In a 2019 review of FRDC’s investment in people development, it was noted that significant variability exists across the industry in terms of leadership capability and capacity with most of FRDC investment focused on mid to higher levels of leadership (Lovett). While this past review is comprehensive, it is now 5 years old and pre-dates the ‘black swan’ event of COVID-19 that saw widespread disruptions to the economy, supply chains, and workforce, and has had consequences for leadership capacity and capability needs.

This project will review the current leadership development ecosystem, mapping relevant leadership programs, and identify potential opportunities for a diverse range of industry participants who will benefit from developing leadership capability and skills. Furthermore, acknowledging that leadership capability is not necessarily tied to formal positions of leadership, this project aims to identify different entry points for individual leadership development to ensure accessibility of opportunities. Any potential gaps in accessibility and potential new pathways will be identified. It is imperative that a lack of knowledge of learning and training opportunities to develop non-technical skills or low confidence levels to engage due to unclear entry pathways is not a barrier to any willing participant seeking to enhance their strengths and pursue an interest in making greater contributions that align with industry leadership capacity needs.

Our project combines a review of modern leadership definitions, theories, frameworks and practices, and through stakeholder engagement seeks to identify how these meet the context specific leadership challenges for the wild catch and aquaculture industries. Qualitative and quantitative research will be used to map and evaluate the current leadership development ecosystem for the wild catch and aquaculture sectors, identifying current pathways, recruitment processes, target outcomes, and the value and variety of alumni. Gaps in leadership capacity and capability will be identified and areas for potential changes investigated. Recommendations for improving return on investment in the existing leadership ecosystem will be made, including continuing development or improved integration of post program leaders into the industry. The current project has been designed to provide the breadth and depth of information that leads to practical implications for further industry engagement in leadership capacity and capability development.

Building on the circularity discussions and work being undertaken by FRDC and the industry, this project seeks to undertake the legwork required to establish a nationwide on-demand End of life (EOL) fishing gear recovery system for Australia and pilot it in key locations. The materials that many nets and ropes are made of are highly valuable and recyclable and in fact in many other countries, is already being recycled or remanufactured. Until now, having a national system has been cost prohibitive due to the large distances and need for economies of scale and limited local buyer interest. As a part of the national targets set by the Australian Government relating to plastics use and recycling, commercial fishing and aquaculture sectors have been exploring how to move to a circular economy model and reduce plastic inputs through a variety of projects run by FRDC and others. However, with fishing gear the biggest plastic polymer input, and contamination challenges, there has yet to be a suitable system established.

This project seeks to enable the opportunities that addressing EOL gear provides in Australia to the commercial fishing and aquaculture sector through the establishment of an effective EOL fishing gear recovery system for the country to reduce the landfill costs to industry. It seeks to build on the learnings from previous projects as well as the ten years of experience of our partner Bureo has in in operating an EOL fishing gear recovery program. Bureo currently have an EOL gear recovery system active in 9 countries.

The key objectives are:
● By the end of 2026 there is an effective end-of-life fishing/aquaculture gear recovery system implemented across key fishing ports, and key aquaculture centres benefiting regional communities and fisheries conservation and assisting the Australian Government to address plastic recovery/recycling targets.
● By the end of 2024, the enabling environment for an effective and fit for purpose EOL fishing/aquaculture gear recovery system is in place within Australia, with commencement of recycling underway in key pilot locations.

AIA is in active conversations with a private sector consortium. These discussions continue to validate AIA’s approach and solution design. They see clear efficiencies in bringing the RDCs’
commodity-specific carbon research and knowledge together and want to be able to include this type of carbon footprint solution in their own client service offerings.

They are concerned about growers’ lack of preparedness to respond to increasing pressures around demonstrating their carbon footprint and have confidence in a not-for-profit company
like AIA housing the solution and being trusted by growers.

There is acknowledgement that Australia is in a prime position to get this right from the start and avoid the duplication and fragmentation that other countries are now facing.

There were 13 RDCs participating in this phase, involving over 120 interviews across multiple commodities/sectors.
Insights gathered include:
• Many growers are operating mixed enterprises or are keeping that option open to manage risk into the future.
• Concerns include market access, social license, environmental impact.
• Most see a level of reporting required in the near-to-medium future, related to pressure from supply chains, finance or insurance sectors.
• They want the ability to understand and make decisions for their enterprises before regulatory or supply chain pressures intensify.
• Recognition of the need to bring all commodity calculators into one, consistent platform.

These insights speak to the growing importance of and need for the solution approach that AIA is taking.

A Discovery Insights Report, including a specific fishing and aquaculture report, was provide to FRDC in May 2023.