Sharing the Fish06 Conference was held from 26 February – 2 March 2006 and preceded by the FAO Pre Conference Workshop on 23 – 24 February 2006.

Sharing the Fish06 Conference was an initiative of the Department of Fisheries Western Australia.  The aim of the conference was to focus on resource allocation and the sustainability of fisheries and to provide a neutral and objective forum for the multi-disciplinary discussion of the elements of effective allocation of fisheries resources to ensure their sustainability.  Sharing the Fish06 Conference aimed to build on the property rights concept and take forward the issue of resource allocation and sustainability in fisheries.

The fundamental question to be addressed by the conference was "How may fisheries managers and policy makers go about considering, undertaking, and implementing the allocation of fish resources to ensure their sustainability, be these issues considered at the stakeholder, local, national, international or regional level?

The FAO Pre Conference Workshop on 23 – 24 February 2006 was attended by over 100 people and was successful in providing a grounding on allocation concepts for participants.

A total of 321 people attended conference and workshop (representing 321 people, from about 40 countries).  This attendance was weighted towards developed countries as potential participants from developing countries could not obtain travel sponsorship and the conference funding was not designed to address this gap.  

FRDC requested a special session that focused on issues and solutions for resource sharing in Australia.  Over 100 people attended this session.

Sharing the Fish06 Conference was successful in meeting its objectives and received considerable positive feedback from participants about the quality of both the intellectual content and the organisation.  Proceedings will be published by the Department of Fisheries Western Australia.