Recent projects

The project Enhancing the Role of Civil Society Organisations in Southeast Asia in Marine Resource Management, Maritime Security and Policy Implementation  is part of Maritime Consultancy 2.0 Project, a four-year regional programme of the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT). The aim of the Project is to assist partner states in improving their maritime policies, frameworks, and capabilities in line with international law through enhanced collaboration between CSOs and government by: (i) capacity development and sharing, and (ii) establishing a Community of Practice (CoP) centered on the effective and sustainable management of marine and maritime resources.

Specific Objectives of the project were:

Objective 1: Building the capacity for CSOs to engage with policy processes and partner with governments to strengthen maritime policies and local level implementation.

Objective 2: Establish networks, partnerships and methods (i.e. proof of concept) for a potential Phase II Maritime 2.0 CSO which would involve working with Civil Society Organisations in SE Asia towards Secure and Sustainable Marine and Maritime Resources through a spatially explicit Participatory & Integrated Planning Approach.

A primary activity was to establish a Community of Practice of CSOs, local and regional government representatives to identify shared marine and maritime-related values, issues and aspirations including the role that better managed maritime spaces can play in contributing to shared goals. Facilitate the sharing of policies, initiatives and lessons learned across the region that may benefit other CSOs.

This resulted in the The Communities of Practice (CoP) Network, founded in May 2024 during a series of four onsite workshops which were organised as part of the project. An extensive needs assessment was conducted in 2023 based on focus group discussions with the leaders and members of grassroots Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) in each location. These needs assessment insights informed the topics of the workshops and the formation of the CoP Network.

To increase the visibility of the CoPs, a public webpage, below, was developed, which promotes their vision, mission, and CSO members of the COPs.

Research Team: Dr Katie Sievers, Dr Ria Fitriana, Dannie O’Brien, and A/Prof Amy Diedrich

Funding: Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT)

For more information please contact Dr Amy Diedrich: amy.diedrich@jcu.edu.au

The Communities of Practice (CoP) Network was founded in May 2024 during a series of workshops in Palawan, Philippines, and Kepulauan Riau Province, Indonesia. These were organised as part of the Maritime 2.0 project Enhancing the Role of Civil Society Organisations in Southeast Asia in Marine Resource Management, Maritime Security and Policy Implementation. The impetus for the CoP Network came from the local grass-roots Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) engaged in the project, and the workshops culminated in a voluntary commitment from the participants to form a CoPs at each of the four workshop locations.

Communities of Practice provide a shared knowledge platform and communication forum, where CSOs can explore mutual challenges, increase their skills and capacity, collaborate with external organisations, and act as a unified voice on their shared marine and maritime issues. The CoP Network has four CoP members of 82 grassroots marine-focused CSOs across Palawan, Philippines, and Kepulauan Riau Province, Indonesia.

Budjongan Sa Ulugan, Philippines

Budjongan Sa Ulugan community of practice was pledged on May 6th 2024 and named for the local conch seashell. It is open to members of marine-focused Civil Society Organisations which include fisherfolk, aquaculture producers, conservation groups, tourism, and loans groups.

Their vision for the network is “Unified efforts to protect marine resources towards a progressive future”. They will be supported in their mission to “Preserve the productive state of Ulugan Bay through united community-based collaborative effort” by the Palawan Council for Sustainable Development and Palawan State University.

22 CSO Members: Charity Women’s Foundation, Buenavista Loba Association, Buenavista Seaweed Planters Association, Magayen It Buenavista Multi-purpose Cooperative, Eco Tour, Macarascas PPC Fisherfolks Association Inc., Nasudan Fisherfolk’s Association, Mangrove Tour, Sabang Sea Ferry Multi-purpose Cooperative, Baruang Magic Island Tourism Association, Payamaluguwan Sabang Waterfalls, Isla Felomina Eco Tourism, Samahan ng Mangingisda Bahile Lambatan, Samahan ng Mangingisda Marufinas, Hook and Line Association, Buenavista Community Savings Association, Pag-asa Youth of the Philippines, Baklad Owners Association, Fish Culture Association, Macarascas Sustainable Livelihood Program Balatan Association, Community Park Warden Association - Jungle Trail, Sabang Fisherfolk’s Association.

El Nido Community Association, Philippines

El Nido Community Association was created on May 10th 2024, with the vision of prosperous and stable communities that protect natural resources and provide livelihoods to the people​. It is open to all members of the participating Civil Society Organisations, which include fisherfolk, farmer, conservation, tourism, and community advocacy groups.

