Oysters Australia has identified the need for development and delivery of a robust, ongoing mechanism to extend and build on outputs from Seafood CRC research.

The CRC RAC has indicated that it is interested in testing grower group models as extension and communication mechanisms for Seafood CRC research investments.

Discussions with oyster growers from Tasmania, SA and NSW indicate that many would value the support to form and establish such groups but lack the time or knowledge to do so effectively.

This project is designed to deliver against the dual CRC and industry needs indentified above by providing the necessary initial support to establish a number of oyster industry grower groups and to build into these groups the independent capability to maintain the on-going, peer-learning opportunities that grower groups can facilitate.

The project will report on and evaluate the success of trialing these grower groups.

On 25 October the Chair of the Fisheries Research and Development Corporation (FRDC), the Hon. Harry Woods, announced to the National Seafood Directions Conference that the results from the last community perception study of the seafood industry was poor and that something needed to be done to rectify this situation. As a result, Mr Woods announced that FRDC would pro-actively promote the results of research to the Australian community, media outlets and seafood consumers, and formally respond to factually incorrect media stories or information in the public arena.

Some activities are areas of work where a few stakeholders will work together. For example: + developing briefing notes on specific fishery issues, such as by-catch or interactions with non-target species.

This project supports this new FRDC direction.

The Pacific oyster virus (Ostreid Herpesvirus-1, OsHV-1) is a pathogen that has been regularly detected in France since 1991. The virus has generally been associated with Pacific oyster larval mortality in hatcheries and in Pacific oyster spat mortality outbreaks.

The recent incursion of the highly pathogenic OHsV-1 micro variant into New Zealand and NSW waters, leading to 80-100% mortality in weeks, has raised the very real prospect of this deadly oyster virus spreading to other Pacific oyster growing states.

This virus, if spread unchecked in Australia, has the potential to destroy the Pacific oyster aquaculture industry, which is currently worth about $65million in farm gate sales in SA, Tas and NSW.

There is an urgent need to collate and disseminate information regarding the source, transmission, pathogenicity, control and mitigation of this virus and its effects on farmed Pacific oysters.

This project has been developed to provide a considered response to that need.

This proposal is a response to an invitation to tender issued by the FRDC.

The Australian aquaculture and fisheries sectors are among the most diverse and geographically disparate to be managed under any national RD&E framework.

To plan and deliver effective and efficient RD&E services to industry, it is important that government and industry collaborate to understand current RD&E capability and capacity, and match that against current and likely industry demand.

In April 2005, Primary Industries Ministerial Council (PIMC) endorsed the concept of National research with Regional development and Local extension for Primary Industries in Australia. The concept recognises that basic and strategic research (R) can be provided from a distance, with regional adaptive development (D) and local extension (E) required to improve the uptake of innovation by industry.

Subsequently, in April 2006, PIMC agreed to a set of principles to facilitate further cooperation between agencies and industry for improving the efficiency and effectiveness of the national RD&E capability. These principles emphasise cooperation, information sharing, maintaining funding, access to capability and reporting.

It was decided that the implementation of the framework would be lead by the relevant Research and Development Corporation supported by Primary Industry Standing Committee (PISC) agencies. A meeting of the PISC Research and Development Sub-Committee and the Council of Research and Development Corporation Chairs on 8 July 2008 ratified that the Fisheries Research Development Corporation (FRDC) and PISC agencies of South Australia, Victoria and Tasmania would take the lead in developing a national research, development and extension framework for the fisheries and aquaculture industries.

The framework will be implemented through an assessment of the status of the relevant industries, the completion of an RD&E capability audit (this project), identification of national RD&E priorities and development of a strategy to guide RD&E investment and capability development nationally.