1. WISA have been invited by the WAC organisers to run the Women in Aquaculture session at the conference titled: "How can the Aquaculture Industry attract and retain women?"
Previous World Aquaculture Conferences have outlined the benefits from having greater inclusivity of women and other under-represented groups in the industry. In this think-tank session, we look deeper into the barriers women face to participate and reach their full potential in aquaculture, and towards solutions – what can individuals, small and large businesses and organisations do to attract and retain women in aquaculture? Participants will first hear from Women in Seafood Australasia (WISA) and an international representative (e.g. FAO) who will give overviews of the challenges and opportunities for women in aquaculture from a developed and developing country perspective. This will be followed by presentations from 3-4 speakers who will tell their stories from the ground - the actions they have taken as aquaculture businesses and the lessons they have learned in their journey towards gender equity. The presentation will then form the basis of an engaging and facilitated discussion between a panel of aquaculture leaders and the audience. We will discuss the deeper tensions for businesses and organisations to make change, opportunities for increasing the attractiveness of the aquaculture industry to women and other under-represented groups entering and thriving in the industry, and actionable solutions for the aquaculture industry in different environments in both the short and long term.

2. The Australian Centre for International Agriculture Research (ACIAR) have recently granted WISA $40,000 to run our highly successful bursary program for international and Australian women.
WISA’s approach is to provide an experience for women who would not normally have the means to attend a conference or event, but who would benefit enormously from the opportunity to network and develop through attending. WISA provide an immersive and supported experience for bursary holders. WISA have found that women who have experienced conference bursaries through our organisation are now highly engaged in our network, they have broadened their networks significantly, made long-lasting industry friends, and are inspired and feel confident to take on further opportunities in the seafood industry. The approach that WISA takes to bursaries requires WISA personnel to attend the conference and be available throughout the conference to provide support, introductions, and friendship to bursary holders. The ACIAR bursary holders will also be involved in WISA activities at the conference (1 & 3) and in addition to supporting them before during and after the conference, we will be hosting a welcome drinks, a bursary dinner and a wrap up breakfast.

3. Breaking the Barriers workshop
Although currently still in negotiation, the Northern Territory Government has available space for WISA to run their Breaking the Barriers workshop, first run at Seafood Directions in 2022, and funded by FRDC (2018-174). The purpose of the workshop, facilitated in partnership with Affectus, is to surface current issues that impact women in the aquaculture industry and community; facilitate open and inclusive discussion about issues that impact women in the aquaculture industry and community; problem-solve/solution-find current issues that impact women in the aquaculture industry and community; and for each participant to have the opportunity to develop an individual host/facilitate/chair template for open and inclusive discussion. The outcomes of the workshop will be a list of current issues impacting the women in the aquaculture industry and community; a solutions paper for stakeholder organisations to consider and take action on; and a deeper understanding of current issues that impact women in the aquaculture industry and community and an advocacy plan for wider industry to action. This workshop will be funded through WISA's 'Turn the Tide' project.

The objective of this foundational work is to collaborate with industry to produce a Fishing and Aquaculture Workforce Capability Framework. The Framework will be used by fishing and aquaculture sectors / communities for workforce planning and career mapping. It will support a more strategic and consistent approach to workforce planning. This in turn, will enable industry to build its capacity through better understanding of capability needs.

In addition to the universal challenges associated with a tight labour market (e.g. attracting people, barriers to entry, addressing skills needs), the industry is operating in a changing environment. Other challenges and opportunities for the fishing and aquaculture sectors include:
• Adapting to climate change
• Biosecurity
• Managing resources efficiently
• Meeting sustainability standards / social license to operate
• Moving to a circular economy
• Managing global supply chains (developing traceability, addressing counterfeit)
• Competing with other proteins
• New markets through free trade agreements
• Adopting digital technology, and;
• Attracting and retaining people to drive responses to changes that impact on the F&A community.

The AgriFood Supply Chain Resilience report (KPMG, 2022) identified ‘labour supply, wellbeing and succession’ as one of the significant stresses for seafood supply chains. Other significant stresses were weather and climate change, cold chain and freight space availability, sustainability and social licence, pests and disease and market access.

Fish Forever (2030 vision for Australia’s fishing and aquaculture community) highlights opportunities for the F&A community and contains outcomes under each of the following missions:
1. Growth for enduring prosperity
2. Best practices and production systems
3. A culture that is inclusive and forward thinking
4. Equitable and secure resource access
5. Society and consumers trust, respect and value.

This project will identify the capability needs (current and future) to address these challenges and opportunities. Further, it will support industry, to attract and retain people and to provide pathways to build capability. Sectors will be better informed as to how to address capability needs.

Addressing these needs will ensure industry is better equipped to respond to changes, challenges and opportunities that impact the fishing and aquaculture communities. The fishing and aquaculture map (FRDC website) highlights the “complex systems behind Indigenous, commercial and recreational fishing and aquaculture in Australia and how the elements are connected”. It also highlights how issues or events in one part of the system can have impacts on other sectors. Therefore, industry needs to be prepared for changes.

This project will engage with all key F&A sectors to ensure the capability framework is industry-driven and collectively owned. In addition, the project approach is designed to utilise existing sector/industry plans and not replace existing frameworks. RMCG will work collaboratively with industry.