocean - Bergen Norway
Funder
Fisheries Research and Development Corporation
Funding Amount
$15,000.00
Summary
Workshop: The workshop is being hosted Tiffany Morrison, Pip Cohen, Gretta Pecl and Emily Ogier. Their approach is to bring together a small group of exceptional multi-disciplinary researchers and practitioners with expertise in governance, fisheries, climate science, blue carbon, blue finance, blue conservation, Indigenous governance, co-management, and community resilience. It is our aim that discussions will be focused towards producing a jointly authored paper targeted at Nature or Science, ....Workshop: The workshop is being hosted Tiffany Morrison, Pip Cohen, Gretta Pecl and Emily Ogier. Their approach is to bring together a small group of exceptional multi-disciplinary researchers and practitioners with expertise in governance, fisheries, climate science, blue carbon, blue finance, blue conservation, Indigenous governance, co-management, and community resilience. It is our aim that discussions will be focused towards producing a jointly authored paper targeted at Nature or Science, complemented by a marine intervention governance protocol and self-assessment tool.
Similarly the ECCWO5 symposium will bring together experts from around the world to better understand climate impacts on ocean ecosystems, the ecosystem services they provide, and the people, businesses and communities that depend on them. The 2023 event will highlight the latest information on how oceans are changing, what is at risk, responses that are underway, and strategies for increasing climate resilience, mitigation and adaptation. It aims to identify key knowledge gaps, promote collaborations, and stimulate the next generation of science and actions.Read moreRead less
The need for this project is to activate and engage industry in viable options towards climate resilience by 2030. This includes the need to demonstrate that immediate options exist and are viable and meaningful, while also gaining support for a clear plan to transform the industry and supply chain with support both internally and beyond the sector. The key needs are:
01 | Industry awareness of the problems and solutions around climate change and resilience is below where it needs to be ....The need for this project is to activate and engage industry in viable options towards climate resilience by 2030. This includes the need to demonstrate that immediate options exist and are viable and meaningful, while also gaining support for a clear plan to transform the industry and supply chain with support both internally and beyond the sector. The key needs are:
01 | Industry awareness of the problems and solutions around climate change and resilience is below where it needs to be to activate broad transformation. There is little action towards climate resilience (1 player) in comparison to other agricultural sectors.
02 | There will be increasing competition within the protein market to validate and promote sustainable practices and positive contributions to the environment/climate.
03 | Leaders and innovators in the industry are attempting to act in isolation with few resources to support industry and supply chain coordination and acceleration.
04 | Change around the edges that can be achieved by some stakeholders operating alone will not deliver the transformation at a scale or pace that is required to meet growing and broadly felt consumer expectations that indicate demonstrable action on climate change.
05 | There is a surplus of tools, resources and research around climate change and resilience, but to this point, little of that work has been translated into forms fishers find usable and valuable.
06 | There is a need to identify early adopters and innovators in the space to lead new ways operating into the future.
07 | There is an FRDC funded project to undertake a Lifecycle Assessment being concluded early November. This work has been preliminarily identified fuel, transport, and refrigeration as key challenges requiring new solutions/opportunities for industry.
