title: Biosecurity messages are lost in translation to citizens: Implications for devolving management to citizens.
abstract: The increasing focus of marine biosecurity agencies on transferring management responsibilities to citizens and industry begs the question whether devolved responsibility is a viable option for creating biosecurity outcomes. We examined recreational marine users' self-declared awareness of non-indigenous marine species (NIMS) at six locations in Tasmania, Australia and evaluated the accuracy of their awareness through recognition of four well-known NIMS with active awareness campaigns. We also investigated whether the activities of recreational marine users influence the accuracy of their NIMS recognition skills. We generally found that respondents declare NIMS awareness (70.45%), yet we found their recognition accuracy was variable ranging from low to fair (<10% to 54.95%) and recreational activity did not influence accuracy. Based on our results, we conclude that marine users' awareness does not predict accuracy and therefore devolved management of biosecurity without additional resources may pose a risky biosecurity management strategy.
authors.affiliation: University of Tasmania, National Centre for Marine Conservation and Resource Sustainability, Locked Bag 1370, Newnham, Tasmania, Australia.|Environmental Research Institute, University of Waikato, Hamilton, New Zealand.
authors.forename: Marnie L
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-8716-0036
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Campbell
authors.affiliation: University of Tasmania, National Centre for Marine Conservation and Resource Sustainability, Locked Bag 1370, Newnham, Tasmania, Australia.
authors.forename: Dominic E P
authors.initials: DE
authors.lastname: Bryant
authors.affiliation: University of Tasmania, National Centre for Marine Conservation and Resource Sustainability, Locked Bag 1370, Newnham, Tasmania, Australia.|School of Science, University of Waikato, Hamilton, New Zealand.
authors.forename: Chad L
authors.initials: CL
authors.lastname: Hewitt
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001364:Awareness; D003247:Conservation of Natural Resources; D005398:Fisheries; D006801:Humans; D033181:Information Dissemination; D058865:Introduced Species; D011998:Recreation; D012308:Risk Management; D012767:Ships; D012927:Social Control, Informal; D013648:Tasmania; D014177:Translations