Table 1.
Five key stakeholder engagement principles and implementation guidance (adapted from Kearns & West and Center
for Ocean Solutions 2017).
Principle Description
Engage early and Engaging stakeholders early and often
often identifies the boundaries of stakeholder
values and preferences around
management issues and strives to ensure
that management alternatives remain in the
public interest.
Set clear goals Setting goals helps ensure that managers
and stakeholders work towards a common
endpoint.
Build relationships Building key relationships can strengthen
trust by putting a human face to
management actions, connecting agency
staff to communities through key
communicators, and increasing
understanding between managers and
stakeholders.
Ensure openness Openness ensures the goals, motivations,
and activities for management decision-
making are communicated publicly, and
ensures that engagement processes are
clearly documented. The public should be
aware of how they can, and cannot,
influence outcomes, and how their
2018 Master Plan for Fisheries
Chapter 4: Stakeholder Engagement
Why implement?
Early public involvement can reduce
delays in the approval process and
the likelihood of issues becoming
contentious. Engaging stakeholders
early can also nurture trust, expand
management options, improve
communication, improve process
efficiency, enable conflict
management, and increase
representation.
Clear goals, roles, and
responsibilities for stakeholder
engagement, particularly when
established in collaboration with
stakeholders, improve clarity around
decision-making expectations and
opportunities for public
participation.
Relationships and agency visibility
contribute to public acceptance and
allow timely response to pressing
stakeholder concerns, creating social
resilience around management
decision-making.
Openness around decision-making
processes builds trust and interest in
contributing. It also helps establish
stakeholder expectations and
illuminates where interpretation or
understanding may differ across
stakeholders. Clarity in messaging is
Guidance to implement in practice
 Involve stakeholders in defining the management problem;
decision-making reflects the interests and concerns of
stakeholders at that time.
 Involve stakeholders before management alternatives are
identified and solidified to ensure all viable options are on
the table.
 Use consistent mechanisms for updating and engaging
stakeholders in the decision-making process (e.g., town
hall meetings, website is updated regularly).
 Employ engagement strategies over a time frame during
which stakeholders can feasibly influence the management
decision (e.g., stakeholders are contacted 1-2 months ahead
of an engagement opportunity that will inform decision-
making; stakeholders are engaged before management
decisions are made).
 Involve stakeholders in identifying clear long- and short-
term planning and agency management goals (measurable,
achievable, and specific).
 Have clear goals for stakeholder engagement (e.g., goals
based on this checklist).
 Employ metrics to determine the efficacy of stakeholder
engagement and adapt strategies over time based on this
evaluation.
 Respond to or contact stakeholders individually and meet
in-person when requested or appropriate.
 Acknowledge and recognize stakeholders for their efforts
to engage.
 Interact with stakeholders informally in community
settings.
 Provide mechanisms for stakeholders to easily identify the
status of the decision-making process and how they may
engage proactively (website, listservs).
 Clearly and openly communicate why and how the
management decision is made (i.e., who will make the
final decision, what is the role of stakeholders and marine
resource users in the decision-making process, what
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 Principle Description
perspectives were ultimately considered
within decision-making.
Pursue inclusivity Ensuring an inclusive and public process is
critical for informed decision-making.
2018 Master Plan for Fisheries
Chapter 4: Stakeholder Engagement
Why implement?
critical for reducing public
misunderstanding, negative views,
and distrust of agency actions.
The exclusion of voices can limit the
information available to inform
decision-making and stakeholder
buy-in.
Guidance to implement in practice
information was used to influence the decision, how the
decision will lead to optimal outcomes for the public as
well as the Department).
 If information is withheld, communicate the reasons for
doing so to stakeholders.
 Use clear, simple, and accessible language (e.g., language,
structure, vocabulary); employ analogies and real-world
examples in communications.
 If a mistake is made, admit it. Rectify it as soon as possible
and establish processes and procedures to help avoid future
errors.
 Provide clear rationale and need for stakeholder
participation (e.g., stakeholders will be able to contribute
to management goal-setting, invitations to engage clearly
state how participation is in the stakeholders’ best interest).
 Engage a representative cross section of stakeholder
interests affected by the management decision and confirm
this selection with the affected communities.
 Disseminate information in the languages and formats that
all potential stakeholders can understand.
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