There is need for a coordinated, nationally consistent approach to developing harvest strategies for Australian fisheries. The Commonwealth Harvest Strategies Policy and Guidelines (2007) provide a foundation for harvest strategy development in Commonwealth managed fisheries. AFMF has identified the need to build upon these strategies to encompass fisheries managed by both Commonwealth and State Governments. The proposed project will deliver an agreed set of overarching principles for Harvest Strategies across Australia.

Presently, the key elements of harvest strategies (defined objectives, indicators, assessments, reference points, trigger points and decision rules) vary in their implementation across jurisdictions. There are also gaps for some mixed sector fisheries where recreational or indigenous sectors dominate and/or commercial fisheries have low data.

The AFMF, in consultation with FRDC, recognise:
- There is a common objective of ESD across jurisdictions
- Harvest Strategies need to balance flexibility (to allow for changing circumstances) with providing certainty for how a fishery will be managed
- Harvest Strategies for shared/straddling stocks need further consideration and collaboration across jurisdictions to enhance stock management and data sharing
- A multi-jurisdictional harvest strategy for a shared stock will assist fisheries managers, industry and others with facilitating trade between states and managing the impacts of climate change.
- There are common challenges across jurisdictions to develop and apply harvest strategies in data poor fisheries; and incorporating non-commercial sectors into harvest strategies.
- Further work is required to include economic goals and indicators in harvest strategies, and subsequently on economic data collection
- Further work is required to identify recreational and social objectives and indicators.

The proposed project will focus on components of fisheries management considered less developed than other areas. These areas are:
- Cross-jurisdictional fisheries management arrangements
- Recreational fisheries management arrangements
- Incorporating triple bottom line analysis into fisheries management decision-making

The indigenous development scholarship is part of the suite of professional development opportunities developed and managed through the FRDC people development program. This particular scholarship addresses the following objectives of the people development program 2008-2013:

Objective 1 Enhance industry leadership within all sectors
and; Objective 3 Provide opportunities for knowledge transfer and R&D adoption

The significant drivers identified in the FRDC people development program, addressed by this project
are:
- There is a shortage of industry leaders in all sectors of the fishing industry.
- There is an urgent need to develop people within all sectors who have the skills to effectively contribute to debate and policy development for significant challenges, including access to fish resources.
-Early career researchers and emerging industry leaders lack opportunities for formal mentoring and
professional development.
-There is a shortage of opportunities for people in industry to develop skills that are going to directly
improve business profitability and sustainability.
-The industry is geographically dispersed and fragmented, and needs opportunities to learn within and
across sectors.