52 results

Status of Australian Fish Stocks (SAFS) reports 2020, and further development of the SAFS production and dissemination system

Project number: 2019-149
Project Status:
Current
Budget expenditure: $1,385,631.49
Principal Investigator: Toby P. Piddocke
Organisation: Fisheries Research and Development Corporation (FRDC)
Project start/end date: 14 Nov 2019 - 29 Jun 2021
Contact:
FRDC
TAGS
Stock Assessment
Fisheries Management
Data

Need

The current application is to produce the SAFS reports in 2020 and address strategic issues outlined above. In order to ensure the continuation of SAFS beyond 2020, it is essential for jurisdictions to develop ownership of the reports and to embed SAFS processes in core business, and for efficiencies in production and report management to continue to progress. A parallel project to develop jurisdictional reporting services is also underway to assist jurisdiction develop their jurisdictional chapters. As documented in the independent audit of SAFS 2016 (FRDC project 2016-143), the process of compiling SAFS on a co-operative basis between FRDC, Australian government agencies and all fisheries jurisdictions has led to greater joint collaboration, as well as transfers of methodologies and processes, to deliver higher quality and more credible stock status reporting which can be accessed nationally and internationally, as well as assisting in policy decisions regarding changes to particular fisheries management arrangements and in research priorities. Primary drivers for National reporting of the SAFS include: (i) the State of the Environment Report 2011, i.e., ‘lack of a nationally integrated approach inhibits effective marine management’; (ii) a recommendation of the House of Representatives Inquiry into the Role of Science for Fisheries and Aquaculture (Netting the Benefits Report 2012), i.e., ‘producing national status report regularly’; (iii) the Australian Fisheries Management Forum national statement of intent, i.e. a key outcome of ‘Goal 1’ is the National Status of Australian Fish Stocks Report; (iv) the National Fishing and Aquaculture Strategy 2015–20, i.e., ‘Goal 1’ of this strategy will be partially measured by an increased number of fisheries assessed as environmentally sustainable in the Status of Australian Fish Stocks Reports (this includes reducing the number of stocks assessed as uncertain); (v) the FRDC RD&E Plan 2015–20, i.e., key targets for deliverables against National Priority One include (i) “Increase the number of species to 200 in the national Status of Australian Fish Stocks Reports” and (ii) “Reduce the number of species classified as ‘undefined’ from the current figure of approximately

Objectives

1. Continue to develop a set of robust and consistent national stock status reports and a strong sense of report ownership by jurisdictions
2. To produce a fifth edition of the SAFS reports in 2020
3. Increase the number of species in SAFS to provide a comprehensive coverage of species of interest to stakeholder groups that will refer to the reports for information on sustainability and management success.
4. Reduction in the number (percentage) of species classified as 'undefined' where possible using data-poor assessment methodology
Environment
Industry
Environment
Industry
Environment
Industry
PROJECT NUMBER • 2021-083
PROJECT STATUS:
CURRENT

Developing the tools and articulating the value proposition for genomic selection in Pacific Oyster selective breeding

To understand the opportunities and value in carbon neutral certification for the Australian oyster industry, FRDC and Oysters Australia commissioned NineSquared Pty Ltd to outline the current policy climate, pathways to certification and knowledge gaps limiting opportunity...
ORGANISATION:
Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies (IMAS) Hobart
TAGS
Artificial Intelligence
SPECIES
Pacific Oyster

Capability and Capacity: Nuffield Australia Scholarships

Project number: 2016-407
Project Status:
Current
Budget expenditure: $504,500.00
Principal Investigator: Jodie Redcliffe
Organisation: Nuffield Australia
Project start/end date: 2 May 2016 - 30 Mar 2029
Contact:
FRDC
TAGS
Wild Catch
Supply &Amp; Demand
Stock Assessment
Stakeholder
Software

Need

The Nuffield Scholarship program relates to the 'People' section of FRDC's RD&E program, needed to attract and advance people who will lead fishing and aquaculture towards a sustainable and profitable future. The FRDC has taken a strong role in this area, facilitating access to leadership development for all sectors of fishing and aquaculture.

Unlike many capacity building programs that place focus on working within communities in their own environments, Nuffield Australia seeks to break the cycle of everyday life in primary production. The approach is to organise and facilitate international study tours that allow participants to break away from their normal routine and gain a global perspective on how other producers around the world operate their businesses and apply leadership in their industry.

A Nuffield Scholarship targets young primary producers who are already on the leading edge of production practices and technology uptake in their respective communities in Australia. The program is necessary to further enhance those individuals’ skills, elevate their status as role models and innovative leaders amongst their own broader community, thus having a ripple effect that goes far beyond their immediate participation.

