The National Aquaculture Council currently comprises representation from all major Aquaculture species Associations and active State Aquaculture Councils, and has close links with the Australian Seafood Industry Council, which clearly justifies the decision of the Aquaculture Round Table.

However, for the NAC to fulfil its role not only as the peak industry body to drive the industry forward, but also to implement the relevant industry sections of the Action Agenda, significant work needs to be done between now and July 1st 2003.

The NAC must identify an appropriate structure and operational capacity to be in a position to undertake these critically important roles. To achieve this, it must also undertake key stakeholder consultation (industry & Government) throughout Australia for them to fully commit to this process and to ensure ownership.

The NAC identified that a consultant would have to be engaged to prepare this on its behalf, and firmly believes that the profile, experience and expertise of Dr Wendy Craik is essential, particularly given the diverse nature of the Australian Aquaculture industry.

This will be particularly important for Federal government to be reassured that the NAC will be in a position to deliver and meet performance criteria on the relevant sections of the Action Agenda, with these sections to be outlined in the next section.

A recent meeting of AFFA and NAC Representatives resolved a range of issues surrounding the implementation of the Action Agenda, and that the NAC would be directly involved in implementing the following recommendations:
1) Strategic Initiative 2: Promoting a regulatory and business environment that supports aquaculture.
2) Strategic Initiative 3: Implementing an industry driven Action Agenda
3) Strategic Initiative 4: Growing Aquaculture within an Ecologically Sustainable Framework.
4) Strategic Initiative 5: Protecting the aquaculture industry from aquatic diseases and pests.
5) Strategic Initiative 6: Investing for Growth
6) Strategic Initiative 7: Promoting aquaculture products in Australia globally.
7) Strategic Initiative 8: Tackling the Research & Development challenges.
8) Strategic Initiative 9: Making the most of Education & Training opportunities

The primary needs are:

1. Accurate and thorough documentation of Australia’s fish diversity. Accurate understanding of species based on valid nomenclature is vital for effective implementation of the EPBC Act (Cth) 1999 and ecological sustainable development (ESD).
2. Stability of scientific names applied to fish. Essential for communication and dissemination of knowledge.
3. To have ready access to a searchable database of all names that have ever been applied to the Australian fish fauna.
4. An available master list of names is required for OZCAM (Online Zoological Collection of Australian Museums) and GBIF (Global Biodiversity Information Facility). Once completed "Fish" will be used as the "examplar" taxa for OZCAM, demonstrating an online Faunal Web Site.