The seafood industry operates in a diverse and dynamic environment and although the volume produced in Australia is small by world standards, the value and quality of our product and sustainability of our practices are globally recognised. For the seafood industry to continue to be a world leader in seafood production and quality there must be an opportunity to learn from each other and plan for the future.

The role of Seafood Directions is to provide an opportunity for stakeholders of the seafood industry to review and discuss priority issues and future planning and development.

This need is supported by key stakeholders of the seafood industry, as is evident by the number of delegates attending the biennial conference.

For aquaculture in Australia to remain internationally competitive farmers need to hear about the latest technology and issues that will govern how they operate and expand. Scientists and technicians need to share their data and ideas and hear first hand from industry what their priorities are. Policy makers need to understand the industry they regulate. All groups benefit from understanding Australian aquaculture in the context of international developments. There are many lessons to be learnt from aquaculturists overseas. An international aquaculture conference will meet these needs. Industry needs to learn of research outcomes occurring internationally and developments in new technology demonstrated at the trade show. It is a costly exercise for industry to tour overseas, however, a conference and trade show offers the opportunity to expose Australian industry to new ideas ensuring the industry remains informed and can exploit new opportunities and/or adapt to remain competitive.

Many events such as these fail to meet the needs of industry because industry is not involved with the planning and organisation of the conference. The organisation of Australasia Aquaculture 2008, will be carried out by the National Aquaculture Council (NAC) of Australia, the Asian Pacific Chapter of the World Aquaculture Society (WAS) and lcoal industry organisations. The NAC will ensure the conference is strongly focused to Australian aquaculture industry needs.WAS will assist in ensuring the event is attended by international experts and equipment suppliers.

This conference will be the premium aquaculture conference to be held in Australia in the Asia Pacific region and replaces the previous Tasmanian biennial aquaculture conference.

The Department of Fisheries released a Scoping Paper in 2006 identifying management considerations for the allocation and growout of WRL puerulus for aquaculture. Public comments called for a study into the implications of this new industry on the markets of wild harvest product as significant concerns were raised that aquacultured product could have a significant impact on the wild caught lobster market.

These implications centre on the wild harvest industry having an established position within the global trading environment, which the aquaculture sector wishes to enter and an assessment of the financial effort being delivered to this aquaculture sector around the world is neeeded as there is no data currently available to our knowledge.

This project will endeavour to provide global statistics on the aquaculture lobster market to help quantify if aquacultured lobster may affect the value of product from the wild catch sector in Australia. The broader implications of this new sector may include the effects of product style, size and timing of delivery into the market.