How can we get the greater community to help with marine biosecurity surveillance? First, we must learn. The utilisation of stakeholders and citizen scientists for the early detection of introduced marine species (IMS) can be a vital resource that has grown over the last decade. However, the complex nature of IMS often involves many different users in a difficult fluid environment, with different agendas, experiences, and biases. Understanding stakeholder perceptions and motivations towards the environment are increasingly being recognised as a crucial tool for environmental management but is an area that is still underrepresented in IMS research. Teasing apart the complexity of issues on how people think and act towards IMS can aid in future management.
This presentation will provide insights into Western Australian Port Authorities’ perceptions and motivations for engagement in IMS early detection programs using a novel cognitive mapping approach, the first to do so. This technique expresses complex ideas through a structured visual sensemaking process to capture systemic information. It finds that IMS early detection programs align with the personal and professional goals of port authority employees but also identifies how important IMS surveillance is to multiple levels of the business.