NCCP: Building community support for carp control: understanding community and stakeholder attitudes and assessing social effects

Funded Activity Summary

The National Carp Control Plan (NCCP) will be delivered over a large geographic area in waterways used by, among others, thousands of farmers, fishers, tourists, boaters and nearby residents. Achieving high social acceptance of the NCCP requires understanding the attitudes held by different community members and stakeholder groups towards potential virus release and other carp control measures, and why these attitudes are held. In particular, it is critical to understand perceptions of the potential positive and negative social, environmental and economic effects of proposed carp control measures, and to use this understanding to design (i) strategies that can maximise potential positive outcomes and minimise potential negative impacts, (ii) ensure accurate and effective communication with the wide range of groups potentially affected by, or interested in, the NCCP, and (iii) through this build trust in the process and actions involved in eventual implementation of carp control measures as part of the NCCP. This requires engaging not in a ‘one-off’ assessment of community attitudes and potential effects of carp control measures, but using an action research approach in which community and stakeholders views are regularly assessed and analysed in the period in which the NCCP is developed (2017-2018), with this understanding used to actively inform the design of both the proposed plan of action for virus release or other potential control measures, and communication strategies about actions proposed as part of the NCCP. This pro-active approach can enable design of a plan for carp control that incorporates actions that reduce potential for negative impacts and increase community trust in the process.

Objectives:
1. Quantify and explain community attitudes to potential carp control measures including proposed virus release
2. Inform design of NCCP communication processes, through identifying most effective communication and consultation methods for different stakeholder groups
3. Identify strategies to increase trust in and acceptance of carp virus release, including communication strategies and strategies to maximise positive and minimise negative socio-economic effects of carp control measures proposed in the National Carp Control Plan
4. Produce full protocol for continued monitoring and evaluation of community and stakeholder attitudes during future implementation of the National Carp Control Plan

Funded Activity Details

Start Date: 17-07-2017

End Date: 31-12-2018

Funding Scheme: Funding Scheme not available

Funding Amount: $363,495.09

Funder: Fisheries Research and Development Corporation

Research Topics

ANZSRC Field of Research (FoR)

There are no FoR codes available for this funding activity

ANZSRC Socio-Economic Objective (SEO)

There are no SEO codes available for this funding activity

Other Keywords

Animal Welfare | Community | Disease | Health And Safety | Invasive Species | Recreational Fishing | Social Science | Stakeholder | Survey

Related Links