Their first year goal is to create their core steering group, with representatives from each cluster and region, and to plan future joint activities. They will be supported in their goals by the Palawan Council for Sustainable Development staff and Western Philippines University.

20 CSO Members: Barotuan Dorongan Fisherfolk Association, Sitio Calitang Fishermen Cooperative, Samahan ng Maliliit na Mangingisda ng Manlag, New Ibajay Fisherfolks Association, TMMDA-Tarabiangan y ang Marentek na Manegpangisda sa Dipnay Association, Sibaltan Fishfolk People's Organization, BFARMC - Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources Management Council, SANMKAP-Samahan ng Magsasaka, Mangingisda at Kababaihan Tungo Sa Maunlad na Pamayana, Samahan ng Maliliit na Mangingisda ng Teneguiban, Corong Corong Fisher Folks’ Association, Kiminawit Fisherfolk Association, Buena Suerte Fisherfolks Association, PPKP- Pagkakaisa Pagtutulungan Kalikasan ay Pakaingatan, Dewil Eco Mangrove Association, Lamoro Pasadenia People's Organization, Sibaltan Farmers Association, KAMIYAN-Kalikasan Alagaan Mahalin Ingatan Yaman Mapapakina Bangan, SAMAKA-Samahan ng mga Mangingisda, Kababaihan na nagmamalasakitsa kalikasan ng sitio diapila, Samahang Magsasaka Ng Taga Teneguiban, Corong Corong Farmers’ and Fisher Folks’ Association.

Peduli Natuna

Peduli Maritim Natuna (Maritime Care Natuna) was founded on May 16th 2024 by the 33 attendees of the Workshop on Organisational Development for Grassroots Civil Society Organisations in Natuna.

They have a strong vision for their community and the care of their natural maritime and marine resources, which will be strengthened by their CoP network. Their core team will include one representative from each of the 18 CSOs, and they are intending to expand their network in the future to include more organisations in their community. They will be supported in this by the team from Raja Ali Haji Maritime University (UMRAH).

For more information about the members see the UMRAH website.

Jala Bintan, Kepulauan Riau Province

Jaringan peduli laut Bintan (Bintan Marine Care Network), or Jala Bintan for short, was founded on May 20th 2024 with 23 initial CSO members and the commitment “We civil society organizations present here agree to build a Sustainable Maritime Community”. Five initial core activists were selected from the CSOs - Lamun Warrior, Bintan Black Coral, Pokdarwis Pengudang, Mega Bahari, and Kelompok Nelayan Temenggung - representing the different sectors of the member organisations.

Jala Bintan membership will be open to both grassroots organisations and to individuals in the maritime sphere. Raja Ali Haji Maritime University team will provide support and mentorship to the network to help them achieve their goals.

For more information about the members see the UMRAH website.

Solomon Islands

Communities in Solomon Islands and other Pacific nations are generally characterized by a diversity of interacting natural resource uses. Some of the more common activities include fishing, agriculture, logging, tourism, mining and aquaculture. Projects that promote alternative, supplemental or enhanced livelihoods are seen as a strategy to improve people’s resilience to climate change and reduce pressure on natural resources. These projects often focus only on one sector (e.g. fisheries, tourism, agriculture, logging); thus, they fail to acknowledge the complexity of Pacific people’s lives, which generally involve engaging in multiple livelihoods. Multiple sectors and associated livelihoods that depend on the natural environment interact in the land and sea, and can create undesirable ecological and social outcomes, particularly when they compete for space and resources, or when they receive varied support from local people. Neighbouring communities in a landscape may differ in their engagement with these activities, and their choices may affect each other (e.g. unsustainable logging or agriculture in one community may affect fisheries and tourism in communities downstream).

The proposed project aims to address the challenge of balancing interactions between multiple livelihood activities in coastal areas by establishing an Integrated Livelihoods Approach, which seeks to guide decision-makers engaged in livelihood improvement project planning and assessment to achieve three desired outcomes; (1) a fair and just society, (2) sustainable natural resource use, and (3) resilient livelihoods. This project seeks to develop and pilot an Integrated Livelihoods Approach in partnership with stakeholders form Western Province over a two year period.

