The project is needed to assist with networking future leaders from our industry sector at a level that will enhance their ability to deal with issues that the industry constantly faces adn to be confident when new and emerging issues arise.

There are few participants in the wild capture abalone sector and of those who participate, there are fewer still who possess the capacity to take on the role of future leaders and decision makers. As such it is vitally important to engage as many of the current and future industry leaders, from across a broad section of the industry to provide them with an opportunity to network with each other and with people they would not ordinarily associate with. For example the leadership training course consists of potential future leaders from different sectors that probably network and mix with other industry people, researchers and government managers from their own sector, but rarely do they network or mix with people from other sectors to experience a wider variety of issues that others have to deal with.

The 4th National Abalone Convention provides a perfect opportunity to allow members of the wild capture abalone sector and people from other seafood industry sectors to attend and gain an appreciation of the issues being faced, how the fishery is managed and to meet and greet people from different areas of fisheries management.

Australian abalone fisheries face similar threats to the sustainability, marketability of stocks and products. Australia is in an enviable position with a pristine marine environment, and provides the lion's share of the world supply of greenlip and blacklip abalone (H. laevegata & H. rubra). It is evident that abalone producing States do not communicate often or closely enough to maximise the benefits of the extra efforts each State is doing in terms of R&D, stock enhancement, marketing and product labelling. Also, it is evident that there are very few industry driven conventions or conferences around Australia and the world. This idea or concept for a National Forum within which to share ideas and results from various endeavours became a high priority for the Australian abalone industry which is very much supported by other abalone producing States. The convention will address the following needs:
• The need for abalone fisheries to address key issues such as marketing, industry development, product development and labelling.
• The need for closer and more extensive communication and networking with other abalone fishery participants.
• The need for participants to share information, data and methodologies adopted in R&D programs and compliance strategies.
• The need to identify areas of R&D that have proved successful and to imitate that success.
• To update the national strategic plan addressing common issues.

The FRDC has requested the development with respect to abalone of “an application that takes a national approach to management strategy evaluation development and implementation. This should include economic, environmental, social and governance indicators.” In order to achieve this a workshop is proposed that brings together representatives from Industry, Management and Research from the abalone producing States plus other invited experts in abalone and management strategy evaluation.

There are R&D initiatives in most Australian fisheries and NZ to collect finer scale and more comprehensive data about abalone populations and fishing. These initiatives are also highlighted in the “Harvest Optimisation” and “Sustainability and Environment” investment platforms of the ACA Strategic Plan, within several Objectives including to “Establish management tools and models that enable targeted harvesting of fish to optimise market returns”. It is not yet clear how or what finer scale data will be used to generate the most informative fishery Performance Indicators, although MSE will provide the structure to assess this.

To maximize the value of outcomes from the proposed Workshop, the ACA needs to focus on the strategic direction of finer scale data collection, its incorporation into fishery Performance Indicators and their assessment through techniques such as MSE. Such a focus would allow the ACA to participate in the Workshop with a clear plan for R&D investment in these important directions.

Australian abalone currently enjoys a relatively strong position in the market through steady demand for its product. However, its position could be better enhanced through an industry development plan that provides strategies with which to capitalize on its position as a provider of quality abalone producing 50% of the world’s supply, and with which to take the industry forward for the next twenty years.