5.2.4 Poole Harbour: Key stakeholders and their involvement
The Poole Harbour case study was subject to restricted staff resources and shorter time frames compared to the other five VALMER case studies. In consequence, the Poole Harbour stakeholders were not actively involved in the Ecosystem Services Assessment process or in scenario building, which is the main VALMER mechanism for integrating Ecosystem Services Assessment into site governance.
The case study coordinator did, however, liaise consistently with Poole Harbour Commissioners throughout the Ecosystem Services Assessment process to ensure that the Ecosystem Services Assessment results would be relevant to Poole Harbour Commissioners and the other Poole Harbour Steering Group members. This liaison directly built upon Dorset Coast Forum’s existing relationships with the Poole Harbour Steering Group and harbour users which have been fostered over many years through initiatives such as the C-SCOPE pilot marine planning project; with ongoing liaison to continue after the life of the VALMER project.
The key stakeholder group involved in the VALMER Poole Harbour case study was the Poole Harbour Steering Group.
The case study coordinator attended a number of Poole Harbour Steering Group meetings to inform the stakeholders about VALMER and the Poole Harbour Ecosystem Services Assessment and to discuss the Ecosystem Services Assessment results and their application in site governance with the group.
In addition, the case study coordinator arranged a number of face to face meetings with the Poole Harbour Commissioners given their integral role in harbour management so as to brief the Poole Harbour Master and Chief Engineer on aspects of the project.
At the Poole Harbour Steering Group meeting in May 2013, the stakeholders were introduced to the VALMER project and the Poole Harbour case study. The travel cost method and analytic hierarchy process was explained and preliminary results from the surveys presented.
The stakeholders were not given any information about the ecosystem services approach more generally, such as, for example, an explanation of what ecosystem services are or examples of the different types of ecosystem services.
The Poole Harbour Ecosystem Services Assessment results were presented to the Poole Harbour Steering Group at the November 2013 meeting.
To capture the stakeholders’ VALMER experience and evaluate their understanding of Ecosystem Services Assessment and their views on the usefulness of Ecosystem Services Assessment as a marine governance tool, the VALMER team conducted a number of surveys with members of the Poole Harbour Steering Group. This included a before and an after questionnaire and follow up interviews. The following table lists the organisations that were represented in the VALMER Poole Harbour stakeholder group and indicates who took part in the various VALMER surveys.
TABLE: List of the organisations whose representatives on the Poole Harbour Steering Group took part in the VALMER before/after survey and interviews and identifies the type of stakeholder category that these organisations represent
* The Marine Management Organisation is not officially a member of the Poole Harbour Steering Group but plays a role in the management of Poole Harbour as a national governmental body. They were represented at the meeting at which the VALMER project was introduced and the ‘before’ survey circulated.
To disseminate the results more widely to other harbour users and stakeholders, Dorset County Council / Dorset Coast Forum in collaboration with Poole Harbour Commissioners held an open evening meeting was held 29th January 2014. In total, 45 attended including survey respondents, councillors, local authority officers, Poole Harbour Commissioners representatives, National Governing Body representatives, activity club representatives, NGO/charities/organisations (e.g. Environment Agency, Dorset Wildlife Trust and National Trust) and various watersport businesses from around Poole Harbour.
