Commercial

The commercial sector of the fishing industry comprises wild-catch, aquaculture, processing, storing, transporting, marketing and selling activities.

The sector is a very large business that supports many people's livelihoods and lifestyles. Australian seafood is an integral component of our international image as a clean and environmentally responsible country with an enjoyable climate, innovative cuisine and cosmopolitan culture. Many rural and regional communities depend partly, substantially or even wholly for their economic viability on prosperous commercial fishing enterprises.

The commercial sector of the fishing industry is Australia's fourth most valuable food-based primary industry - after beef, wheat and milk. In 2002-2003 it produced about 249 000 tonnes of produce, worth nearly $2.3 billion ("landed value" … that is, before value-adding) or about six per cent of the gross value of all farm and fisheries production.

For the latest information on fisheries statistics refer to Australian Fisheries Statistics.

Commercial wild-catch fishing

Commercial wild-catch fishing activities take many forms, as reflected in table 1, and in many places. In rural and coastal communities they are a major source of employment and often provide robustness to communities whose economic prosperity would otherwise be in question. The landed value of the commercial wild catch increased from $1.1 billion in 1989-1990 to nearly $1.6 billion in 2002/2003.

Table 1: The main Australian commercial wild-catch fishery types

Source: Australia-New Zealand Standing Committee on Fisheries and Aquaculture, March 2000

Although the tonnage of fish produced by the Australian commercial sector is small by international standards, the sector produces a wide range of high-quality products.

Aquaculture

Australian aquaculture is one of Australia's fastest-growing primary industries. The farmgate value of aquaculture production increased by more than 15 per cent each year between 1989-90 and 2002-03 ($188 million to $743 million). It now equates to 32 per cent of the landed value of all commercial sector production, up from 15 per cent in 1989-90. The major sectors contributing to this growth were pearl and edible oysters, Atlantic salmon, prawns and southern bluefin tuna.

Like its wild-catch counterpart, aquaculture provides development and employment opportunities in rural Australia and contributes to export growth.

The aquaculture sector's expansion is helped by Australia's long-standing strengths in shellfish culture in the pearling and edible oyster sectors. Expertise is developing rapidly with abalone, marine finfish and Crustacea, and freshwater finfish and crayfish - adding to existing high-value products for domestic and world markets.

Operational responsibility for the development of aquaculture in Australia rests with state and territory governments. Several states have in place aquaculture and coastal development plans that take into account the needs of multiple user groups, providing clearly defined conditions and constraints for access to the water and land that aquaculture requires.