This project is intended to support the Solomon Islands’ National Development Strategy (2016 – 2035), which centres on improving livelihoods and has the objective of sustained, inclusive, and value-added economic growth across key resource sectors. Also, the Solomon Islands National Fisheries Policy (2019-29) states that “fisheries management and development systems need to be resilient to unpredictable and potentially destabilising events in the environment that are external to the fishery”. In addition, Western Province is seeking to further develop and promote tourism, and the success of this industry will be largely dependent on a healthy natural resource base. Therefore, careful planning and integration with existing sectors will be needed to ensure positive, equitable outcomes for local people and the environment.

Our project seeks to support the establishment of the planning processes and local networks required to support livelihood projects that reflect, complement and benefit local aspirations and lifestyles, while also producing industry and Provincial co-benefits. As such, beneficiaries will include communities (e.g. more equitable and resilient livelihoods, sustainable natural resource use), industry (increased co-benefits, sustainability and efficiency), and decision-makers (increased communication, co-benefits, policy integration, Provincial-scale environmental and development outcomes).

Project Objectives

The overall aim of this project is to establish the strengthened local networks, integrated governance and policy, and decision support tools (consisting of a spatial database and diagnostic framework) required to implement an Integrated Livelihoods Approach (ILA). The ILA is intended to support local decision-makers in livelihood improvement project planning and assessment. If successful, the project has the potential to extend to other provinces and Pacific Nations over a longer-term project.

Specifically the objectives are to:

  1. Establish an ILA Strategic Partnership and Steering Committee for Western Province. This committee will lead the project in achieving the subsequent objectives.
  2. Determine and initiate the governance and policy integration required to support the ILA.
  3. Develop the decision-support tool: ILA Diagnostic Framework and Spatial Database.
  4. Establish mechanisms and identify capacity needs required to sustain and further develop the ILA after project completion.

Research Team: Amy Diedrich, Aubrey Vavu, David Boseto, Hensllyn Boseto, Jacqui Lau, Tiffany Morrison, Claire Holland, Nick Murray, Stephanie Duce, Bethany Smith.

Funding: Fisheries Program, Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research.

Partner Organisation: Ecological Solutions, Solomon Islands.

For more information please contact Dr Amy Diedrich: amy.diedrich@jcu.edu.au

The coastal district of Sindhudurg hosts about 25,375 fishers. Fishery operations include artisanal mechanized and non-mechanized crafts, using cast-nets, shore-seines, gillnets (mono/multifilament, mesh-size: 0.5 cm -38 cm) and commercial mechanised gear like trawlers and purse-seines.

With several small seasonal and perennial rivers acting as nutrient influxes, there is an abundance of prey species like mullet, sardines, mackerel and pomfret. This habitat is therefore ideal for the Indian Ocean humpback dolphin (Sousa plumbea).

Dolphin depredation of gillnet, shore-seine and purse-seine fisheries targeting common fish like mullet, pomfret (Pampus sp.), mackerel (Rastrelliger kanagurta) and sardines (Sardinella sp.) is a frequent occurrence in this region. These interactions lead to considerable economic damage and strong negative perceptions of dolphins. Fishers describe instances where dolphins habituate to gillnets fishing for mullet, sardine and mackerel. Similar habituation is observed in harbours where dolphins associate with vessels bringing in the day’s catch, having learned to exploit the discards (personal observations).These behaviours suggest that local fisheries shape the foraging strategies of at least some dolphin individuals. Given their ease in exploiting highly concentrated food sources from fishing gear, such short-term benefits to dolphins appear to outweigh the cost of interacting with fishing nets potentially leading to dolphin mortality. Studies also indicate that local dolphin populations have high site fidelity, adding to the likelihood of local extinctions.

Attempts are currently being made to understand the nature of these interactions and estimate the scale of cetacean entanglements and bycatch. Present management strategies are based on fragmented documentation of interactions, e.g., the state government of Maharashtra announced a compensation scheme in 2018, promising an amount of ~US$400 for the safe release of entangled dolphins (Mumbai Mirror 2018). Systematic understanding of the underlying causes of these interactions, however, is lacking.

Moreover, there is an urgent need to quantify their effects on fishers’ livelihoods and the efficacy of current mitigative measures to inform an adaptive management process. With this project, we will assess the ecological and socio-economic significance of cetacean-fishery interactions along the Sindhudurg coast of Maharashtra to inform their management.

