Designing the integration of extension into research projects: tangible pathways to enhance adoption and impact
Storm Bay Biogeochemical Modelling & Information System Supporting sustainable aquaculture expansion in Tasmania
SCRC: The Seafood CRC skills audit and articulation into the National Seafood Industry Training Package
Estimating the impacts of management changes on bycatch reduction and sustainability of high-risk bycatch species in the Queensland East Coast Otter Trawl Fishery
Seafood CRC: preliminary investigation of internationally recognised Responsible Fisheries Management Certification
Sydney Fish Market, along with the many wholesalers and cooperatives that trade in Australian seafood, is constantly having its product supply eroded due to increasing restrictions on commercial fishing operations. Over the last 10 years the introduction of recreational fishing havens and State and
Commonwealth marine parks, such as the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park, has resulted in access to Australian wild caught seafood being constantly under threat. There is a strong belief that this is due to a popular perception that fisheries are not being sustainably managed and therefore require additional
protection.
With the environmental and fisheries management controls in place through the EPBC Act and Commonwealth and State fisheries management legislation, the industry view is that fisheries are well managed and sustainable.
Environmental NGOs’ public campaigns are causing considerable pressure for change in Australia. This has led to extensive negative media coverage about the industry and consequently increased the risk of further closures to fisheries through the erosion of community and political support. This
negative media is also putting businesses along the supply chain like SFM, on the defensive regarding sustainability of the seafood that they sell.
Final report
The FAO Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries and FAO Guidelines for the Eco-labelling of Fish and Fishery Products from Marine Capture Fisheries represent internationally negotiated documents that represent consensus on the criteria for responsibly managed fisheries. These ‘tools’ form the basis of a number of private standards that are used for the certification of fisheries; including Marine Stewardship Council, Alaska FAO Based Responsible Fisheries Management (RFM) Certification and Iceland Responsible Fisheries Management Certification.
This project investigated the feasibility of an FAO Based RFM Certification for Australia by testing on two NSW fisheries using the Conformance Criteria Version 1.2 which has been used in Alaska RFM fisheries certification.
The first phase of the project was a general desk top review of the consistency of Australian and Commonwealth fisheries management systems against the Conformance Criteria. As anticipated, the review demonstrated that there were no fundamental reasons why Australian fisheries management could not utilise FAO criteria as a basis for fisheries certification. The next step was to assess whether the Conformance Criteria were applicable at the fishery-level.
Compatibility assessment studies were carried out on two NSW fisheries which displayed varying degrees of complexity (species, gears, locations) in order to test the extremities of the FAO Based Conformance Criteria. The studies centred on testing how suitable both the FAO Based Conformance Criteria and the current accredited assessment procedures were for use for the assessment of Australian State fisheries.
SCRC: Seafood CRC Participant sponsorship to 2009 National Seafood Industry Leadership Program
The CRC is all about capacity building within the CRC participants and the FRDC Seafood Leadership Program enables the opportunity to invest in people who are keen to show their leadership potential. Investing in Leadership, and the associated networks and cross stakeholder understanding is seen as vitally important for all sectors to be able to contribute to debate, drive change and address challenges in order to enable the Seafood CRC and the industry to reach its potential.
Final report
The National Seafood Industry Leadership Program (NSILP) equips individuals with skills; networks and; a whole of industry perspective, giving them the opportunity to represent their industry and to make a contribution at a national level in the future. The program comprises three residential sessions over six months with participants making a commitment to undertake a significant industry project during that time. The NSILP design focuses on creating effective linkages between current leaders and participants through mentoring, industry information sessions and participation at program dinners. Fisheries Research and Development Corporation has formed a partnership with Rural Training Initiatives to design and deliver the NSILP.
The NSILP is the only national seafood industry specific leadership program and was initially designed in consultation with seafood industry people through the work of the Australian Fisheries Academy and was delivered for seven years by Leading Industries. The course focuses on developing the skills that participants can apply at three levels – personal, business and industry. The NSILP also requires participants to be involved in a nationally strategic project. The content of the program ensures that participants are exposed to handling conflict, effective communication, efficient meetings, high performance team building, managing change and media training. As part of the NSILP, participants are challenged with having to develop a project concept or strategies that will help achieve not only their vision for the seafood community but their mission for the group over the six month program.
In 2009, three Australian Seafood CRC participants were involved in the NSILP: Anni Conn (Seafarm Aquaculture); Joey McKibben (Tasmanian Abalone Council) and Nick Danenberg (Seafood CRC Post-Doctoral researcher).