'If you don’t know where you are going, you’ll end up someplace else' - Future proofing the Australian Mud Crab Industry through improved strategic direction
Indigenous Fishing Subprogram: Improving access for Indigenous Australians to and involvement in the use and management of Australia's fisheries resource
The need for this project comes from the continuing assertion by ICF that their ongoing relationship (use, management and spiritual associations) with fisheries resources is yet to be sufficiently addressed by various Australian fisheries jurisdictions. While this relationship is recognised in various international instruments and agreements including the FAO Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries Section 7.6.6, the United Nations Declaration on rights of Indigenous Peoples and the UN Convention on Biological Diversity, this recognition hasn't converted to an 'on ground' full realisation in any fisheries jurisdiction. Indigenous participants at the Cairns workshops in 2012 identified a need for further work to be done to address these deficiencies, see FRDC Project 2010/401. Similarly, project 2009/038 documented the concerns of ICF in NSW with the impacts of commercial and recreational fishing on their cultural fishing practices.
There is a need for consistent approaches to the recognition and protection of ICF in fisheries management and governance at various levels of government. Consequently, there is a need to evaluate the current status of fisheries management approaches taken in each jurisdiction to address Indigenous fisheries interests in order to; (i) identify achievements and gaps, (ii) build on recent achievements made in this area (e.g. existent indigenous fisheries strategies, establishment of the IRG and recent FRDC funded research initiatives), (iii) benchmark management approaches in each jurisdiction with national and international best practice.
There is a need to complete the work on developing an Indigenous GCT described by Fletcher et al (2000) using different approaches to collect the relevant data for the GCT so that a risk assessment methodologies can be applied in assessing risks and impacts of nIF on the ICF as part of achieving ESD in Australia.
Final report
This report provides details of the FRDC Project 2014-233 Improving access for Indigenous Australians to and involvement in the use and management of Australia’s fisheries resources. The project was undertaken because Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people continue to assert that their rightful place in the use and management of fisheries resources is yet to reach a level that would enable them to meet their cultural, social and economic needs.
Some key issues underpinning this perception were identified by Indigenous fishers at a national workshop supported by the Fisheries Research and Development Corporation (FRDC) held in Cairns 2011. Two specific issues identified in Cairns were the basis for this project, they included the need to identify barriers and opportunities for Indigenous fisheries within legislation and policy and the need to address non-indigenous impacts on Indigenous fisheries. This project comprised two phases addressing two objectives based on these two issues.
Phase 1 of the project centred on the first objective, to audit as many fisheries related documents (legislation, policy, management strategies and plans) so as to develop a picture of how Indigenous fisheries are addressed within these documents. Phase 2 of the project focussed on the second objective which was to trial a methodology for conducting a risk assessment of the potential impacts of non-indigenous fisheries on Indigenous cultural fishing.
It will take time for the outcomes to have an impact on end users such as fisheries managers. However, there has already been some uptake of information from the project into fisheries decision making spaces. This has been achieved through information from the
audit being provided to a number of governmental reviews and inquiries over the past 3 years. For Indigenous end users’ findings from this section of the project will be communicated through a recently commenced FRDC project 2017-069 in the form of educational content and key messages developed through a new project the FRDC Indigenous Reference Group (IRG) is supporting to commence in 2019 (‘Identify and synthesizing key messages from IRG projects’).From Phase 1 of the project the research team recommends the development of a more comprehensive set of national Indigenous fishing principles to further guide the development, implementation and monitoring of Indigenous fisheries policy across all jurisdictions. The team also recommends the inclusion in all fisheries acts, across all jurisdictions, of an objective that specifically addresses Indigenous cultural fishing, provisions for the establishment of Indigenous fisheries advisory committees, the inclusion of provisions to identify, measure and address impacts of non-indigenous fisheries on Indigenous fisheries and provisions to protect and enhance Traditional Fishing Knowledge (TFK). The research team also recommends a review of the Commonwealth’s ESD guidelines to include a requirement for the assessment of the impacts of non-Indigenous fisheries on Indigenous cultural fishing.
