Completing Australia’s First National Bycatch Report
Disseminating existing bycatch reduction and fuel efficiency technologies throughout Australia's prawn fisheries
Seafood CRC: Australian seafood compositional profiles portal
SCRC: SCRC RTG:: Mr David Padula "Export study tour to China"
SCRC: Seafood CRC Combined Visiting Expert and Research Travel Grant Application: Visit by Dr. Standish K. Allen Jr. from the Virginia Institute of Marine Science to Australia and fluorescent in situ hybridisation training by CRC PhD student Penny Miller prior to Dr Allen’s visit
Develop and promote the Australian Fish Names Standard (AS-SSA 5300) and ensure reaccreditation as a Standards Development Organisation
Use of standard Fish Names achieves outcomes that are consistent with the aims of industry and governments:
1. Reduced mis-reporting improves fisheries monitoring, stock assessment and sustainability.
2. Reduced confusion over fish names increases efficiency in seafood marketing, consumer confidence and industry profitability.
3. Improved accuracy in trade descriptions and labelling enables consumers to make more informed choices when purchasing seafood and reduces the potential for misleading and deceptive conduct.
4. Improved traceability results in more efficient management of seafood related public health incidents (including recalls) and food safety.
The commitment to standardizing Fish Names in Australia has been undertaken since the late 1970s. Strategic investments by the FRDC and SSA leadership on standardizing Fish Names culminated in the development of the Australian Fish Names Standard AS-SSA 5300-2007(AFNS).
Public and consumer confidence is vital to the well being of Australia’s seafood industry. Standard Fish Names remove confusion, strengthen consumer confidence, create market efficiency, underpin effective fisheries monitoring and improve management of food safety.
The AFNS contains agreed names for over 600 commercially important domestic and imported species of fish, and over 4,000 other domestic fish species. The process of assigning these agreed names involved the expertise of several of the world’s best fisheries taxonomists and other key stakeholders.
Development of the AFNS is underpinned by rigorous procedures agreed to by government, industry and other stakeholders and which are administered by SSA and its Fish Names Committee.
SSA is one of only 5 Standards Development Organizations (SDO) accredited by Standards Australia.
SSA has ongoing commitments to Standards Australia (including annual accreditation and audit costs) which must be met to maintain its accreditation as an SDO. Failure to do so will result in the Australian Fish Names Standard ceasing to exist and all files, etc passed on to Standards Australia.
Status of Key Australian Fish Stocks Reports 2012
There is a need for a consolidated national report on the status of key wild catch Australian fish stocks, focusing on commercial and recreational target species. One pitfall of guides like the Australia’s Sustainable Seafood Guide is their focus on entire species, without considering differences among stocks within each species. Consequently, a poor status determination for one stock can result in a poor status determination for all stocks of that species regardless of whether or not the other stocks are healthy. Government can avoid this pitfall by clearly articulating the status of individual fish stocks. Australia’s different jurisdictions have demonstrated their capacity to work constructively together to achieve common goals (e.g. joint stock assessments for shared stocks). However, the current differences in scope, depth, terminology and benchmarking in jurisdictionally based Fishery Status Reports make it difficult to readily compare the status of stocks across jurisdictions and build a coherent national status of key species.
The National Fishery Status Reports would not be promoted as an eco-labelling guide but rather as a government produced instrument designed to simplify comparison of the status of key wild capture fish stocks around Australia both within and among jurisdictions. This information would be available for the general public, policy makers and industry to make informed decisions in relation to the actual health of various stocks. The reports would also provide an important and accurate information source for international organisations (e.g. FAO). The process of producing these reports will improve communication between the jurisdictions, leading to a better understanding of the status determinations made by each jurisdiction and how these compare. One of the main outcomes already achieved from the recent jurisdictional planning workshops is the convergence on a common system of benchmarking and terminology for use across jurisdictions.