The main aim of this project is to inform the management response to direct interactions between dolphins and fisheries in Sindhudurg by identifying the factors associated with dolphin depredation and entanglement in fishing gear, assessing the impact of dolphin depredation and bycatch on fishery operations and livelihoods, and stakeholder perceptions of current management measures.

Principal Investigator: Ketki Jog, supervised by Emeritus Prof Helene Marsh (College of Science and Engineering), Amy Diedrich (College of Science and Engineering), Alana Grech (ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies) and Dipani Sutaria (Adjunct Professor, College of Science and Engineering)

Funding: James Cook University International Post-graduate Research Scholarship, The New England Aquarium Marine Conservation Action Fund (Anderson Cabot Centre for Ocean Life), Society for Marine Mammalogy (Small grants scheme).

Tropical village

Project Leader: PhD Student: Bethany Smith

Supervisory Team: A/Prof Amy Diedrich, Dr Stephanie Duce, Dr Nick Murray

Funding: JCU GRS Scholarship & Fieldwork Supported in part by ACIAR Fisheries program as part of Integrated Livelihoods Project.

The importance of protected areas (PAs) for biodiversity conservation is widely accepted through international policies such as the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). Besides biodiversity conservation, protected areas also support the achievement of sustainable development goals by yielding various goods and services that are of social, economic and environmental value. However, the presence of PAs also provides costs to human society, such as crop raiding, livestock depredation, loss of access to natural resources, loss of human lives and injuries and displacement from wildlife and protected areas. Further, PAs are growing destination of nature-based tourism that provide opportunity for recreation, enjoyment of scenery, wildlife viewing and cultural experiences.

The relationship between local people, nature-based tourism and protected area is complex and provide support to each other. This study aims to better understand this relationship and evaluate the benefits and costs from protected areas and tourism from the local people perspective. This study uses case study approach in two protected areas situated at different geographical region in Nepal, one in the high Himalayas and the other in lowland. This project aims to answer the following research questions:

  1. What are current trends in costs and benefits of nature-based tourism in PAs worldwide?
  2. What are the socio-economic costs and benefits (and their distribution) generated by PAs?
  3. Are the PA socio-economic costs and benefits distributed equitably among local people?
  4. What are the benefits from nature-based tourism and their distribution in PAs?
  5. What is the local perception towards protected areas and tourism?
  6. What factors influence the perceptions/attitudes of local people towards PAs?

Project Leader: PhD Student Kamal Thapa

Supervisors: A/Prof Amy Diedrich, A/Prof David King

Funding: JCU GPRS & Rufford Foundation.

Spatial management efforts intended for shark and ray conservation range from small no-take reserves (e.g. Marine Protected Areas) to whole of exclusive economic zone “Shark Sanctuaries”. In 2015 almost one third of all MPAs were designated for the protection of sharks. Despite their popularity there is a dearth of knowledge about the extent to which these types of protections benefit shark and ray populations. Without this type of knowledge it is impossible to evaluate if they have been effective. Nor is it possible to identify places where spatial protections may provide benefits for conservation efforts in the future.

In addition to the range of possible goals for protected areas, there are a range of factors that are likely to affect the success of MPAs that must be considered in evaluating and planning future management and conservation efforts. These include the size and placement of reserves relative to movement patterns and lifecycle, the proportion of the population protected, and the likelihood that human communities will comply with the regulations governing the protection. MPAs are also used to achieve a range of biological and livelihood outcomes and it is important that there is a clear understanding of what these interconnected outcomes are in different contexts.   The aim of this project is to address these knowledge gaps by providing a set of objective products that conservation decision makers, policy makers, funders, advocates and scientists can use to make informed decisions about the use of MPAs to improve population outcomes for sharks and rays. The scale of products will range from national to global, with MPA sizes from sub-national to national, and representing coastal and open ocean areas depending on the species and areas of focus.

Principal Investigators: Colin Simpfendorfer and Amy Diedrich in collaboration with Michelle Heupel (Australian Institute of Marine Science) and Nick K Dulvy (Simon Fraser University, Canada).

Co-investigators: Jessica Cramp (James Cook University), Stephanie Duce, Ross Dwyer (University of Queensland, Australia), Tracy MacKeracher, Meira Mizrahi, Chris Mull (Simon Fraser University, Canada), Cassie Rigby (James Cook University), Vinay Udawer (Australian Institute of Marine Science).

Funding: Shark Conservation Fund.

