The Stakeholder Consultation tool can be applied in various forms (from one-to-one conversations to online questionnaires). It should be used to increase the knowledge and to optimise the management of an area.
Questions this practice may help answer
- How can you increase the knowledge and optimize the management of an area?
- How can the integration of fisheries and aquaculture and other uses be evaluated?
- How can the main conflicts be characterized (spatial and temporal scale)?
- What are the current legislations and objectives relevant for spatial management?
- What are the impacts of spatial management measures on the identified main activities?
- Who are the relevant stakeholders and what are their opinions regarding conflicts and opportunities of current and future activities?
Implementation Context
This tool has been presented and tested in the context of the COEXIST project, which ran from 2010 to 2013. It provides a comprehensive assessment of the conflicts and synergies between fisheries, aquaculture and other activities in the coastal zone in six COEXIST case study areas.
The Stakeholder Consultation tool is evaluated in the “Guidance of Better Integration of Aquaculture, Fisheries, and other Activities in the Coastal Zone” and is presented in the Deliverable D2.1 “Stakeholder map and database for each case study area: Identification of Stakeholder Issues and Interactions” of the COEXIST project.
Aspects / Objectives
Deliverable 2.1 intends to provide a broad framework to identify issues of conflict and opportunity to focus the efforts of the COEXIST researchers in various work packages (WPs) during the COEXIST project.
Method
The stakeholder Consultation tool can be applied in various forms (from one-to-one conversations to online questionnaires). It should be used to increase the knowledge and to optimise the management of an area.
In the framework of the COEXIST project, a stakeholder questionnaire exercise was carried out to identify both conflicts and opportunities and stakeholder representatives (e.g. umbrella groups representing multiple stakeholders) were targeted so that they could represent the views of many interest groups.
A minimum of five returned stakeholder (stakeholder representative) questionnaires were requested from each Case Study (CS). There are six CSs, thus a minimum of 30 questionnaires was required to carry out the analysis. In total 78 questionnaires were returned and this represented the views of a significantly greater number than 78 stakeholders as many of the questionnaires were filled in on behalf of umbrella organisations or associations.
Main Outputs / Results
The detailed results of the stakeholders consultation for each case study can be found in the Deliverable D 2.1 “Stakeholder map and database for each case study area: Identification of Stakeholder Issues and Interactions. The “Stakeholder Consultation” tool is evaluated in the "Guidance of Better Integration of Aquaculture, Fisheries, and other Activities in the Coastal Zone". The general requirements to use this tool are presented, as well as the strengths and weaknesses of the tool, its cost and the skills needed.
Transferability
The Guidance presents a spatial management tool and this introduction to and evaluation of the “Stakeholder Consultation” tool is therefore highly transferable. Thanks to this document, each stakeholder is able to judge if this tool could be relevant in his specific case.
Contact Person
Vicky O’Donnell
University College Cork (UCC)
Responsible Entity
University College Cork
Costs / Funding Source
Costs: unknown
Funding Source: European Community’s Seventh Framework Programme (FP7 2007-2013)