Stock Assessment remains a key component of fisheries management. The pool of Australian scientists that practice in this field is well respected globally. However, this community is generally dispersed, both in terms of organisational structure and geography. Opportunities to share skills and common issues on a regular basis, including discussions on new developments in the field, are often lacking. Previous projects on stock assessors’ use of bespoke models versus packages have shown that lack of knowledge of available off-the-shelf packages and their specifications was a key roadblock to adoption of these methods. The new Stock Assessment Toolbox web-site (toolbox.frdc.com.au) goes some way to address this issue by providing a single repository for globally developed packages. Another barrier was knowledge on how to use these packages, which was partially addressed through subsequent courses on data-limited methods and the Stock Synthesis assessment framework. Although these incorporated advances in the field, there is still a large gap in terms of adoption – not only of packages but of new techniques, sharing our own advances with the world and vice versa. There is a need to understand the influencers (both human and in terms of scientific practices) in this field, both in Australia, and from the international world into Australia. This requires bringing past projects together and adding new skills to fisheries assessors to facilitate and further a strong sense of connection and a community of practice within the field, and with other related fields. This work is aimed at helping assessors gain and share skill and knowledge amongst each other through understanding their impediments and drivers. The project will create a roadmap for the next generation of assessors and methods.

With the impending wind up of Wildcatch Fisheries SA, it is timely to firstly, assess the need for a new peak industry body, and secondly, as part of that assessment, acknowledge the role of existing structures for consultation and representation at the individual fishery sector. For example, there are management advisory committees for a number of fishery sectors, along with tasked working groups to deal with specific fishery management issues, such as the development and implementation of harvest strategies and reform of the Marine Scalefish Fishery.

It is important to recognise that South Australia already has sound legislation in place (Fisheries Management Act 2007 – although it may need review and updating); it also has considerable regulation in support of the Act, along with management plans for individual fisheries – most of which have recently been reviewed and updated, including the incorporation of updated harvest strategies. Finally, SA has key policies in place covering:

 Co-management
 Allocation
 Harvest Strategy Development

Although the use of data and analytics is becoming more widespread across agricultural industries and institutions, the sector is held back by the lack of a consolidated data platform that combines multiple data sets from multiple data sources in real time. Other technology
and data challenges compromising the strength of the Australian agriculture industry include:

Businesses often need to access multiple data systems/datasets which are stored across various platforms and functions and are not well integrated. Aggregating and reconciling these datasets require manual intervention, is rife with errors/duplication and require significant effort to ensure uptake across the business in order to lead to tangible analytics outcomes. This interoperability challenge is commonplace across the industry today.

Data is not shared between the various stakeholders within the industry at times leading to analysis been taken place with incomplete datasets and other times for duplication of efforts with varying results. Data sharing/collaborating culture which would be backed by an established data governance framework including protocols/policies for data access, privacy, definition and standards, would uplift the industry analytical capabilities.

Challenges in understanding where to prioritise efforts to best support the industry. With significant opportunities for data-driven use cases across the value chain, defining the prioritisation of funding and efforts to build capabilities is a critical challenge for industry bodies and governments. The OzAg DX could enable consolidated, integrated and standardised data, to help reduce the labour intensive effort of collecting and analysing data to make better informed prioritisation decisions on deployment of limited support resources and capabilities.

A slow take up of digital technologies is slowing agricultural productivity growth. As Australia looks to achieve the target of $100 billion farm gate output by 2030, digital agriculture is expected to contribute up to an additional $20 billion annually to the gross value of agricultural production.

Statistics on Australian fisheries production and trade seeks to meet the needs of the fishing and aquaculture industry, fisheries managers, policymakers and researchers. It can assist in policy decisions, industry marketing strategies and the allocation of research funding or priorities. The gross value of production for specific fisheries are used for determining the research and development levies collected by government. The neutrality and integrity of GVP estimates is therefore important due to their forming the basis for research levies for each fishery. At the international level, the Department of Agriculture through the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences (ABARES) contributes to a number of international databases. These include databases managed by the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). Information at the international level can assist in international negotiations on issues such as trans-boundary fisheries and analysis of trade opportunities.

The operating environment within which Australian fisheries and aquaculture are positioned is complex, comprising economic, social and political institutions and organisations that are continuously being re-shaped by multiple external and internal drivers.

Addressing these specific drivers requires understanding of the human dimensions of fisheries and aquaculture, along with the biophysical. Human dimensions refers to the social, economic and cultural factors that affect outcomes for both the seafood community and in terms of public good. This includes the attitudes, processes and behaviours of individual people, companies, management agencies, communities, organisations, consumers, and markets. Human dimensions research has been successfully applied to understand how to enable better outcomes for Australia's fisheries and aquaculture (e.g. improved social acceptability, resilience through shocks, inclusive growth, economic productivity), and what are the effective strategies to achieve this (e.g. market based mechanisms, behavioural approaches). It brings together research capability from a broad range of disciplines.

Historically, achieving the level of coordinated investment required to effectively deliver against this need has been hampered by a range of factors, which have included:
• effective integration of human dimensions RD&E with biophysical sciences; and
• research capability and expertise capable of undertaking such research to ensure end user needs are met.

The FRDC has invested substantively in human dimensions R&D capability in recognition of this need. Ongoing coordination and strategic development of human dimensions R&D activities will support the FRDC to deliver its Fish Forever 2030 vision: Collaborative, vibrant fishing and aquaculture, creating diverse benefits from aquatic resources, and celebrated by the community.

The FRDC considers Coordination Programs as critical to delivering relevant outcomes of the R&D Plan. With respect to Human Dimensions, it is evident that a planned R&D outcome can be achieved more successfully if expertise and related activities are developed and managed in a coordinated manner.