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
In these challenging times, there is a real need for industry to understand the issues involved in assessing and managing the risks associated with their ventures. The need for education of all aquaculture industry participants is ongoing. This conference is designed to cater for the education of Australian growers, business partners, processors, distributors, wholesalers, retailers, researchers and regulators. Networking within this mixed group will provide a rare and valuable opportunity for education and co-operation.
The trade display will provide all participants and the public with knowledge of the latest equipment and production technology. Food handling systems and new food products will also be featured.
The ongoing need for product awareness, positioning and promotion will be addressed by the public displays, which will parallel the formal conference and trade display.
Final report
Aquafest 2002 was a highly successful continuation of the tradition of biennial national aquaculture conferences organised and run by the Tasmanian Aquaculture Council (TAC). Aquafest 2002 provided the Australian aquaculture community with the usual unparalleled opportunity to gather en mass to listen, discuss and debate the issues at the top of the Australian aquaculture agenda. This was to be the last of a long tradition of TAC-run events, as it was agreed that FRDC was unlikely to support a continuation of these successful conferences if they were to remain based in Hobart. As such, the baton was passed to a consortium of the TAC, National Aquaculture Council and the World Aquaculture Society to transform “Aquafest” into “Australasian Aquaculture 2004” (and beyond).
Keywords: Aquaculture, industry development, conference, 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
Significant progress is being made to build the capacity of the Australian seafood industry to enable it to respond effectively to the ever-increasing myriad of challenges, and the rapidly changing demands. Key developments in this area include the national ESD reporting system and several initiatives that facilitate the adoption of environmental management system approaches (ie. the Green Chooser project, EA Eco-efficiency Agreements, and the newly established FRDC EMS Initiative, etc.).
Now, a mechanism is required that capitalises on the investment governments and industry have made in these key initiatives, and brings together and extends the necessary expertise and resources (including information, learning materials and support) to improve the knowledge and skills base of persons engaged in adopting EMS and implementing the ESD framework.
The Green Chooser project (FRDC project 200/146) has provided particular insight into the key competencies required of persons engaged in adopting EMS. Importantly, it has highlighted that where particular expertise exist and provided a preliminary indication of the critical gaps in the skills base of the seafood community (industry and government).
FRDC, in creating its Environmental Management Systems Initiative (FRDC Project 2000/084), has also identified this need and has allocated funds to ensure the persons employed under this initiative and associated industry champions are appropriately trained for their roles.
This need is also reflected in the Seafood Training Australia’s Strategic Training Plan for 2001-2002, and the mid-review findings of the Seafood Industry Training Package Review which recommends a stronger emphasis on environmental awareness and promotion of ESD and environmental management throughout the training package.
Through a partnership between SSA, STA and Ocean Watch, this project (as part of the FRDC ESD Assessment and Reporting Subprogram) will address the need for timely access to information, appropriately skilled support and training in relation to EMS by:
(a) Providing an information and training resource to improve the knowledge and skills base of persons engaged in developing and adopting environmental management systems approaches in the Australian seafood industry;
(b) Delivering a training program to EMS Officers employed under the FRDC EMS Initiative, and associated industry champions; and
(c) Facilitating a network of industry members, government and non-government organisations involved in environmental management in the seafood industry to enhance information exchange in relation to key developments in this rapidly changing environment and encourage collaboration and partnerships.
Final report
Significant progress has been made to build the capacity of the Australian seafood industry to enable it to respond effectively to the ever increasing myriad of challenges, and rapidly changing demands including demands from the community to produce food in an environmentally friendly and safe manner. Key developments in this area include the national ESD reporting system and several initiatives that have facilitated the adoption of environmental management system approaches (i.e. the Green Chooser project, Environment Australia (EA) Eco-efficiency Agreements, and the FRDC State EMS Officer Initiative, etc.).
Through a partnership between Seafood Services Australia (SSA), Seafood Training Australia (STA) and Ocean Watch, the project (as part of the FRDC ESD Assessment and Reporting Subprogram) addressed the need for timely access to information, appropriately skilled support and training in relation to EMS.
SSA received strong support for this project from the Australian Seafood Industry Council (ASIC) and member organisations (representing all States and Territories), the National Aquaculture Council and member organisations (representing all States and Territories), the Seafood Services Australia Network, FRDC, STA, FRDC State EMS Officers, Oceanwatch and SeaNet.
A logical next step to the continuing extension and further development of the project outputs from this project FRDC 2002/303 lead to SSA securing funding through the DAFF Pathways to Industry EMS Program. This will ensure that the products developed under this project and other EMS initiatives undergo continual improvement over the coming years.
Keywords: Environmental Management Systems.
Project products
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.