Mentoring women in the seafood industry
An international conference on governance of deep-seas fisheries
Final report
3rd National Rock Lobster Congress - 2003
Final report
The Third National Rock lobster Congress was hosted by the Western Rock lobster Council (WRLC), with funding received from registrations and sponsors. The Principal sponsor for the event was the Fisheries Research and Development Corporation (FRDC). Gold sponsors of the event were RaboBank and the Western Rock lobster Development Association (WRLDA). Silver Sponsors were the Geraldton Fisherman’s Co-Operative Ltd (GFC), Telstra Country Wide and Taylor Marine.
The Congress was a single day event held on Tuesday the 16th September 2003, at the Esplanade Hotel, Fremantle, Western Australia and run in conjunction with the FRDC Rock lobster Enhancement and Aquaculture subprogram and FRDC Post Harvest Subprogram workshops. The Lobster Congress was followed by the three days of the Seafood Directions Conference 2003, the biennial Australian seafood industry’s premier forum for discussions and presentations relating to the seafood business in WA.
The Congress is primarily aimed at the catching and processing sector of the Australian lobster industries, with more than 200 delegates attending the Congress including representatives from all the lobster producing states of Australia as well as a delegation from New Zealand.
The theme of the Congress was “Where we have been, where we are, and where are we going”, essentially a look at the progress of the lobster industry to date and the expectations for the future. The program mix was specifically designed to raise industry awareness of key issues that require managing both now and into the future for both the catching and processing sectors of the industry.
Keywords: Rock lobster Congress, Fremantle, market opportunities
2nd National Abalone Convention 2003
Aquafest Australia 2002 – national aquaculture conference and trade exhibition
Seafood Directions 2003 - 3rd biennial national seafood industry conference
The establishment of a training resource and information service to underpin the successful adoption of EMS by the Australian seafood industry
National Seafood Industry Advanced Leadership Program - scholarships
There have been an enormous number of changes in the way that fisheries management is conducted in
Australia. Most significant among these is the increase in stakeholder involvement in the decision-making
processes. Management Advisory Committees, Fisheries Management Committees, Consultative Committees
and Co-Management Councils abound and expectations of industry associations are at an all time high.
Additionally the nuber and complexity of issues facing the industry is also increasing. All of these require a
greater level of involvement of and input from industry members. What has been missing during the 10 year
process of implementation of these changes has been a corresponding investment in members ofindustry to
enable them to effectively participate in the forums and represent the interests of their industry. In short there
has been a growing demand and need for a seafood industry specific, national leadership program.
The success of the inaugural Strategic Leadership Development Program has lead to growth in support from
among industry members. The expansion of the state-based Personal Development / Leadership Program,
from its origins in South Australia to other states, is also increasing the number of industry members who have a
grounding in this area and who are looking for further training and development opportunities. This has resulted
in demand for further National courses to be run each year commencing in 2002.
One component of project 2000/307 was to develop a budget for delivery of the program. The result of this
process was identification of a budget of approximately $7,400 per participant in the program (see attached). In
many instances this would be prohibitive for either industry or individuals and would restrict the type of
applicants and participants attracted to the program.
State FarmBis programs offer some level of support to fishing and aquaculture practitioners however each state
has a different level of support and people in other sections of the industry (other than practitioners) are
ineligible for funding. There is, therefore, a need for some subsidy, or scholarship program, to be offered to
industry participants to ensure representation from throughout the market chain and all industry sectors.