During the past three years there has been an increasing interest in and understanding among licensee Associations of the role that environmental performance is playing in the future viability of wild catch fisheries in the Northern Territory.

There are now 8 Associations/Licencee Groups that want to develop Codes of Practice for their fisheries and at least 3 wish to progress to full environmental management systems at this stage, with more considering this.

With the predominantly negative media coverage of the fishing industry in the Northern Territory, the realization of these initiatives by industry will go a significant way towards changing its image within major sections of the community. At the same time, it will facilitate industry’s wish to ensure that it continues to sustainably harvest product as the industry further develops. The initiatives are in line with the strategic management directions of the NT Government.

The difficulty facing industry is that the Seafood Council, which administers all the Associations, does not have the staff to adequately assist these developments. The Seafood Council strongly believes that the relatively small investments over two years to fund a dedicated person to drive the developments at a detailed practical level will pay dividends worth many times the investments for industry, the Northern Territory community and the aquatic resources and ecosystems in waters adjacent to the Northern Territory.

In 2000, FRDC funded a project to develop and trial a model for a National Seafood Industry Advanced Leadership Program. Since then approximately 100 people have graduated from the Advance in Seafood Leadership Development Program, significantly enhancing the leadership capacity of the seafood industry.

The current provider contract expires at the end of 2007, and the FRDC is looking toward a review of it's leadership development investments in 2008.

There is a real risk that the significant investments made by FRDC and numerous other program sponsors will be lost if a seafood leadership program is not continued into the future. In the longer term this could potentially lead to a lack of appropriately skilled people to take over representative roles at the national level.

It is therefore opportune to take stock of the previous course and identify areas for improvement to ensure that future leadership programs continue to meet the needs of the seafood industry, and to condiser the establishment of an alumni of past participants to allow effective engagement by the industry. An alumnus would also ensure graduates remain connected and receive continued support from the industry to enable them to develop into leaders.

By developing strategies to encourage industry participation in leadership training it will enhance the leadership capacity of industry. There is also an identified need to have linkages to additional training for graduates.

These key issues and the recent enhancement of the people development program within FRDC, mean that the need for a ‘taking stock’ workshop is timely.

Under the people development program, this project will assist in meeting long-term demand for people who will help the fishing industry meet its future needs and develop leaders among those within and supporting the industry.