Establishing a recreational fishing working group to develop a national implementation plan R, D and E.
Clearly it is essential that the recreational sector is well organised and structured to allow for the best use of the R, D & E resources we have and to maximise the potential but more importantly ensure the sustainability of the sector.
There is currently a lack of a coordinated national approach to R, D & E from the sector.
There is no entity or vehicle in the recreational sector to manage and procure investment for R, D & E.
There is no mechanism or event for the recreational sector that allows a regular national conference.
There is no appropriate recogntion of the achievements by the sector in the field of research, management, advocacy, volunteering, etc.
Final report
Following the success of the National Strategy for the Survival of Released Line Caught Fish it was considered that a national approach needed to be developed to address a broader range of recreational fisheries R,D&E issues.
A workshop was held in Hobart in August 2005 to determine the national priorities for recreational fisheries R,D&E and identify a suitable entity to develop a national approach. The workshop was attended by a range of key people from industry and from government.
The workshop determined that the most appropriate entity to develop a national strategy was an expanded Released Fish Survival Steering Committee and the workshop nominated a number of additional members to the Steering Committee. That expanded the range of expertise on the committee to be able to deal with the broader range of issues. That Steering Committee would be an interim one until a permanent committee could be established.
Following that workshop a number of proposals were produced for consideration by the Steering Committee. Options for the development of the national strategy were through a FRDC sub-program model or through the current Steering Committee approach. It was considered that the Steering Committee approach was the most appropriate.
At the workshop it was determined that the interim committee should be known as the Recfishing Services Steering Committee however this was later changed to Recfishing Research to better reflect its business.
Also following the workshop a Business Plan for Recfishing Research was developed that identified the significance of each priority issue, its current status and the strategic response that Recfishing Research should take in relation to each issue.
Keywords: Recfishing Research; Recfish Australia; National strategy; Research, development and extension; Research priorities.
