Get ready for presentation

Subtask Description:
Organize meeting.

Action points of the implementation:

Meet with a test audience

Introduce them
Present your presentation to them
Improve your presentation with feedback.

Area:
Chalastra Bay, Thermaikos gulf, Greece

Policy Issue:
Sustainable management of mussel farming activity

Human Activities:
Mussel aquaculture, agriculture, urban and industrial activities, fisheries.

General Information:
About half of the national mussel harvest is produced in the area. The unique environmental conditions resulted in mussels with very high condition index achieved in a very short time and also in two reproduction and growth circles in the same year. During the last 10 years, mostly due to excessive cultivation techniques, an annual reduction of the mussel production is taking place, both in means of quality and quantity along with an elongation of the growing period. At the same time due to a number of institutional failures, there is an important legal gap creating institutional problems and obstructing the management of the activity, allowing black market, illegal employment, etc. The main stakeholder concerns are connected to the design and implementation of the legal framework and the optimization of the mussel production.

Example of Implementation:

When the need of testing the presentation came forward, the Thermaikos gulf team decided to also serve some educational goals and present it to a group of students attending the MSc program “Environmental protection and Sustainable development” of the Department of Hydraulics and Environmental Engineering of the School of Civil Engineering, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. These students derive from different backgrounds giving important audience variability and they are not all familiarized with the concepts of Integrated Coastal Zone Management.
The logic that was followed was the one of a “character game” designed and implemented in a previous SAF meeting: the participants were given a role and some general attributes characterizing that role (table 1). After the presentation (that it was designed for the stakeholder forum), they had to indicate any personal questions but also the ones that they thought their role would have. They were also asked their opinion about the scenarios and received answers in their questions. The outcome of these activity highlighted important points, as the fact that there was a need for a more extended introductory part than the one planned at the beginning and at the same time there was a need for extra highlighting of the key points of the scenarios in the presentation.

Table 1: Role playing game with the alternative "peer" group of students.

Role	Stakes and attributes
Representatives of the Direction for land planning of the Region of Central Macedonia	Responsible for the release of the business licenses for the activity – Because of the legislation gaps they refuse to renew the licenses
Representatives of the Ministry of Energy & Climatic change – Direction of land planning	Creation of the legal framework of the Area of Organised Development of Aquaculture – evaluation of multiple criteria (geographical, spatial, economical, etc)
Representatives of the multiple Directions of the Prefecture of Thessaloniki (Veterinarian – Fisheries – Development – Environment Protection – Land planning)	Creation of the AODA but if the Prefecture is the leading partner – Daily collection of samples – cooperation with the local university – certification of the quality of the production – control of the realize of the product to the local & foreign markets
Representatives of the Municipality of Chalastra	Creation of the AODA but if the Municipality is the leading partner – defence of the rights of the local citizens: most of them are without license, the most powerful are legal
Mussel farmers holding activity license	Creation of the AODA – Priority in the release of their licenses and to the selection of place – maintenance of oligopoly – solution for the HAB problem
Mussel farmers not holding activity license	Creation of the AODA – equal opportunities in the licenses relies, selection of place and in the local or foreign market – remission from the fines - better working conditions – solution for the HAB problem
Chalastra inhabitant	Financial & social welfare for the area – good conditions of the sea environment and the coastal zone

Contact: Zoi Konstantinou, zkon@civil.auth.gr.