Objectives

1. To build the capacity of the fisheries industry to overcome the challenges of a global and internationally competitive environment through the provision of FRDC support for five Nuffield Farming Scholarships over the next five years.

Report

Author: Steven Davies
Report • 2.41 MB
2016-407-DLD Steven Davies Nuffield Report.pdf

Summary

The Australian seafood industry has a long and proud history of employment of very sound environmental and economic management principles which have made it the envy of much of the world. 

An altogether robust Australian seafood industry is hyper critical to the social and economic fabric of the coastal communities it supports, and it is vital this industry is maintained and – wherever possible – continually developed in a way which brings the best possible outcomes for all vested parties.

In an age of social media and 24-hour news cycles, it may be argued the Australian seafood industry and its general social licence to operate finds itself under increasing levels of attack. It is at times easy to consider there is more fearmongering than fishmongering occurring in this new age, and it is vital that the industry takes effective and collaborative steps to ensure that public perceptions pertaining to the industry are in line with the reality of the generally responsible way in which it operates. 

The author visited nine countries as part of this research, including commercial fishing operations, aquaculture ventures, general agribusinesses, peak representative bodies, wholesalers, retailers, third-party certifiers and financial institutions in both developing and developed nations. The aim of the study was to understand the importance of maintenance of an industry’s social licence to operate, whilst considering consumer confidence, modern markets, investor confidence, key motivators, brand development, politically motivated policy settings and general public perception.

It is very clear that maintenance of an intangible, but critical, social licence to operate must be a key and ongoing consideration for any business, industry peak body, regulatory body, or other organisation. For an industry such as the Australian seafood industry - which relies absolutely on its right to access public resources - maintenance and development of public perceptions around the socially responsible nature of its operations is fundamental.

This report is in part an anthropological study generated from countless meetings, interviews, observations and individual and collective viewpoints. It aims to explore the concept of the social licence to operate (SLO), why it is important, how it can impact on a business or brand and steps which can be taken to ensure a business maintains it.

Project products

Report • 1.70 MB
2016-407 Glen Wormald report.pdf

Summary

Nursery systems are additional phases in the culture of prawns between larval production at the hatchery and final grow out in the pond. 

Introducing nursery phases to Australian prawn production offers greater control over the crop for longer periods of time. Greater control affords the farmer the ability to manipulate growing environments and to more effectively assess production by way of efficiencies.

Post larval care in nursery tanks or raceways can improve the quality of the stock that is put into the ponds by benefiting from:

  • Access to the post larvae (PL) for assessment of health and development
  • High quality commercial nursery diets
  • Reducing water management costs
  • Maintaining optimal water conditions
  • Improving biosecurity
  • Protecting stock from predation

Growing PL to be bigger and stronger in nursery environments means that the animal gets a head start in the pond. Bigger, stronger PL are more tolerant of the stresses of the pond environment and stocking these improved PL can result in improved pond production.

Report • 2019-04-30 • 1.87 MB
2016-407 Jonas Woolford report.pdf

Summary

This report gives an overview of the world’s wild harvest abalone fisheries, how they are managed, and the findings of what stock enhancement has been occurring. The countries explored are Australia, New Zealand, Japan, USA and the Republic of South Africa. Hong Kong and The Peoples Republic of China was also visited to explore the market for abalone and customers’ perceptions of hatchery spawned but wild raised abalone.   

The world’s wild abalone fisheries production is declining while abalone aquaculture production has been increasing. Australia’s wild harvest abalone production remained relatively stable since the commercial dive fishery started in the 1950’s until about 2010. Total allowable commercial catch (TACC), commonly called quotas, were implemented in all harvesting regions by the mid to late 1980’s. Successful abalone recruitment is the key issue for a sustainable fishery. There was a low biomass post the implementation of quotas but now fishing pressure was controlled and reduced. A slow recovery occurred from a low spawning biomass until very good recruitments in the late 1990’s, from 2002 to 2006 there was a large spawning biomass on the reefs, the largest it had been for 15 years; recovery was occurring.

Unfortunately, since 2010, despite the large spawning biomass and controlled fishing pressure, production has decreased at an alarming rate. What is happening to recruitment? Why are the abalone larvae not surviving? How can it be overcome? Something is happening when the abalone are in their early larval and settlement stage, at their most vulnerable stage. Can they be nursed through this stage in a hatchery, reseed them when they are stronger and enhance the reefs and commercial production? These questions were the motivation to visit the world’s wild harvest abalone countries. 

Abalone stock enhancement is in its infancy, except for Japan where 30 plus years of stock enhancement sees 30% of their total annual harvest consisting of seeded abalone that achieves a survival rate of 10-15% of what is released. All other countries have undertaken experiments, some for decades with varying results. Further research particularly around the ecology of release areas and large scale projects are needed to determine and improve success. This will be long-term investment requiring substantial money and resources. It is therefore crucial that there is confidence in government to provide protection to the reseeded abalone from any external factors which may interfere with the abalones’ survival. 

