The project application is based on the findings of the recent survey of Australian fisheries jurisdictions commissioned by the AFMF regarding current and possible future use of industry digital systems. It is also an outcome of the combined expertise of the members of the AFMF Digital and Data Working group developing and using digital fisheries technologies including vessel monitoring systems (VMS), electronic logbooks (E-logs), on-line quota trading and electronic monitoring (E-monitoring).

The project will develop a national fisheries digital strategy that considers the use of digital technologies, data sharing and data governance as they relate to government fisheries agencies, fishing industry sectors and eNGOs with an interest in fisheries. It will consider past initiatives, the current state of the industry and future directions.

More than Machines will initially use the findings of the Current & Future Digital Data Systems in Australian Fisheries survey as a basis for the development of the digital strategy and rely heavily on Fishery and industry stakeholder consultation and co-creation to further develop the Fisheries digital strategy and to achieve the desired future ready outcomes. While the strategy will be designed to guide Fisheries it is acknowledged that the ultimate customers are the industry stakeholders so their consultation is essential.

The project will consider the current state of digitisation of the Australian Fisheries industries, current activities as well as Fisheries and industry projects already underway to put forward investment priorities, activities and the principles against which opportunities may be evaluated. While the content of the strategy will be driven by consultation, the strategy will ensure outcomes that enable and promote:

Collaboration and Interoperability
Acknowledging and further understanding current challenges with sharing data within Fisheries and between Fisheries and their industries, the strategy will consider whole of sector approaches to data sharing, API development, fishery data platforms, specifications and investments that encourage interoperability and build trust sharing and leveraging data between fisheries, within supply chains, between industry organisations, with industry statutory bodies and with government.

Standards and Governance
Through stakeholder consultation the strategy will prioritise and provide strategic alignment for the development of enabling Australian fisheries digital standards for data that also consider the needs and requirements for working within global markets. This will include consideration of a national fisheries digital governance framework aimed at building trust and providing the policies and procedures for data management that will provide consistency of use, security and quality of data to build data owner trust across the sector.

Development of enabling platforms.
The strategy will consider the opportunities for fishery collaboration to develop core enabling digital infrastructure. This will be approached through the lens of understanding fisheries requirements, identifying commonalities and providing common investment opportunities. Additionally, ongoing initiatives currently underway across Australian Agriculture such as the Australian Agrifood Data Exchange data sharing platform will be considered and proposed where relevant.

Improved efficiencies, removing duplication, optimised use of available funding.
The development of the strategy will include consideration of projects already in flight and opportunities to remove current areas of duplication as well as specifically providing future investment priorities that will de-duplicate effort and optimise the use of available funding to force multiply outcomes across fisheries.

Digital Capability
Finally the development of overall digital capability across fisheries will be considered to ensure the workforce is prepared for and capable of intrinsically using digital technologies, identifying opportunities and business cases for the adoption of digital technology and able to receive the benefits that digital technologies can provide. The strategy will consider the investment priorities and partnerships that will need to be developed to achieve this.

It is intended that the strategy is endorsed by the AFMF Digital and Data Working group and AFMF stakeholders. The strategy will be a core Fisheries document, guiding jurisdictional collaboration, priorities and investment across industry and government to force multiply effort and provide a step change in digital adoption across Australian Fisheries.
The project will develop a national fisheries digital strategy that considers the use of digital technologies as they relate to government fisheries agencies, fishing industry sectors and eNGOs with an interest in fisheries. It will consider past initiatives, the current state of the industry and future directions.