Engaging with and educating the next generation is challenging and competitive, given the range of opportunities available to teachers and students in terms of topics, development opportunities and careers locally, nationally and globally.

Providing awareness, access and support to educators and students is critical to attracting and retaining people across fishing and aquaculture. Through curriculum aligned resources and aligned interventions, activities and experiences, FRDC can spark the curiosity and also provide access to a range of people in fishing and aquaculture through partnering with PIEFA.

This project builds on the strong relationship with PIEFA to conduct research to understand the current level of engagement, barriers and opportunities to position fishing and aquaculture with students and educators. This research will position FRDC for success through utilisation of established, trusted channels and networks. Providing opportunities to showcase the wide variety careers through interactive activities and self directed learning provides the fishing and aquaculture community a direct connection with the next generation.

PIEFA provides a mechanism to showcase fishing and aquaculture, and food and fibre more broadly in Australian schools.

This includes accessing multiple platforms, newsletters, exclusive invitations to members meetings and PIEFA AGM. Invitation to 2023 PIEFA Conference and events.

Maintaining and enhancing market access for Australian seafood is critical for future industry survival and growth, particularly during and following the COVID-19 epidemic. SafeFish makes a significant contribution to this by carrying out the following:

1. Food safety incident response. SafeFish provides industry and government with immediate technical information required to respond to incidents relating to food safety and/or market access. Subsequently, technical input is provided to update policies for prevention of similar incidents and respond to them should they recur. Appropriate technical responses reduce the impact of food safety incidents and ensure better outcomes for future management.

2. Technical input to inter-government consultations on food regulations and market access. It is essential for the Australian seafood industry to participate in consultations such as Codex and monitor top export destination regulatory changes through WTO SPS notifications to ensure that proposed new, or modified, regulations are pragmatic and cost-effective for the Australian seafood industry. It is far easier to influence standards under development than after they have been finalised. Similarly, it is essential for the seafood industry to stay in close contact with Food Standards Australia and New Zealand (FSANZ) when domestic food safety regulations are reviewed.

3. Proactive research, risk analyses and training. The safety of Australian seafood is not negotiable in domestic and international markets. Over recent years SafeFish has conducted many activities to assist the industry anticipate and minimize food safety risks. The objective of these activities has always been to identify and mitigate risks before they cause a problem, or to grow knowledge to enable us to improve our risk management in a cost effective manner.