Not all locations will be conducive to successful stock enhancement and keeping the handling of the juvenile abalone to a minimum is important for survival. No release method stands out as the most successful. The ideal release size appears to be about 30 millimetres shell length. This size is the best because of genetic fitness. The juvenile abalone is strong enough to not succumb to the environmental factors inhibiting recruitment in the first place and is small enough not to be too domesticated from being raised in a hatchery. 

Genetic diversity contributes to the genetic fitness and the brood stock parents consisting of tens of males and tens of females should be sourced from the area the juveniles are intended to be released to achieve the greatest survival. The parents should be replaced after each spawning season.  

Stock enhancement, combined with resting areas, will be the best way to rebuild the biomass of abalone on the reefs and therefore commercial production.  Utilising technology in a fully transparent commercial fishery will be the way to monitor and manage harvesting pressure to find optimum efficiency, quality and reef production.

A recommendation from the market is to tell the story of successful stock enhancement whereby the sustainability of abalone stocks is being ensured.

Report • 1.10 MB
Tom Robinson Nuffield Report_FINAL.pdf

Summary

In a world where the general population relies so heavily on smartphones and tablets to perform day to day tasks such as banking or checking the weather, the commercial fishing industry has been stubbornly slow to adopt electronic reporting in their businesses. 

As a consequence, fishing regulators around the world are forcing industry to move toward electronic reporting, often against their will. In many cases, regulators are reverting to tactics such as charging for paper-based submissions in an attempt to force this change. Even this rather blunt approach has failed to meet its objective, with many operators hanging on to paper for as long as they possibly can.

This report explores the reasons behind this reluctance to embrace the move to electronic reporting, noting that the very fishers who are hanging onto their paper, moved as members of the general public to electronic banking and online bookings years ago.

The reasons behind their decision to avoid reporting electronically are many and varied. Ironically, none are linked to the fishers’ belief that there are technical challenges stopping them from making the move, with all those interviewed feeling comfortable that if their banking is secure, their fishing data should be secure at a technical level.

The real insight of this report relates to a perceived risk by the fishers that recording their fine scale data, which is really their intellectual property (IP), is putting their businesses at risk. They are fearful that once data is collected it can be accessed by other stakeholders (principally government agencies) and potentially used against them for things like marine parks or quota reductions.   

This report demonstrates that if industry started collecting its own data, it would be in a stronger position to have meaningful dialogue with those stakeholders who ultimately manage their fisheries. All stakeholders would benefit from the greater transparency that well managed, secure data could provide, starting from the decision to open the fishery by the regulator, through to the person who ultimately consumes the catch. 

Can the fishing industry continue to hide its data because of a perceived risk of the government using it against them? Or, does industry and the fisheries regulator, need to get smarter about how they use data to sustainably manage fisheries into the future.

People

Safety in Seafood - Saving lives through a culture of safety

Project number: 2021-103
Project Status:
Current
Budget expenditure: $960,000.00
Principal Investigator: Bridie Schultz
Organisation: Seafood Industry Australia (SIA)
Project start/end date: 30 Jul 2022 - 29 Jun 2026
Contact:
FRDC
TAGS
Health And Safety

Need

The primary objective of this program is to measurably improve personal safety culture and outcomes in the Australian Seafood Industry through an industry led behavioural change approach underpinned by a national engagement process. Engagement will occur at all levels of industry to ensure that sustainable culture change is driven through shifts in core beliefs from leadership (top down) as well as grassroots and peer to peer (bottom up). Every person from owner to junior and even volunteers have a responsibility to keep themselves and each other safe. By leveraging and deepening existing relationships at all levels of industry, behaviours at every level will shift as a result of educational, experiential and peer to peer learning and influence.

The application is needed because current and traditional methods of improving safety are not working – people are still dying in our industry. Almost all effort in safety in our industry to date has been compliance driven and from the 'office' down. Compliance based activities, such as safety management systems remain an imperative part of a safe operation, but without the underlying values and behaviours that drive people’s desire to stay safe, to arrive home from work safely, systems and processes become checklists and box ticking. Other Industries and the Stay Afloat program have demonstrated that a culture-based approach to safety behaviour change is the most effective strategy - examples can be seen in high-risk settings such as construction through to linked industry bodies such as the South Australian Research and Development Institute. The Independent Evaluation of the Stay Afloat program indicated the potential strength of the peer-to-peer approach and also endorsed the centralised support and management structure that was utilised. A similar approach is being proposed for this project. Using peer-based education and intervention is key to facilitating and expediting this change.

