Everyone wants research to have real-world impact and drive positive behaviour change. Supporting stewardship is an increasingly important part of fisheries management. But what is the process to enable ‘five-days-a-year-fishos’ to avid fishers, to build knowledge, care, confidence and agency to become active aquatic stewards?
Despite advances in social research, digital engagement, and science communication, significant barriers to behaviour change remain. Marine literacy, accessibility, lived experience, institutional trust, digital confidence and other factors influence whether people engage with, and act on research findings.
The NRE Tasmania Marine Resources Community Engagement Team has refined science communication and interpretation techniques to address these barriers. Using approaches such as gamification, participatory learning, utilising emotions, the strength of weak ties, effective 'hooks' (pun intended), and contextual storytelling, this approach supports a fishers’ progression from passive awareness to voluntary compliance and ultimately, informed and active stewardship.
Drawing on findings from two Tasmanian community surveys (IMAS 2023; CSIRO 2025), this research explores the application of practical engagement tools, their strengths and limitations, and real-world examples which have resulted in measurable behaviour change. With 92% of fishers (n=1453) expressing willingness to encourage friends, family and fellow fishers to adopt sustainable fishing practices; these approaches allow doing more with less, particularly as traditional compliance becomes increasingly challenging.
People need to be aware of an issue and understand why it matters before being inspired to act. Making research easy, attractive, social and timely, fosters lasting marine stewardship and creates greater impact from research.