The urgency to develop a comprehensive and practical reporting system has increased substantially in recent years. The requirement for assessments include the need for third party Government Auditing that will result from the proposals by Environment Australia (EA) to amend schedule 4 of the Wildlife Protection (REI) Act (1982) along with the imminent introduction of the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act in July 2000 and the implementation of the Oceans Policy strategies. There are also requirements within each jurisdiction to meet general government commitments to ESD and particularly when these are explicitly part of their Fisheries Legislation. Finally there are also recent developments associated with industry wanting to either gain market access or provide increased leverage for their products from gaining environmental accreditation. Thus, there are a large number of reasons why assessments need to be completed. There is an even greater need to ensure that the reporting schemes developed are sufficiently comprehensive to restrict the level of duplication.

The Standing Committee on Fisheries and Aquaculture (SCFA) identified the need to actively progress the development of nationally agreed criteria and indicators that would enable fisheries managers to report against all the principles of ecologically sustainable development (ESD). The ESD objective is now explicitly or implicitly part of State and Commonwealth fisheries management legislation. There are a number of components related to ESD within the fisheries context, these include the target species, the ecosystem, social and economic issues and also management arrangements. Not all of these components are of interest or are addressed in each of the identified requirements listed above. Thus, in the assessments required by Environment Australia the only components addressed are the target species, the ecosystem and management arrangements. This is similar to the assessments required under the Marine Stewardship Council. Assessments for ISO 14000 and Codes of Conduct only cover management arrangements. However, to fully meet the commitment to ESD, all components will need to be assessed. Consequently the proposed SCFA process will cover all aspects of ESD. These comprehensive assessments should nonetheless incorporate the aspects required for these other requirements.

The SCFA Working Group has been established to steer the development of ESD criteria and indicators with the support of the SCFA Research Committee, who have developed a system for ESD reporting. The Working Group has agreed on an approach and timetable that would result in a report on the application of nationally agreed criteria and indicators for all Australian fisheries by mid 2001.

The Working Group approach includes 3 key research tasks that support their objectives, which require funding:
1. Application of draft criteria and framework using case studies
2. An SCFA workshop based around the case studies
3. An “Initial National Application” report of the ESD criteria and indicators for Australian fisheries

The urgency to progress this approach was raised at the ESD Stakeholder Workshop that was held in Geelong during March 2000. All stakeholder groups were represented at this workshop and they all recognised that there was a strong need to progress from the current situation to one where reporting on all components of ESD can be completed.

Endorsement was obtained from all sectors for the SCFA approach. There were, however, clear indications that effective consultation and participation from stakeholders were required during the project to ensure that the results will obtain national recognition and support. Consequently, a Reference Group will be established that will include representatives from Environment Australia, Commercial Fisheries, Aquaculture, Recreational fisheries, Indigenous groups, FRDC, Environmental groups and other relevant experts. The Reference Group would work in partnership with the SCFA Working Group to assist in the coordination and exchange of information. It was also suggested that this Reference Group along with selected memebrs of the SCFA Working Group could act as a resource for other relevant ESD projects (e.g. 2000/358).

Finally, the workshop resulted in the development of the appropriate linkages between the members of the SCFA proposal, which is primarily concerned with the development of effective ESD reporting mechanisms, with the proponents of the other ESD projects such as FRDC 2000/358 which is designed to assist industry develop better, more environmentally credible methods of operation. These discussions resulted in the agreement as to how the two projects can benefit each other.