The two workshops were hosted by CSIRO Division of Fisheries and enjoyed the professional backup of its excellent Hobart facilities. The workshop on "Larval Biology" which was held on August 20, 1991 was aimed at resolving concerns that fisheries scientists working on the same commercial species in different laboratories were having difficulty in agreeing on adequately staging and identifying larvae. This had implications from temperate to tropical regions and marine to freshwater habitats. It included groups as diverse as penaeid prawns, scallops, demersal finfish such as gemfish or orange roughy and pelagic finfish such as tunas.

Funding for the workshop and administrative resources was provided by the then Fishing Industry Research and Development Council, the workshop coordinated by Dr Don Hancock (formerly Research Director with W .A. Fisheries) and publication of the Proceedings provided by the Bureau of Rural Resources.