FRDC Resource: Development and ongoing maintenance of Australian Fish Names Standard 2019-2020
All Australian Standards developed by FRDC will demonstrate a net benefit and therefore have an overall positive impact on Australia’s seafood industry. This means that all FRDC developed Australian Standards must provide a value or benefit that exceeds the costs to the seafood industry with associated action plans to implement continuous improvement to ensure this is met.
Public, consumer and stakeholder confidence is vital to the well-being of Australia’s seafood industry.
Australian Standards are not legal documents. However, when a government references a standard in legislation, it becomes mandatory. An Australian Standard does have status and is recognised as being a credible document. Usage of the names included in the Australian Fish Names Standard is not mandated in Australia but is listed in the Australia New Zealand Food Standards Code - Standard 2.2.3 - Fish and Fish Products as an advisory note (see https://www.legislation.gov.au/Details/F2011C00569)
Standard fish names removes confusion, strengthens consumer confidence, creates market efficiencies and consistency, underpins effective fisheries monitoring and improves management of food fraud / food safety.
The use of standard fish names achieves outcomes that are consistent with the aims of industry and governments:
1 Improved monitoring and stock assessment enhances the sustainability of fisheries resources.
2 Increased consistency and efficiency in seafood marketing to improve consumer confidence and industry profitability.
3 Improved accuracy and consistency in trade descriptions enables consumers to make more informed choices when purchasing seafood and reduces the potential for misleading and deceptive conduct.
4 More efficient management of seafood related public health incidents and food safety through improved labelling and species identification reduces public health risk.
Within the next decade, the AFNS must:
• Be all inclusive including increased stakeholder awareness
• Improve the AFNS database to ensure all data is current
• Meet stakeholder expectation
• Be world’s best practice
• Be a national benchmark for sustainability
• Be part of an ongoing continuous improvement processes
• Be a transparent process to create trust
Report
This work builds on the following FRDC funded projects:
• 2012-209, “Develop and promote the Australian Fish Names Standard (AS-5300) and ensurereaccreditation as a Standards Development Organisation [Michelle Christoe, SSA Executive Officer–novated to
• FRDC 2012-209.40, “Develop and promote the Australian Fish Names Standard (AS-5300) andensure reaccreditation as a Standards Development Organisation” [Alan Snow Konsulting]
• FRDC 2015-210, “FRDC resource: Australian Fish Names Standard (AS-5300)” [Alan Snow Konsulting].
The operating procedures of the Fish Names Committee have continued to improve, and proposed amendments have been evaluated in a highly rigorous and professional manner.
The list of approved names in the Australian Fish Names Standard has continued to expand to meet stakeholder needs through harmonising with the Status of Australian Fish Stocks (SAFS) reports and the addition of commercially important invertebrate species.
It has been twenty years since the Fish Names process commenced through Seafood Services Australia (SSA). As such, it is an opportunity to consider what has been achieved in twenty years and what is still to be achieved.
Project products
Development and ongoing Maintenance of an Australian Standard for aquatic plant names
This standard will define the standard names for aquatic plant names including algae, microalgae, samphire, etc to be used in Australia; and specify when standard names are to be used. Annex A of the standard will provide a list of agreed standard names for aquatic plants and will form part of the standard.
Plants from marine and freshwater environments are covered by this standard, irrespective of the country of origin.
The scope of the standard is intentionally broad, but the species to be considered initially for inclusion in the Australian Standard for aquatic plant names will be limited to edible marine algae, microalgae, and samphire from marine environments but species from freshwater environments can be included as necessary.
Other commercial species may be added at a later time as necessary.
Not developing a standard would result in marketplace confusion.
This project is to get the process rolling and develop an initial standard.
The project will also include the maintenance of the proposed standard for the first three years
Final report
FRDC resource: Australian Fish Names Standard (AS 5300)
Public and consumer confidence is vital to the wellbeing of Australia’s seafood industry.
Standard fish names remove confusion, strengthen consumer confidence, create market efficiency, underpin effective fisheries monitoring and improve management of food safety.
