This proposal is part of a strategy co-ordinated by SEFAG and SEF Research Committee aimed at addressing the need for fishery independent survey data.

In order to address this broader need, SEFAG and SEFMAC Research Committee have identified two more immediate needs.

1. The need to build industry support for this initiative is paramount. As identified by SEF Research Committee, SEF industry members have little faith in the use of commercial catch rates as an index of abundance because they are substantially influenced by quota availability, market demands and environmental conditions. The concern that they express is that short term variability due to these factors will be interpreted and acted upon by managers as a change in actual abundance. In other countries where long-term industry-based surveys have been conducted, however, the fishery independent indices have made it possible to remove the influences of quota and market demand and quantify the impact of environmental variability on catch rates. This has made it possible, over time, to standardise survey catch rates for the impact of environmental effects. Exposing members of the SEF community to this international experience should go some way to addressing these concerns and building support.

2. If it is to succeed, there is a need to develop a cost-effective and statistically robust design for a long-term program of industry-based surveys. To build support and move towards implementation it is necessary to develop a survey design. Obviously any survey design needs to be cost-effective and capable of providing statistically robust indices of abundance. With an a agreed survey design members of the SEF community can start considering a concrete proposal for implementation and assessing the costs and benefits of proceeding with implementation.

Until the establishment of the SEF Industry Development Subprogram, there was a dearth of R&D projects focused on industry development for the SESSF. The Subprogram was established in 2000 and has since accessed over $700K in funding (of which almost half has been from sources external to FRDC) to increase the value of the fishery by value-adding to fish products, adopting new technologies and improving utilisation of catches. The current Subprogram project finishes in December 2003 but there are sufficient funds to extend its work until June 2004. Members of the Seafood Industry involved in the SESSF see the need for R&D into industry development projects to continue and are supporting the submission of this proposal to continue the Subprogram.

Many of the economic indicators for the commonwealth scalefish fisheries in south eastern Australia are poor. The low profitability in the fisheries is recognised by most operators in the catching sector and this has flow-on effects throughout the supply chain. Industry is now looking to investigate the impediments to economic efficiency in the fishery. To achieve the complementary outcomes of sustainability and economic benefits to the stakeholders in the SEF, a whole of chain approach to R&D is required (which is in accordance with government direction on R&D planning). Current practice focuses on the biology and fishery management which has precluded more innovative ways of adding value and meeting sustainability performance measures.

Recognising that catch levels are unlikely to increase in the future, fishers are looking for various options to improve profitability by increasing the value of their catch. This type of industry development is a primary goal of the SESSF Industry Development Subprogram.

By continuing to link groups of people in the seafood industry with expertise in the whole of supply chain, the Subprogram will continue to deliver the successful outcomes for the seafood industry involved in the SESSF. The through-chain approach being adopted by the Subprogram for industry development is continuing to attract interest from a wide range of stakeholders and will continue to be successful in accessing considerable funds that are not usually available to the seafood industry. For example, the Subprogram has recently accessed $10,000 to develop up a $500,000 through-chain market development and innovation project under the National Food Industry Strategy program. In this manner, the Subprogram easily pays for the initial investment it receives from the FRDC. Nevertheless, through the involvement of FRDC in various industry development projects under the Subprogram (eg. as an ASCo shareholder), the Subprogram intends to return dividends to the FRDC that will make the Subprogram cost neutral to the FRDC by the end of this project.