Commercial fishing is one of the most energy intensive food production methods today and the Australian industry consumes approximately 205 million litres of diesel fuel per annum. The fishing industry needs to radically improve the energy efficiency of its operations primarily due to the rising cost of fuel and its effect on operating margins. The recent rapid increase in cost of diesel has reduced margins to such a low level that it is rapidly becoming uneconomical for operators to continue to trade. This has significant flow-on effects down the whole production-processing-retail chain.

In addition there is a global need to reduce the emissions of oxides of nitrogen (NOx) and carbon dioxide (CO2) from fossil fuel combustion. The global fisheries industries emit annually more than 130 million tonnes of CO2 into the atmosphere.

Trawling is a very energy intensive fishing method, for example Australian prawn trawlers incur fuel costs of approximately 35% of total production costs. The use of alternative auxiliary powering systems, such as sails, has the potential to radically reduce fuel consumption by a combination of providing supplementary propulsive thrust and reducing vessel motions and consequent drag.

Several fishers in Australia have installed sails onto their vessels with the aim of reducing fuel consumption, but no investigations have been conducted to ascertain the effect the auxiliary systems actually have on fuel consumption, performance and costs. The results from an energy audit on such a vessel would provide valuable information to other fishers on the benefits, or otherwise, of fitting such a system to their vessel.

The need for this work was highlighted by the results from recent FRDC sponsored energy audits of fishing vessels. The 1st International Symposium on Energy Efficiency in Fishing was held in May 2010 and clearly emphasised the need for continuing RD&E in this area.

The CRC has a significant investment in abalone production from both aquaculture and wild catch sectors. This project will address two needs across this broad suite of projects.

The first is to engage with national and international industry members, researchers and managers, working on similar topics elsewhere in the world to avoid repetition of existing and future research, learn from their experiences, and to ensure that CRC research is cutting edge.
The second is to enhance the outcomes from these projects through engaging with and communicating to numerous national and international stakeholders.

The forum proposed here is a cost effective opportunity to address these needs for CRC projects on abalone for both production sectors. It will be held as part of the 8th International Abalone Symposium in Hobart in May 2012 so that research and participants from elsewhere can be part of the sessions.

The CRC Forum will run over at least a single day to encourage participation of industry at a conference that would otherwise be dominated by academics. Funding sought here is to subsidise industry attendance to increase participation.

The forum will be based on areas of CRC research activity:
1) Reseeding workshop
2) Marketing session
3) SnailBASE workshop
4) Aquaculture nutrition session