1 - Recreatiopnal Fishing - As identified at the 2012 Recreational Fishing Conference, the vast majority of recreational fishing is inshore. The Conference agreed that habitat protection and repair was one of its four priorities.
RESPONSE- This project spports this priority with the objective of collecting and disseminating in clear and unambiguous terms the loss of inshore productivity due to habitat decline and thence the opportunity for productivity improvement with habitat repair.

2 - Aquaculture - A recent FRDC project developing an Oyster Portal for the oyster industry has clearly identified the decline in Sydney Rock production, much of which can be directly attributed to habitat loss/ net primary productivity decline.
RESPONSE - SRO will be included as one of the indicator fisheries. Growing technology has improved, demand for product is high but production continues to decline.

3 - Commercial Fishing - The Coorong fishery, the prawn fisheries and the barramundi fishery have all been interacting with the PI seeking repair of inshore productivity. All have specific areas of habitat repair and legitimate proposals - eg Burdekin floodplain - over 1500 bunds prohibiting barramundi accessing previous estuarine to freshwater systems; eg Coorong- proposals to maximise the benefits of the increased fresh water in the Murray.
RESPONSE - barramundi, school prawns and coorong fishery will all be case studies

4 - Investor Interest - the Australian Government is keen to invest its Biodiversity Fund in major repair works to theAustralian landscape.
RESPONSE - The companion FRDC funded Business case for habitat repair will suggest a major program of about $300M, including about $10M for further research. This small investment will collate and promate summary facts and figures on the productivity declinne in Australia's estuary fisheries and therefore the benefits of inshore habitat repair.

Abalone culture is a rapidly expanding industry, both in Australia and other countries, where sea-based growout systems are common. Presently the most successful commercial abalone farming operations in Australia are land based, although there is a trend towards the establishment of sea based operations in South Australia, Victoria, Western Australia and possibly New South Wales, in addition to the established operations in Tasmania. The establishment of a successful sea cage abalone culture industry depends primarily on overcoming the problems of high mortality due to mudworm. Successful establishment of this sector of the abalone culture industry, in Tasmania and elsewhere, will enhance the stability and viability of abalone culture in Australia, enabling better competitiveness with overseas producers.

Sea cage culture offers a lower capital investment strategy to a land based operation, and is therefore the best option for some small operators. In addition it represents a cost effective alternative for grow out of larger stock produced in land based operations. The involvement of three of Tasmania's largest salmon producers in sea cage abalone culture is indicative of the potentially valuable means of diversification for existing marine farmers that sea cage abalone farming represents. Additionally, sea based culture represents the most viable means of long term culture of abalone necessary for the production of large animals for products such as pearls.

Mudworm infestation also affects land based operations, causing elevated mortality levels, and reduced growth. In addition, other cultured molluscs, particularly oysters, are prone to mudworm infestation. Advances in mudworm control through improved management strategies will therefore assist the viability of these industries.

Any strategic approach to the control of mudworm, with or without the use of chemotherapeutants, will need to be based on an overall management approach. Consideration will need to be given to such factors as the ecological and hydrodynamic characteristics of sites, the design, placement and maintenance of cages, husbandry practices and management of stock. Clearly the development of such a strategy requires substantial baseline data on the epidemiology of the parasite and the biology of the host/parasite interaction, an area in which there is currently a paucity of information.