Globally, there has been an intensification of activities related to the Blue Economy or Blue Growth, which see the marine environment as a new frontier of economic development. Powerful, often rival large-scale business and conservation interests interact and compete with traditional livelihoods in this space, and can result in negative, inequitable impacts on natural resources, food security, and well-being.

The global community has committed to increasing the economic benefit that less developed countries derive from marine resources by 2030. This commitment was reflected in the Prime Minister’s statement at the November 2020 ASEAN-Australia Summit where he pledged to support maritime states in Southeast Asian countries to “develop their marine resources sustainably and address challenges through enhanced training, technical advice and cooperation” (https://www.pm.gov.au/media/investing-our-southeast-asian-partnerships).

Coastal and island nations in the Asia-Pacific region are facing increasing pressures from natural resource extraction, population growth, globalisation, and climate-related processes. These are affecting the livelihoods and survival of coastal communities. Diminishing natural resources and intensifying rates of global change are making the diversification of livelihoods through the uptake of new and sustainable alternatives increasingly important for improving resilience. Interventions to support communities to build resilience to change through sustainable use and development of marine resources require specific, nuanced approaches. In this context, understanding and accounting for local community needs is an essential component of Australia’s investments in marine resource development and sustainability.

This project will is conducting needs assessments of coastal community livelihood needs to inform Australia’s policy on maritime resource development in selected southeast Asian countries. The project focuses on Western Philippines and Northern Indonesia and will culminate in recommendations on interventions to support coastal communities to develop their maritime resources sustainably. More broadly, this will contribute to supporting regional maritime states to achieve more equitable and sustainable maritime resource development.

Research Team: Dr Meira Mizrahi and A/Prof Amy Diedrich

Funding: Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT)

Small-scale aquaculture (SSA) has been dubbed one of the multiple livelihood activities that can contribute to improved rural livelihoods. In Asia & Africa, where most studies have been conducted, empirical evidence remains inconclusive on whether SSA has led to improved livelihoods of the poorest and marginalised farmers. This study explored SSA from a Pacific Islands context/lens - through the case of small-scale tilapia farming in rural Solomon Islands.

The study addressed four research questions:

  1. What context-specific factors influence adoption of tilapia farming in rural Solomon Islands?
  2. What contribution has tilapia farming make to rural livelihoods to date?
  3. What contribution has tilapia farming made to household diets, with the diverse animal source foods consumed?
  4. What barriers & opportunities are formal institutions facing in developing tilapia aquaculture in Solomon Islands?

The findings revealed that socio-economic factors highly influenced the adoption of tilapia farming among rural farmers, and that the current form of tilapia farming contributed negligibly to livelihood outcomes of farmers. Tilapia from aquaculture also contributed negligibly to the animal sourced foods consumed by households, where marine fish remained important amid diverse fish types consumed. Finally, despite formal institutions in Solomon Islands playing important roles to support the sector, a major barrier for the sector was the genetically poor tilapia species used for aquaculture – which is limiting the potential of tilapia farming on food and income security. Hence, while SSA initiatives (e.g. tilapia farming) have been shown to contribute to improved livelihoods in other geographical contexts, in the Pacific Islands context of Solomon Islands, it is not making comparable contributions.

This project, therefore, extends the global narrative on small-scale aquaculture and its impact on food security and livelihoods beyond developing contexts of Asia and Africa to the Pacific Islands. For the Pacific Islands context, this research provides a baseline understanding on the social dynamics that can influence the provision of benefits from small-scale tilapia aquaculture production (as a complementary fish production source) to rural food security and livelihoods.

Principal Investigator: Daykin Harohau supervised by Amy Diedrich, Jessica Blythe (University of Waterloo, Canada), Philippa Cohen (WorldFish), and Marcus Sheaves

Funding: John Allwright Fellowship Scheme - Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research and James Cook University International Graduate Scholarship Scheme.

Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) are one of the most widely accepted methods of marine management. MPAs are not, however, always placed in areas in which they can maximise impact on conservation and livelihoods. Current MPA guidelines fall short in that they focus primarily on biophysical criteria for impact, with less consideration of interrelated socio-economic factors.

This project aims to identify the socio-economic factors that influence effective placement of MPAs in terms of maximising impact, and investigate the influence that governance and other socio-political drivers have on placement choice. A portion of my project is nested in the Maximizing Outcomes for Shark and Ray MPAs project (see previous). In addition to identifying social factors to incorporate into the global model to evaluate shark and ray MPA effectiveness, we specifically look to Myanmar’s Myeik Archipelago as a case study, and use sharks and rays as indicator species to understand social determinants of MPA impact at the local level.

