The RD&E workshop will target up to 50 of WA's leading industry members, who will combine with government and university professionals to identify research priorities for WA. This is the inaugural event for an annual workshop that will iteratively update an RD&E plan for WA. The event will be held on 28 March at the Fremantle Sailing Club, with the venue, most presenters and the event facilitator confirmed.

Benefit to be provided to FRDC
Access
- 1 x Complimentary ticket to Thursday’s BioInnovation Conference
- 1 x Complementary registration for Welcome dinner
- 2 x tickets to the RD&E workshop

Recognition
- Acknowledgement at the opening and closing of all events
- One pull-up banner for display at the conference & workshop
- Your logo will appear on sponsor slides during the events
- Your logo will appear on digital content relating to all events, including LinkedIn posts and newsletters
- Your logo and 200-word profile, available on the festival website

Promotion
- A speaker role at the Thursday Conference to promote Finnovation.
- A speaker role at the Friday RD&E Workshop

The project involves significant collaboration and co-investment by sector partners. This includes cash funding from the aquaculture council of WA ($6300 ex. GST), in-kind contributions from DPIRD (estimated at $2,300 ex GST), university and industry presenters (TBD).

Development of Aboriginal fishing businesses in the Northern Territory is aiming to improve the livelihoods of community members by providing access to a nutritious, diverse and culturally significant food supply. At both global and national levels, organisations are advocating for health to be considered in all policy (WHO, 2013). The objectives of the proposed research are to understand from an Indigenous knowledge domain the nutritional health and wellbeing benefits of seafood. This information can therefore support future considerations of nutrition and health benefits in policy and ensure that health and related unintentional impacts of policies are at least considered in the policy making process in fisheries development. There is an ongoing need for Indigenous grounded approaches to be implemented to improve the diet and nutritional programs in Aboriginal communities (e.g. government programs, Aboriginal Health organisations and school nutrition). It is anticipated that this research will be relevant to a wide range of stakeholders involved in addressing the nutritional and health outcomes in communities through promotion of seafood in diets. The western biomedical health benefits of seafood are widely known globally and nationally (FRDC, 2004). However, the relationships between Indigenous health and wellbeing and seafood in an Indigenous knowledge domain is not well understood. The proposed research aims to address this knowledge gap though a multidimensional approach including localised documentation and representation of Indigenous knowledges of the nutritional health and wellbeing benefits values and meanings of seafood and nutritional analysis of fish and seafood species. This approach will bring together two knowledges in a culturally appropriate manner to better promote a holistic understanding of nutritional benefits of seafood.

The outcome of the research will contribute new knowledge to ensure the development of Indigenous fisheries is sensitive to health, nutritional and wellbeing values and meanings of culturally important seafood. This research project is funded by the Fisheries Research Development Corporation (FRDC project 2019-143) on behalf of the Australian Government and is being implemented in partnership with Monash University, Charles Darwin University and Bawinanga Aboriginal Corporation and Traditional Aboriginal Owners from the Maningrida region in the Northern Territory. Project investigators are Associate Professor Julie Brimblecombe, Associate Professor Natasha Stacey, and PhD candidate Beau Cubillo.

Our project is an “early mover micro project” within SIA’s overarching industry decarbonisation program, where the deliverable is the needs analysis and design for a wave energy microgrid system for Southern Ocean Mariculture, an abalone aquaculture company located in Port Fairy, Victoria.

Throughout this past year, Southern Ocean Mariculture (SOM), AZURA Ocean Technologies (AZURA) and Deloitte Emissions Solutions (DES) have been in early discussion about development of an ocean energy solution to help SOM achieve their decarbonisation goals, reduce their cost of energy and reduce dependency on grid-supplied electricity. These parties have identified the need to analyse SOM’s future energy requirements and develop a novel approach to help them decarbonise through a multi-modal renewable ocean energy microgrid.

Upon learning about AOEG’s proposal to develop an ocean energy/aquaculture program, the leaders of SOM, AZURA and DES enthusiastically offered their participation to co-design a suitable ocean energy microgrid system to meet their needs, under an FRDC funded project. This group of visionary leaders is excited to join the AOEG team in showcasing the work of this proof-of-concept project within the context of the larger SIA Decarbonisation Program, with learnings and application to the broader aquaculture sector.

This project will result in the design for an ocean energy microgrid system that will produce electricity to supplement SOM’s existing grid and/or fossil fuel based energy supply. SOM will help to assess which element of their operation will be used as the basis for initial microgrid design. As a pilot project, this approach enables SOM to evaluate a wide range of issues without high risks and will be considered an incremental step toward building a full-scale off-grid clean energy system for the future.

As an early-mover project within SIA’s decarbonisation program, the following knowledge will be generated for learning and dissemination to the industry.
- Showcase what an ocean energy microgrid system is and its required elements.
- Document the items and factors required to design a suitable microgrid energy system.
- Document the process by which the design is developed.
- Showcase how other offshore or near shore industries could leverage ocean energy microgrids to provide clean electricity for their operations and to help meet decarbonisation targets
- Demonstrate the potential for ocean energy playing a significant role in Australia’s future renewable energy mix

AOEG will collaborate with SIA and the Blue Economy CRC to co-implement industry outreach, communications and other complementary activities within the limits of this first mover energy transition ‘micro-project’.