Abstract

The Waitt Institute partners with local governments and island communities to achieve sustainable ocean management through marine spatial planning, fisheries management, and community stewardship. Stakeholder engagement is a critical part during assessments, policy planning, implementation and long-term management. The Institute’s work on three Caribbean islands in Barbuda, Curaçao, Montserrat provides case studies on how stakeholder engagement can occur and how it can be adapted to provide most-effective management results across different island settings. The Waitt Institute’s toolkit for stakeholder engagement includes (1) surveys and focus groups that map ocean uses, explore value and belief systems, and gauge support for ocean management, (2) participatory mapping exercises, stakeholder meetings and committees to draft a marine spatial plan, and (3) education and outreach to raise awareness and enhance public knowledge about ocean use and management. Using this toolkit, the Waitt Institute’s Blue Halo partnerships gather critical data to make policy recommendations, solicit stakeholder feedback, and strengthen public support for sustainable ocean management initiatives. However, project sites have unique attributes that require flexibility in the design and implementation of the stakeholder engagement toolkit. This talk will describe the Institute’s stakeholder engagement toolkit, and discuss both different approaches and lessons learned

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