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Join the CRC for Productive Coasts and Industries

Throughout 2019 the opportunity to establish a Cooperative Research Centre (CRC) focused on the issues constraining and challenging industry and environmental productivity in coastal areas has been discussed. Previously known as the CRC for Coastal Health and Wealth this has been updated to CRC for Productive Coasts and Industries.

CRC taking shape, express your interest now

Through discussion on the proposal for a coastal focused cooperative a bid to establish the CRC for Productive Coasts and Industries (PCI) is taking shape. Support to establish the CRC will be sought through application to the Australian Government’s prestigious CRC Grant program.

Round 21 of the CRC Grant program is currently open, providing an opportunity for an application to be made in 2019. Applications close at 5.00pm (AEST) Monday, 1 July 2019.

Participation in the partnership to establish the CRC for Productive Coasts and Industries can now be declared.

To receive a copy of the Prospectus and discuss your involvement please contact:

In the coming weeks additional information regarding the research programs, research capability, proposed outcomes, partners and CRC leadership will be provided if you subscribe to the CRC for Productive Coasts and Industries News.

A vision for a prosperous future

The Cooperative Research Centre for Productive Coasts and Industries (PCI) will drive the development of solutions that can secure and enhance coastal productivity, building an enduring market for seafood, trade and tourism. It will bring a wide range of sectors together to begin addressing common challenges, specifically competition for space and resources, climate change impacts and declines in the productivity and resilience of natural and built assets. It will design new approaches to reducing industry impacts on the environment, including carbon emissions and waste discharge. It will address fragmentation between industry sectors and governments, building connectivity, consensus and capacity for transparent and adaptive decision making to address contested issues. Not addressing these challenges will severely limit opportunities for future growth, and could compromise the health of our environment for generations to come.

Pathway to impact

The CRC for PCI will adopt industry focus issues and research themes. Industry focus areas will specify a subset of challenges that are compromising productivity in coastal areas and industries, and opportunities to support industry competitiveness through alleviating these issues.

Focus 1, Coastal protection

  • Resolving the vulnerability of critical built infrastructure, specifically ports and water and wastewater utilities, to inform decisions for protection and investment into works (e.g. building coastal defence structures).
  • Transitioning coastal defence from ‘grey’ (hard infrastructure) to ‘green’ (natural) and hybrid approaches.

Focus 2, Resource productivity and provenance

  • Developing robust and acceptable stock enhancement approaches for commercial and recreational fisheries species.
  • Diversifying aquaculture production and markets.
  • Developing Indigenous land and sea agribusiness opportunities.
  • Ensuring seafood provenance and protecting its market value.

Focus 3, Waste impacts and remediation

  • Achieving offset objectives for development and carbon emissions reductions through development of restoration, blue carbon and co-benefit approaches to coastal habitat repair.
  • Supporting a low carbon future through development of blue carbon approaches.
  • Resolving ‘real time’ cumulative impacts in a multi-use and changing environment.
  • Reducing and treating waste from wastewater treatment facilities, ports and aquaculture.

To direct research and development, and to ensure the CRC can successfully deliver solutions than can be used cost-effectively by industry case study sites will be adopted during the term of the CRC. These sites will provide a focal point for a large portion of the research and development, enabling concentrated effort to be applied to common as well as unique challenges such as environmental factors, demographic influences and requirements for industry operations.

In recognition of the multiple economic, social and ecological drivers that challenge industry activity cross-cutting research themes that can deliver outputs across these dimensions will be maintained. These themes will build connections between industry sectors and industry and government, increase capacity for industry-led approaches in reaching consensus, and grow the competitiveness of all sectors without productivity for one sector being at the expense of another. These themes will generate an explicit focus on the development of policy and regulation as well as market approaches to support economic growth (e.g. new market opportunities for export commodities) and the social licence of industry.

  • Theme 1, Making Decisions.
  • Theme 2, Delivering Solutions.
  • Theme 3, Building Value.

By openly tackling challenging issues and contested space, for areas, resources and values, the CRC will work to build relationships and grow consensus within the partnership and beyond the CRC. If we work together to address industry barriers created by our shared use of coastal areas and resources, we will:

  • reduce unnecessary regulatory burden and competition and alleviate costly conflicts, which constrain rather than enable industry activity and
  • community values;
  • unlock investment, financing and opportunity in coastal industries that might otherwise be limited because of uncertainty;
  • collectively increase the social licence to operate for coastal industries and assets;
  • realise genuine benefit for all users and communities through direct opportunities and the extraordinary collective economic value generated by trade reliant on the coastal margin; and
  • guarantee the health and integrity of our environment is secured, restored and enhanced into the future.
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