This program will educate and engage industry members in exploring their beliefs and values and reflecting on how that relates to their work and their safety each day. The significance of the capacity and capability that will be built across our industry cannot be underestimated. The investment in the relationship with AMSA, through to the enormous impact of capacity building in local community over a 4-year period will change the game for our industry. Communities will have confidence that their families and friends will come home safely and that they will enjoy a workplace with vastly lower fears for their safety – physically and psychologically.

The collaborative approach will build capability, knowledge, confidence and resilience through a combination of activities based around minimising risk of incident and also risk of long-term physical and psychological harm.

The project will span 4 years and will be evaluated against a detailed program logic model. A program logic model enables the measurement or evaluation of qualitative and complex human behaviour related projects where quantitative measures may not be useful or achievable in terms of outcomes. The program logic model will measure short term, medium- and long-term indicators of the work being done to achieve outcomes as well as the outcomes themselves. We expect that by the end of Year 2, every industry member body and each of its members will have had initial exposure to the program with a goal of reaching 8,000 people in a meaningful way over the course of the program.

Year 1 – Establish and consolidate industry collaborators, partnerships and steering/advisory groups – set 4-year calendar for consultation and discussion to ensure best practice collaboration and consultation for life of project. Develop terms of reference for Steering Committee to ensure appropriate oversight, governance and contribution to project.
- Establish program logic and project evaluation models which will be core activities
- Finalise project plan ensuring alignments to program logic and evaluation framework
- Establish relevant program policies, guidelines and tools
- Establish program risk register (aligned with the FRDC online risk register) and stakeholder feedback mechanisms.
- Establish program performance and conflict management policy and procedure

Year 1 – Establishment of industry networks made up of two types of influencers
- Peak/industry leaders to act as ‘enablers’ to link us to and encourage forums for conversation, education and consultation. To assist in identification and introductions to grassroots industry members
- Grassroots Safety Advocates – Grass roots in this instance referring to all operational and hands on industry members from supervisors and skippers to deck hands and labourers. These people will be the centre of the peer-to-peer learning, storytelling and ultimately education and influence. They will also be key to the continuing identification of Safety Advocates in industry.
Year 1 – Collect information and extend education tools through online and face-to-face forums
Year 1 – Develop and continually refine a robust communications and extension plan
Year 1 – Launch first industry initiative (eg, Personal E-perb targets)
Year 2 – Full integration of Fish Safe Australia and SeSAFE activities into this program
Year 2 – Expand network of Safety Advocates
Year 2 – Expand and increase uptake of education, storytelling and example sharing
Year 2 – Complete first industry initiative (eg, Personal E-perb targets) and consult with industry on next initiative for greatest impact
Year 2 – Commence promoting short- and medium-term outcomes in early adopting communities
Year 3 – Continue narrative based and other behaviour change activities
Year 3 – Second industry initiative rolled out
Year 4 – Establish methods for continuation of culture of safety activities to be led by industry
Year 4 – Identify the role of potential sponsors for ongoing leadership
Year 4 - Consultation with AMSA and other industry bodies to refine and set strategic safety direction for industry

Industry members from managers to junior staff will influence one-another through narrative, stories and other means to effect behavioural change that reduces risk-taking behaviours - even when no-one is looking. The channels for sharing this narrative and gradual shift in beliefs will be twofold. Firstly, through day-to-day interaction and information sharing that is promoted through the various program elements including the Safety Advocates. These activities will be captured through monthly activity reporting to be designed as part of the program logic and evaluation planning on project kick off. Secondly through the use of the Sensemaker platform which collects narrative and sentiment in a way that also enables users to review the stories and experiences of others. In simple terms industry members will learn from the experience of peers.

As outlined in the project plan, quarterly meetings will be held for the duration of the program to report, review and collaborate with key partners and stakeholders ensuring that the program is maximising reach and impact as well as ensuring that the potential of partners and sponsors to maximise program communications and activities is leveraged. Reporting measures will be finalised with the assistance of expert consultant(s) familiar with program logic design and evaluation.

A robust communications and extension plan will ensure maximum program awareness and uptake of initiatives and training.

Objectives

1. To measurably reduce the number of injuries and incidents across seafood sector- Provide insight and influence to the sector to deepening understanding of the benefits of reporting- Improve reporting of incidents and injuries, noting that an increase in reported incidents and injuries may occur in the short to medium term, with ultimate reductions in actual injuries and deaths being the long-term measure
2. To demonstrate a shift in sentiment and values towards safe practices across industry
3. To establish a recognised culture of safety and support all seafood industry sub-sectors demonstrated through shifts in sentiment around safety values and activities via SenseMaker and also through other identified measures of industry information (such as SIA member forums and other industry information collection to be identified as part of Program Logic)
4. To demonstrate the ability for Industry to be a significant strategic partner in strategic planning and implementation for safety regulation and practice moving forward.
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