The future is coming and with it comes change. We will each plan, prepare and deal with it in our own way. This ‘FUTURE FISH’ edition is our way of taking stock, highlighting some issues and pondering what may happen and where we could go into the future.

By Peter Horvat

Over the past decade, the readership of FISH has expanded; we estimate that more than 100,000 people read each edition, whether it be in print or in a digital format. During this time, we have endeavoured to cover important issues, but with such a diverse readership we recognise that not all issues are relevant to everyone.

 

However, in this special edition of FISH, we are focusing on something that impacts us all: the future.

The future is coming and with it comes change. We will each plan, prepare and deal with it in our own way. This ‘FUTURE FISH’ edition is our way of taking stock, highlighting some issues and pondering what may happen and where we could go into the future.

In fact, for the past year the FRDC has been focused on the future. This has been driven in part by the number of reviews and planning processes we have been involved with. These include the Agricultural innovation – a national approach to grow Australia’s future report, the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Agriculture and Water Resources inquiry into growing a $100 billion agriculture sector, and the Modernising the Research and Development Corporation system review. And, of course, the development of the new FRDC five-year investment plan.

So, you could say the planning and content for this edition has been in the pipeline for a while. We hope to give a snapshot of the material we are looking at, the opinions being considered and the data that goes into developing the new plan.

As the executive editor for FISH magazine I have overseen many editions (60, for the record) and hundreds of articles. Some I have loved and others … well, let’s say they were difficult children.

Whenever you write content that incorporates diverse views it becomes a challenge to ensure that you capture these accurately and without bias.

Our starting point is to be agnostic and focus on the science. The end goal is to improve our knowledge, which then leads to improvement in what we do and how we do it.

This edition features opinion pieces from several industry leaders, offering their diverse personal perspectives on fishing and aquaculture. We do not normally run opinion pieces, instead sticking to the facts and staying within our remit. But, in looking to the future, we feel that sharing opinions is apt, as a way to spark fruitful conversations. I hope that people will read them in this spirit, even if they don’t agree with everything our writers say.

Special mention must go to the communications team at the FRDC, in particular Elisabeth Howie and Annabel Boyer, as well to the production team at Coretext, Catherine Norwood and Fiona James.

I am proud of bringing this issue to life. Doing something new and writing broader-scoped, thought-provoking articles has been challenging and fun.

I hope that you enjoy it and we welcome your feedback on what you liked and what you didn’t.