The seafood industry needs to have a Standards setting body that can develop Australian Standards specifically for the seafood industry.

SSA has successfully fulfilled this role since 2005 when it was one of the first organisations to be successfully accredited by Standards Australia as a Standards Development Organisation.

The first Australian Standard to be developed by SSA was the Australian Fish Names Standard (AS SSA 5300) which was accredited as an Australian Standard in 2007.

SSA is ceasing to operate as at the end of July or soon after.

The end result of this is that either:
a. Administration of the AFNS and all IP can be handed back to Standards Australia as per the terms of accreditation; or
b. Standards Australia can assign administration of the AFNS and all associated IP to another SDO with a similar scope.

As there are no other like organisations with a similar scope, it is important that a seafood industry organisation be accredited as soon as possible to assume control of the standard.

While the AFNS is a current and will stay in place for 5 years, it is not the type of standard that can be left static. Its strength is that it is continually being amended as species names are added and amended.

In addition to the Australian Fish Names Standard, there are some additional standards that are being proposed
• 2015 Australian Standard for Responsible Fishing on Vessels
• 2015 Australian Standard for Responsible Fisheries Management
• 2015 Australian Standard for Chain of Custody in Seafood
• 2015 Australian Standard for Common Language in Seafood

FRDC is a moist appropriate organisation to be accredited as an SDO. Initial discussions with ABSDO are very positive and the fact that FRDC is ISO accredited is a huge bonus.