Use of standard fish names achieves outcomes that are consistent with the aims of industry and governments:
1 Improved monitoring and stock assessment enhances the sustainability of fisheries resources.
2 Increased efficiency in seafood marketing improves consumer confidence and industry
profitability.
3 Improved accuracy in trade descriptions enables consumers to make more informed choices
when purchasing seafood and reduces the potential for misleading and deceptive conduct.
4 More efficient management of seafood related public health incidents and food safety through
improved labelling and species identification reduces public health risk.
The FNC has been set the challenge to
• Improve the marketability of a species while being consistent with the fish naming protocols
• Review the naming protocols to achieve names that increase the economic benefit of Australian seafood
• Engage more with industry top develop innovative fish names
• Improve the linkages between species sustainability and fish names
• Striving to have further uptake of fish names and to mainstream fish names
• All key documents and the AFNS must be in harmony
Within the next decade: the AFNS must
• Be all inclusive
• Meet needs of fisheries managers
• Meet the needs of retailers
• Must be world’s best practice
• A national benchmark for sustainability will be developed
Significant changes have been made to the structure and direction of the FNC to accept a more marketing based focus, and the procedures that drive the FNC to achieve greater efficiencies.
This project will continue to capitalize on this investment
Final report
• Steps have been taken by the FNC to ensure that the approved names in the Australian Fish Names Standard are in harmony with the names used in reporting on the Status of Australian Fish Stocks (SAFS).
• There have been 8 FNC meetings held during the life of this project which has resulted in 100 agreed species names being added to the AFNS.
• The membership of the FNC has been further expanded to ensure a broader representation of stakeholder interests are being met.
• Stakeholder updates are now regularly prepared for distribution to affected stakeholders.
• A Stakeholder Consultation survey was undertaken in November 2018 which had a very high response and showed a high level of confidence in the FNC and its fish names processes.
• Further discussions and strategies developed by the FNC at the Fish Names Workshop held on 26 August 2016 are being held to continually improve the operating procedures of the FNC.
• The Australian Fish Names Standard is now recognised and accepted by all sectors of the Australian seafood industry.
• FRDC as an accredited SDO now has a bigger role in assisting to disseminate information through its vast number of contacts. This further facilitates processes such as public consultation and dissemination of results of final approval of applications.
Develop and promote the Australian Fish Names Standard (AS-SSA 5300) and ensure reaccreditation as a Standards Development Organisation
Use of standard Fish Names achieves outcomes that are consistent with the aims of industry and governments:
1. Reduced mis-reporting improves fisheries monitoring, stock assessment and sustainability.
2. Reduced confusion over fish names increases efficiency in seafood marketing, consumer confidence and industry profitability.
3. Improved accuracy in trade descriptions and labelling enables consumers to make more informed choices when purchasing seafood and reduces the potential for misleading and deceptive conduct.
4. Improved traceability results in more efficient management of seafood related public health incidents (including recalls) and food safety.
The commitment to standardizing Fish Names in Australia has been undertaken since the late 1970s. Strategic investments by the FRDC and SSA leadership on standardizing Fish Names culminated in the development of the Australian Fish Names Standard AS-SSA 5300-2007(AFNS).
Public and consumer confidence is vital to the well being of Australia’s seafood industry. Standard Fish Names remove confusion, strengthen consumer confidence, create market efficiency, underpin effective fisheries monitoring and improve management of food safety.
The AFNS contains agreed names for over 600 commercially important domestic and imported species of fish, and over 4,000 other domestic fish species. The process of assigning these agreed names involved the expertise of several of the world’s best fisheries taxonomists and other key stakeholders.
Development of the AFNS is underpinned by rigorous procedures agreed to by government, industry and other stakeholders and which are administered by SSA and its Fish Names Committee.
SSA is one of only 5 Standards Development Organizations (SDO) accredited by Standards Australia.
SSA has ongoing commitments to Standards Australia (including annual accreditation and audit costs) which must be met to maintain its accreditation as an SDO. Failure to do so will result in the Australian Fish Names Standard ceasing to exist and all files, etc passed on to Standards Australia.
Fisheries R & D Corporation to be accredited by the Australian Board of Standards Development Organisations as a Standards Development Organisation (SDO) to develop Australian standards in the seafood industry
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.