Published: 12 May 2022 Updated: 4 December 2023
Table of contents

Summary

Aquaculture, commercial and recreational fishing and indigenous stakeholders have identified an opportunity to build capability and resilience in increasingly complex environments, arising from a lack of access and pathways for people working or aspiring to work in fishing and aquaculture. The capability and capacity needed to manage the drivers of change and an understanding of how these changes affect access to employment and business structures in the future has not been fully realised.

Over the next 10 years, 41% of jobs in agriculture, forestry and fisheries will be transformed by technology. One in three new jobs created in these sectors will be tech-related, making digital and data literacy essential. People who can lead, solve problems, think differently and adapt are critical to the success of fishing and aquaculture industries.

FRDC’s Capability and Capacity plan, including the C&C Steering Committee (C&C SC) has been established to guide FRDC’s capability and capacity initiatives and address key opportunities in FRDC’s 2020-2025 R&D (Research & Development) Plan. 

Strategy IV of FRDC’s 2020-2025 R&D Plan is to ‘Build capability and capacity’.

Strategy four of FRDC's 2020-2025 R&D Plan is to 'Build capability and capacity'

 

Capability and Capacity Objectives 

Objective 1: Attract, retain and up-skill the fishing and aquaculture workforce Objective 2: Connect and collaborate to increase access and awareness of diversity, includsion and wellbeing for fishing and aquaculture Objective 3: Grow and nurture diverse people to navigate the future of fishing and aquaculture

 

Key Capability and Capacity Investments 

  • Establish an accurate baseline of who is working in fishing and aquaculture and understanding the diversity of our workforce (2022-034), by assessing and challenging the current methods of collecting data
  • Partner with Seafood Industry Australia to build Seafood Careers, an interactive online platform showcasing roles and opportunities across fishing and aquaculture, including tools to explore pathways and training (2022-183 and 2022-194) 
  • Work with Women in Seafood Australasia on Turn the Tide, which is looking to increase the capacity and capabilities of all women and help change the perceptions and culture within fishing and aquaculture. Turn The Tide aims to make workplaces more attractive and encourage diversity, inclusion and wellbeing. 
  • Work with River & Sea to develop the Recreational Fishing Fundamentals & Vocational development course (2022-033), enabling women across Australia to access resources and networks to commence and continue their recreational fishing journey 
  • Continue to invest in National Seafood Industry Leadership Program (NSILP) (2022-187), Australian Rural Leadership Program (2022-192) and Nuffield (2016-407) opportunities to grow and nurture the emerging and existing leaders of fishing and aquaculture
  • Collaborate with Primary Industries Education Foundation Australia (PIEFA) (2022-073) to conduct research and understand current levels of engagement, barriers, and opportunities to position fishing and aquaculture within primary and secondary schools. PIEFA provides a mechanism to showcase fishing and aquaculture and food and fibre more broadly in Australian schools. 
     

Capability and Capacity Media

 

Contact 

Image

 

For more information, please contact Sally Roberts, Capability, Capacity and Culture Change Manager on Ph: 0407 186 433 or Sally.Roberts@frdc.com.au

Related Projects

Project Number

Title

Status

2017-003

National Seafood Industry Leadership Program 2018 - 2021

Current

2018-174

Women in Seafood Australasia - Understanding, supporting and promoting effective participation by women within the Australian seafood industry

Current

2017-231

To develop a national marine safety extension resource toolkit and to trial with all fisheries jurisdictions

Current

2018-144

Aquatic Animal Health Technical Forum and Training workshops

Current

2019-022

Digital literacy for Queensland commercial fishers stage 1 - Improving business efficiencies 

Current

2019-074

Engagement for Success: evaluation of engagement events to inform industry management strategies

Current

2019-148

Aquatic Animal Health Training Scheme 2019-2022

Current

2019-102

National RD&E Seafood Industry Safety Initiative

Current

2019-154

Bursaries to fund three South Australian Recreational Fishing community members to attend the National Recreational Fishing Conference 2019

Current

2019-161

Industry travel bursary to attend the Thirteenth Meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS COP13)

Current

2020-067

SeSAFE – Delivering Industry Safety through Electronic Learning

Current

2020-055

Australian Society for Fish Biology: Scientific networking, early career development, international engagement and 50th celebrations

Current

2020-122

Human Dimensions Research Coordination Program 2021-24

Current

2021-019

Future proofing the northern Australia aquaculture industry need for skilled staff to 2050

Current

2021-053

Building capability in food safety in Australian shellfish

Current

2021-099

National Seafood Industry Leadership Project 2022

Current

2021-103

Safety in Seafood - Saving lives through a culture of safety

Current

2021-137

Capacity & Capability Steering Committee - Independent Chair

Current

2022-061

Developing leadership and networking capability in Australian prawn farming

Current

2022-034

Profiling and tracking change in Australia's seafood workforce: establishing a baseline workforce dataset

Current

2022-033

Building capability and capacity of women in recreational fishing: online course development 

Current

2022-026

Australian Rural Leadership Foundation 30th Anniversary Sponsorship - Silver Package

Current

2022-057

2023-2025 Science and Innovation Awards for Young People in Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry

Current

2022-054

Bursary to attend the 2022 Microplastics and Seafood: Human Health Symposium in the United Kingdom - Bronwyn Gillanders

Current

2022-055

Bursary to attend the 2022 Microplastics and Seafood: Human Health Symposium in the United Kingdom - Nina Wootton

Current

2022-065

Capability & Capacity Steering Committee (operations)

Current

2022-066

FRDC Australian Rural Leadership Foundation Alumni bursaries 2022

Current

2022-073

Attracting the next generation - Primary Industries Education Foundation Australia Membership 2022-2023

Current

2022-110

2023 EvokeAG bursary

Current

2022-098

Evoke Ag 2023 Attendance

Current

2022-153

Fishing and Aquaculture Workforce Capability Framework

Current

2022-114

Registration for International Seaweed Symposium (Hobart 2023) - bursary

Current

2022-181

Attendance and participation at the Governing Changing Oceans Workshop and PICES-5th International Symposium on the Effects of Climate Change on the World’s Ocean - Bergen Norway

Current

2022-183

Seafood employment and training platform (build - structure and design)

Current

2022-195

Fisheries Management Training Course Bursaries

Current

2016-407

Nuffield Australia Farming Scholarship to study practices in the fishing Industry

Current

2008-339

People development program: Australian Agricultural Industries Young Innovators and Scientists Awards

Current