The Fisheries Research and Development Corporation (FRDC) Annual Report 2020–21, released today, reports on a year of delivering for stakeholders in fishing and aquaculture, as well as the broader Australian community.
‘In 2020–21, we invested $28.4 million across the research portfolio, including 80 new projects, and we achieved our performance goals’, said Dr Patrick Hone, Managing Director of FRDC.
Some highlights of FRDC’s increased engagement with stakeholders include:
- we worked very closely with our stakeholders to develop our Research and Development Plan 2020–25. The plan maps how we will invest to deliver stakeholders’ research and development (R&D) priorities over the next five years
- we continued collaborating with our stakeholder reference groups to refine Fish Forever 2030, a draft vision for fishing and aquaculture that identifies 18 opportunities across the sector
- our Board approved the Indigenous Reconciliation Statement of Intent and Actions
- 2020–25 and implementation began
- we supported the development of the National Fisheries Plan by the Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment, and
- we reformed how we consulted with our 8 jurisdiction-based Research Advisory Committees and 12 sector-based Industry Partnership Agreements to ensure that stakeholders’ priorities were being clearly identified and addressed.
‘Last year, the pandemic had a major impact on commercial, Indigenous and recreational fishers and we adapted our engagement and communications activities so that we provided targeted and timely information’, said Dr Hone.
‘We also released a report Impact of COVID-19 on the Australian Seafood Industry January–June 2020 that showed the different impacts on commercial fishers, depending on their path to market.
‘I would like to thank the FRDC Board for its guidance and support and FRDC staff for their continued dedication and hard work’, he said.
The FRDC Annual Report 2020–21 is available at http://www.frdc.com.au/annual-reports
Contact:
Kate Harvey
General Manager Stakeholder Engagement
kate.harvey@frdc.com.au