The aim of Phase 2 of this project was to run a series of case study workshops for Indigenous fishing communities to test a methodology for making risk assessments of fisheries that was developed by Fletcher et al 2002. This methodology was used to assess
the potential risks posed by non-indigenous fisheries on Indigenous cultural fisheries.
Tactical Research Fund: using industry expertise to build a national standard for grading of live mud crabs
Differing interpretations of grading standards for live mud crabs between fishers and buyers is highly emotive and greatly impacts industry revenue and relationships throughout the supply chain. Live mud crabs are the Sydney Fish Market’s second most valuable product and one of its most problematic, mainly due to grading issues. The urgent need for national grading standards is illustrated by the high level of confusion existing within all industry sectors.
This is compounded by the current environmental conditions that created an oversupply and low mud crab prices at market. Recent floods resulted in old crab with little meat content entering the market in higher than normal proportions, as well as an abundance of newly moulted ‘empty’ crab that are more susceptible to mortality within the supply chain and are lower priced. With newly adopted improved handling practices, harvesters are looking for new markets and experiencing various grading interpretations.
Lack of consumer confidence in purchasing a ‘full' crab impacts industry revenue. Having purchased a crab with poor meat content, consumers are unlikely to purchase again.
There is overwhelming Industry support to develop a universal, objective, agreed and workable standard. To achieve this national standards needs to be developed to ensure all harvesters, buyers and marketers agree on consistent grading standard for live mud crab. Many currently active industry members indicated they are unclear of grading parameters for live mud crab.
With the Qld crab-review in progress, the development of grading standards is timely and will assist the transition to any adjusted management regime.
As the catch of mud crab is a major component of the recreational fishery in many jurisdictions it is important to educate them on how to tell if a crab would be best returned to the water.
Final report
This project lead to a large number of outcomes that provided significant benefit to the Australian live mud crab industry supply chain. These include:
- Agreement on an easy to use, national, industry-driven, grading scheme for live mud crabs (the Australian Industry Live Mud Crab Grading Scheme) and the development of a range of material to extend the scheme widely
- Industry ownership and support for the grading scheme has been evident, with many sectors, individuals and groups taking the scheme on board, including the Sydney Fish Market (SFM) adopting the Australian Live Mud Crab Grading Scheme as part of its grading guidelines.
- Improved revenue return to the supply chain through a reduction in downgraded live mud crab, resulting in maximum price per unit. Even though not formally adopted until December 2012, data indicates up to a $1.40/kg increase in value for properly graded product at the SFM since the forum.
- Supply chain partners have indicated greater consumer satisfaction and less disagreement due to the development of the extension material and easy to use grading scheme. With the formal launch of the scheme on 3rd December 2012, in conjunction with the SFM, the linking with key sector sites and groups, and all of the material going live, it is anticipated that as consumers become better informed in their decision making process when choosing mud crab, there will be elevated consumer confidence to buy premium quality, live mud crab, engendering more frequent purchases.
- The linking of project 2010/302 and this project has seen far greater utilisation of Research, Development and Extension (RD&E) resources along the supply chain. Six trips were undertaken jointly to meet with key people and groups along the supply chain (NT x 2, NSW x 2, Vic x 1, Qld x 1), and the linking of best handling and grading became intertwined. In addition, when work on either project has taken place by the individual project teams, the opportunity to cross reference the projects has allowed the combined knowledge of the projects to be further extended.
- The forum methodology, which focused on providing optimal input from industry, was extremely well supported and can serve as a template for future whole of supply chain meetings.
- The benefits of using professional media/design personnel as part of capturing outcomes from the workshop and developing extension material proved very successful and resulted in production of high quality, client focussed, targeted material.
Keywords: Mud crab, grading scheme, quality, facilitation, extension, industry, supply chain.