08 | Propulsion and fuel have been identified as key challenges in wild catch fisheries achieving climate resilience and reducing carbon emissions, and will be the focus of this project. Objectives: 1. To understand challenges facing the commercial wild-harvest sector relating to a changing climate 2. To determine opportunities to respond to those challenges, and validate solutions 3. To engage with industry leaders and innovators to explore and validate viable, feasible and scalable options towards climate resilience 4. To demonstrate rapid and practical progress towards climate resilience and elements of SIA’s Our Pledge 5. To build partnerships and relationships with global leaders to enable advancement of prioritised solutions that will enable improved climate resilience Read moreRead less
Managing Ecosystem Interactions Across Differing Environments: Building Flexibility And Risk Assurance Into Environmental Management Strategies
Funder
Fisheries Research and Development Corporation
Funding Amount
$1,078,729.00
Summary
This project addresses FRDC program 1 (Environment) priority 23. In order to double production by 2030 the Salmon industry in Tasmania must consider alternate production approaches and expansion into new areas. However, maintaining high environmental performance (a priority for both the industry and its regulators) requires an understanding of how farming in new areas might change environmental interactions. In order to ensure that management remains best practice, and farms continue to be ....This project addresses FRDC program 1 (Environment) priority 23. In order to double production by 2030 the Salmon industry in Tasmania must consider alternate production approaches and expansion into new areas. However, maintaining high environmental performance (a priority for both the industry and its regulators) requires an understanding of how farming in new areas might change environmental interactions. In order to ensure that management remains best practice, and farms continue to be efficient and sustainable, assessment of the local scale impact/ recovery dynamics and potential interactions with other resource users is required in newly developed farming environments and under different farming technologies. In addition understanding how farms interact with the various processes and ecosystems in the water-bodies where they occur and the various scales for those interactions (local, medium and broad-scale) will provide an important basis for establishing an effective strategy for system-wide management, including management of interactions with other users of the water-bodies. It is clear from discussions with various resource users (i.e. fish farmers and commercial and recreational fishers) that the perception of potential risks differs between Macquarie Harbour and the southern farming regions. In Macquarie Harbour a critical issue is whether the current on-farm monitoring (and local scale impact indicators are “fit for purpose” i.e. do they support sustainable management by providing an accurate understanding of sediment conditions. Whilst in the new farming areas in the southern regions (Lower Channel/ Storm Bay), although establishing the effectiveness of the local scale monitoring is important, the key concern is whether there may be adverse effects on reef health (i.e. off-site interactions) as a result of increased aquaculture activities. Therefore a key element of this study will be to provide a better assessment of the potential risk to reef systems from sediment deposition and nutrient dispersion from fish farms directly. Objectives: 1. Establish key recovery response principles and benthic condition criteria for all areas in which farming currently occurs – building on existing understanding to identify both generic and regionally specific performance criteria 2. Improve our understanding of sediment process interactions and recovery responses, in order to ensure that monitoring and management strategies are optimised for each growing region – a key objective will be relating the findings to the most important ecological and resource interactions of salmon farming in each region. 3. To evaluate the potential for interactions between local reef systems and salmon farming – determining the main risk factors, recommending risk appropriate monitoring and assessment approaches and identifying risk mitigation strategies where relevant. 4. To improve our understanding of how local scale (site based) environmental condition data, can integrate with local scale modelling to improve management outcomes – a key goal will be identifying how local scale understanding of sediment processes and benthic pelagic interactions can inform and be informed by regional modelling and management approaches. Read moreRead less
Despite legislation requiring that the preservation of saltmarshes be considered prior to developments that could harm their ecological integrity, saltmarshes continue to be destroyed and altered. Part of the rationale for encouraging the conservation of saltmarshes has been their assumed importance as fish habitat, especially for juveniles of economically important species (Hyland & Butler 1989). This role needs demonstrating, with a view to strengthening demands that saltmarsh habitat be ret ....Despite legislation requiring that the preservation of saltmarshes be considered prior to developments that could harm their ecological integrity, saltmarshes continue to be destroyed and altered. Part of the rationale for encouraging the conservation of saltmarshes has been their assumed importance as fish habitat, especially for juveniles of economically important species (Hyland & Butler 1989). This role needs demonstrating, with a view to strengthening demands that saltmarsh habitat be retained in the face of increasing urbanisation.
Apart from direct loss of saltmarshes through urban development in southeast Qld and northern NSW, several other human activities are destroying or degrading saltmarshes. Anthropogenic changes to saltmarshes can result in loss of vegetation through changes in drainage regimes and salinity levels (Ruiz et al. 1993). While maps have been produced showing loss of saltmarshes in subtropical Australia (Hyland & Butler 1989), loss of vegetation from extant marshes has not been catalogued, despite the massive changes in drainage regimes, modification of marshes to control mosquitoes, grazing by stock, and use of marshes by off-road vehicles.
