Developing basic frameworks for the collection and reporting of fisheries economic data is necessary to
i) provide input into planned future versions of the national fisheries status report and
ii) at the state level, support the MEY-based approaches and associated target reference points that are increasingly being incorporated in fisheries management plans and harvest strategies.

Business as usual has caused the problem we seek to address. Australian estuaries and wetlands have been under-valued and much of their ecological function has been lost due to a multitude of small, past decisions coupled with a lack of understanding of their importance and community benefits.

Connectivity loss is an issue across Australia - eg road bridges, causeways, tidal barrages, culverts, ponded pastures, bund walls. As an example, GBRMPA has mapped in excess of 1500 barriers to fish passage just in the Burdekin catchment.

These various barriers have been constructed in times past when knowledge was lacking. We now as a community appreciate the many values of coastal ecosystems and generally the community supports their repair as a means of addressing the legacy of past decisions.

At the same time, a note of caution is necessary. in many cases there has been irrevocable loss. The art form in this Australia-wide Plan will be to identify the "easy wins" - where other public or private assets are not substantially at risk, the benefits well outweigh the costs and the overwhelming community asttitude supports repair works.

Despite overwhelming support for industry investment to implement the national prawn market development strategy developed by Brand Council (CRC 2011/736), a major aligned industry concern was the inconsistent quality of, in particular wild caught prawns, and how this inconsistency may have the potential to negatively impact the market development activities. The Australian wild catch prawn industry is widely distributed and characterised by variation in geography, target species, operating/harvest systems, size of vessel and operator capabilities. Additionally, there can be high staff turnover, language and cultural differences and literacy issues. This leads to inconsistent product harvesting, brining, cooling, preserving, packaging and grading and/or inappropriate processing, which causes inconsistent product quality. Such quality issues can be exacerbated by poor handling at both retailer and consumer level.

While prawn quality standards have previously been created, there has been little integration, acceptance or uptake of these standards and associated training by indutry More often, standards have been created at fishery, company and vessel level, or are at the request of down chain partners. With considerable industry investment to both develop and implement the national Australian prawn strategy, there is now a greater incentive for the production of a consistent quality product to underpin the Australian prawn strategy messages/activities and ensure the best possible prawn experience for consumers.