The outputs of this research will help MPA decision makers, and shark conservationists make post-hoc assessments about whether existing MPAs are likely to have impact, and act as a framework help guide the planning of future MPAs.

Principal Investigator: Meira Mizrahi supervised by Amy Diedrich, Stephanie Duce, Rebecca Weeks, and Bob Pressey

Collaborators: Fauna and Flora International, Myeik University

Funding: Shark Conservation Fund, James Cook University Scholarship Scheme.

Locally based sport fisheries in Papua New Guinea (PNG) have the potential to provide stable alternative livelihoods and new income streams to support food security for PNG’s coastal villages as a result of increased income, in addition to building resilience to external impacts such as climate change and fluctuations in commodity prices. In addition, development of sport fishing—recreational catch-and-release angling for iconic game fish—is a major initiative that would support extensive capacity building across science, business and tourism, and generate significant environmental benefits by: (i) conserving vital fisheries resources and converting unsustainable capture fisheries into viable release fisheries; (ii) providing the incentive and knowledge for local communities to support ecosystem health and resilience and to conserve the target species’ key habitats; and (iii) promoting the ideal of sustainable resource use.

The objectives of the Niugini Black Bass project are to:

  1. develop an understanding of relevant aspects of the ecology and biology of Black Bass sport-fish resources of PNG;
  2. devise protocols for the appropriate conduct of a sport fishery in a PNG context to maximise its resilience and long-term viability;
  3. develop an understanding of potential livelihood costs and benefits, and how to manage them; and (4) determine the commercialisation needs of a sport-fishing industry in a PNG context.

Principal Investigators: Marcus Sheaves (James Cook University), Amy Diedrich, Jacob Wani (PNG National Fisheries Authority), Adam Barnett, Ronnie Baker, Murray Prideaux, and Katya Abrantes (James Cook University)

Collaborators: Dean Jerry, Alf Kuilboer, Gianna Moscardo, Anne Swinbourne, Natalie Stoeckl, Marina Farr (James Cook University), PNG Tourism Promotions Authority, Ok Tedi Development Foundation, PNG National Department of Health, Baia Sport Fishing)

Funding: Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research

Spiny lobster farming in Indonesia has, in the past 5 years, taken two steps forward and one step back. The capacity of lobster fishers and farmers has increased, and the opportunity for a large industry employing whole coastal communities is stronger than before. Nevertheless, grow-out of lobsters has diminished as an unexpected consequence of the increased seed catch, with coastal communities focusing on seed capture and immediate sale—an approach which is lucrative and low risk, but diminishes the economic benefit to those communities.

Lobster farming in Indonesia continues to develop and evolve, and there is demonstrable evidence that significant expansion through increased production and productivity is possible with appropriate support. Nevertheless, the industry remains at a developmental stage only, constrained by lack of farming skills and knowledge, limited access to support networks and credit, and incompatible policy and regulatory settings. Lobster farming is a particularly attractive opportunity for Indonesia because capture of seed lobsters and their grow-out involves simple technology, minimal capital and is ideally suited to village-based enterprises.

This project aimed to increase the engagement of farmers in lobster grow-out, addressing the priority issues of improved survival of lobster seed through the nursery phase, and increased survival and growth of lobsters through grow-out. Specifically, it comprises four objectives:

  1. Develop and expand a sustainable lobster seed catch sector in Indonesia
  2. Define optimal lobster growout production technology
  3. Build capacity in lobster aquaculture research and production
  4. Evaluate the socioeconomic impacts of lobster farming for Indonesian communities.

Principal Investigator: Clive Jones (James Cook University)

Collaborators: Amy Diedrich, Liz Peterson (Advanced Choice Economics P/L), Epsi Euriga (Bogor Agricultural University & Yogyakarta Agricultural Extension College), Anna Fatchiya (Bogor Agricultural University), Rina Oktaviani (Bogor Agricultural University), Simon Irvin (CSIRO), Indonesian Agency of Marine Affairs and Fisheries Research and Development, Institute for Mariculture Research and Development (Gondol), Marine Fisheries and Aquaculture Development Centre of Lombok, BBAP Ujung Batee Aceh.

Funding: Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research