The project is focussed on capacity building to meet the skills needs of an expanding industry and thus fits into strategic priority 5.3: Deliver skills for the new economy. The northern Australia aquaculture industry will need between 1400 and 2300 new skilled staff by 2030 to support projected industry growth. Aquaculture producers identified challenges in the shortage of domestic skilled and experienced aquaculture staff and on-farm biosecurity and health management capacity building. Producers highlighted the requirement to build skills to meet industry growth needs, including professional development for current staff, aligning training with industry needs and promoting career opportunities in the northern Australian aquaculture industry among regional communities. The proposed project aims to de-risk industry investment into growth by matching human capital expansion to industry growth predictions.

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.

Aquaculture is ultimately a complex concept. Presently the aquaculture industry sectors are experiencing challenges to communicating a collective narrative to support and educate external stakeholders and defend its activities when required. This position is due to a range of factors, including the absence of coordinated government outreach programs, policies and platforms (like provided to dairy and other sectors), a lack of stakeholder awareness on industry priorities and contribution to society, and the absence of effective structures to support knowledge sharing and low aquaculture literacy. Furthermore, there has been no platform to bring the industry sectors together for united outreach or to collectively communicate the value proposition of aquaculture and the key messages in a way that resonates, or results in a change of behaviour (trust) with key stakeholders.

While there are many individual voices in the industry with a multitude of state and species-based advocacy organizations, committees and special interest groups, this makes it difficult to lead a coordinated and consistent internal message within the industry, as well as to coordinate responses to issues and topics important to external stakeholders. The impact can mean there are mixed or incoherent messages going to seafood consumers, local community groups living or operating adjacent to farms, supply chain partners, NGO’s, researchers, policy makers, international agencies, and local, state and federal government agencies.

To build a strong and ensuring cross-sectoral communications and outreach program, there is a need to map the internal and external stakeholder landscape and capture current outreach and communications efforts, priorities, message banks, and scale of influence of these groups.