Seafood CRC: innovation in traceability for the Australian seafood industry” Austral Fisheries/Northern Prawn fishery case study
Seafood CRC: A community intervention approach to increasing seafood consumption.
Value for money: There is a need to overcome the barriers to seafood consumption, particularly those cited in the general seafood consumption (Ruello, 2000) and the peri-natal seafood consumption studies conducted in Perth (McManus et al, BMC Public Health 2007). Establishing regular seafood consumption as a healthy, cost effective dietary option has the potential to impact upon short and long-term health, both in the general population and in those with specific health conditions. This study aims to develop strategies to increase seafood consumption by targeting specific sectors of the population (e.g. children, consumers) and groups with specific health conditions (e.g. pregnancy, diabetes, heart disease, obesity). The project should result in increased seafood consumption with concomitant increases in value for the seafood industry.
Level of Impact: The condition/sector educational resources will be developed in user-friendly formats/programs to meet the needs of each of the specific target groups and to ensure maximum uptake. For example, condition specific resources will be in formats that facilitate discussion between general practitioners and clients to promote seafood as part of a healthy diet. They will also be extended through relevant representative bodies (e.g. WAGP Network, Diabetes Council, Heart Foundation). Resources for schools will be developed in line with existing curriculum frameworks across a range of disciplines and piloted through existing and relevant educational programs. Resources will be initially developed at a state level with the potential to be extended nationally through existing links.
Final report
The Community Intervention to Increase Seafood Consumption (CIISC) Project aimed to translate the most up-to-date evidence around the health benefits of regular seafood consumption into a suite of resources and educational programs specific to the needs of various sectors within the community. The resources were then trialled and evaluated in a single community to determine whether seafood consumption in that community is significantly altered through access to the developed resources.
The project followed a participatory action research model with each stage of the research informing the subsequent stages, thus ensuring the outcomes were relevant to the end users.
Seafood CRC: Centre of Excellence Science Seafood & Health (CESSH): Post Harvest Research Program
The seafood industry is facing unprecedented challenges (WAFIC 2020 Strategy, FRDC R&D 2015). The networks established by CESSH have laid a strong foundation to attract national and international investment partners. For the first time, the whole industry along the supply chain and post harvest is working together to achieve outcomes that benefit the WA (and national seafood industry) and the health of the Australian population. It is essential that the industry is able to remain viable and indeed grow, within the constraints of an ever changing economic, technological and food security landscape. There is a need for a continued go-to place that the industry can access to gain support to develop new products, investigate novel and improved means of harvest, reduce production costs and provide evidence of the value of consuming seafood. CESSH needs to build on existing strong capacity areas and establish expertise in areas that are currently not available in WA to service the growing and diverse needs of industry. This could afford industry a point of difference in the provision of world class support to answer research and science questions that impact on growth, quality or profitability in a timely fashion, an essential service for a primary industry.
Final report
Policy Research, Research Advisory Service and Education, Communication and Extension. However, in reviewing the research, many of the outputs were common to several of the programs so will be reported in this way rather than under each sub-program.
Enhancing the understanding of the value provided to fisheries by man-made aquatic structures
Passive acoustic techniques to monitor aggregations of sound producing fish species
Seafood CRC: new opportunities for underutilised species
Approximately 25,000 tonnes of finfish is not harvested in Australia each year, even though operators are licensed to do so. This is because the fish have a low market value (leatherjacket), are difficult to process (Boarfish), are very fragile and require an exacting supply chain to reach the market in satisfactory condition (sardines, Australian Salmon) or are harvested from remote areas with inadequate support infrastructure. Additional tonnage is harvested but directed to low value products such as pet food, bait and aquaculture feed (sardines, mackerel, silver warehou, bonito tuna). There are also areas (e.g. Western Deep Trawl) where little is know about the fishery resource and potential
for commercialization. And there are also fish discarded after being caught due to low market value or insufficient space for storage. Each of these under-utilised species can be used to produce high quality, fresh and processed products that could help meet the increasing demand for seafood.