Debate about the role of vegetation in structuring fish communities of intertidal and subtidal habitats other than saltmarshes has been based on numerous comparisons of vegetated and unvegetated habitats (eg. in seagrass meadows, Connolly (1994b,c) and mangroves). In these habitats vegetated areas tend to have higher abundances and greater species richness. No attempt has been made in Australia to consider the role of vegetation in determining fish abundances on saltmarshes.
This proposal takes the first step towards determining the importance of saltmarsh habitat to fisheries by examining whether fish directly use inundated saltmarsh flats and whether vegetation plays a role in determining how many fish go there. Objectives: 1. To determine which fish species, in what abundance, directly use saltmarsh flats in subtropical east coast waters 2. To compare the use by fish of vegetated (saltcouch) and unvegetated (saltpan) habitats on the marsh flats 3. To make clear recommendations to managers of fisheries and the environment about the impacts on fisheries of human activities affecting saltmarsh habitat, and advise on the direction of future research Read moreRead less
Know & Show Your Carbon Footprint - Discovery Phase
Funder
Fisheries Research and Development Corporation
Funding Amount
$35,000.00
Summary
This project will be an initial discovery phase to inform scoping of overall approach.
Deliverables include: Consultation across fishing and aquaculture stakeholders at least 38 key fishing and aquaculture stakeholders. • Identification of the functional and non-functional requirements to create K&S functionality for the included sectors. • Identification of the data and modelling requirements to create K&S module/functionality for the included sectors. • Assessment ....This project will be an initial discovery phase to inform scoping of overall approach.
Deliverables include: Consultation across fishing and aquaculture stakeholders at least 38 key fishing and aquaculture stakeholders. • Identification of the functional and non-functional requirements to create K&S functionality for the included sectors. • Identification of the data and modelling requirements to create K&S module/functionality for the included sectors. • Assessment of any current solutions/calculators provided relative to the market requirement. • Evaluate current reference and benchmarking data versus what is required to support accurate, automated carbon accounting, and, ultimately inform decision-making that enables productivity whilst reducing carbon emissions. • Understand the gap between knowing your carbon footprint and being able to make informed decisions that lead to reductions in emissions. • Identification of the data and modelling requirements to create a module and/or functionality for the included sectors. • Identification of the missing calculators, features, functionality and underlying data and research required to enable all sectors to participate and benefit from the platform. • Documented solution design for creation of functionality identified during discovery for addition to the core infrastructure. • Report detailing the results of the carbon footprint calculation drivers / needs / existing knowledge, tools & data, gap analysis, and solution design. This will inform the Contributor and AIA in respect of further investment in the K&S solution.
Objectives: 1. Complete discovery phase to inform scoping of 'Know & Show', for consideration Read moreRead less
Capability & Capacity: 2024 Electric & Hybrid Marine Expo North America And Conference
Funder
Fisheries Research and Development Corporation
Funding Amount
$100,000.00
Summary
Providing opportunities for fishing and aquaculture stakeholders to engage with the latest global information and technology, learn and network from leaders, innovators and practitioners in the electric and hybrid marine space is key to enabling innovation and adoption. Participants will experience and engage with technology, approaches and people via the expo and conference program.
Through attending, participants will build their capabilities and share knowledge with peers/stakeholde ....Providing opportunities for fishing and aquaculture stakeholders to engage with the latest global information and technology, learn and network from leaders, innovators and practitioners in the electric and hybrid marine space is key to enabling innovation and adoption. Participants will experience and engage with technology, approaches and people via the expo and conference program.
Through attending, participants will build their capabilities and share knowledge with peers/stakeholders to inform, enable and drive change in Australia. The project intends to maintain momentum through this investment, empowering stakeholders to communicate and extend their experiences to contextualise opportunities for Australia and encourage future participation and attendance at similar events.
Objectives: 1. Support up to 10 people to attend 2024 Electric & Hybrid Marine Expo North America Exhibition and Conference 2. Enable global, local, connection and collaboration across traditional and emerging sectors Read moreRead less