Demersal finfish resource assessment survey of the north-west slope of Western Australia
FRDC resource: Australian Fish Names Standard (AS 5300)
Public and consumer confidence is vital to the wellbeing 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.
Use of standard fish names achieves outcomes that are consistent with the aims of industry and governments:
1 Improved monitoring and stock assessment enhances the sustainability of fisheries resources.
2 Increased efficiency in seafood marketing improves consumer confidence and industry
profitability.
3 Improved accuracy in trade descriptions enables consumers to make more informed choices
when purchasing seafood and reduces the potential for misleading and deceptive conduct.
4 More efficient management of seafood related public health incidents and food safety through
improved labelling and species identification reduces public health risk.
The FNC has been set the challenge to
• Improve the marketability of a species while being consistent with the fish naming protocols
• Review the naming protocols to achieve names that increase the economic benefit of Australian seafood
• Engage more with industry top develop innovative fish names
• Improve the linkages between species sustainability and fish names
• Striving to have further uptake of fish names and to mainstream fish names
• All key documents and the AFNS must be in harmony
Within the next decade: the AFNS must
• Be all inclusive
• Meet needs of fisheries managers
• Meet the needs of retailers
• Must be world’s best practice
• A national benchmark for sustainability will be developed
Significant changes have been made to the structure and direction of the FNC to accept a more marketing based focus, and the procedures that drive the FNC to achieve greater efficiencies.
This project will continue to capitalize on this investment
Final report
• Steps have been taken by the FNC to ensure that the approved names in the Australian Fish Names Standard are in harmony with the names used in reporting on the Status of Australian Fish Stocks (SAFS).
• There have been 8 FNC meetings held during the life of this project which has resulted in 100 agreed species names being added to the AFNS.
• The membership of the FNC has been further expanded to ensure a broader representation of stakeholder interests are being met.
• Stakeholder updates are now regularly prepared for distribution to affected stakeholders.
• A Stakeholder Consultation survey was undertaken in November 2018 which had a very high response and showed a high level of confidence in the FNC and its fish names processes.
• Further discussions and strategies developed by the FNC at the Fish Names Workshop held on 26 August 2016 are being held to continually improve the operating procedures of the FNC.
• The Australian Fish Names Standard is now recognised and accepted by all sectors of the Australian seafood industry.
• FRDC as an accredited SDO now has a bigger role in assisting to disseminate information through its vast number of contacts. This further facilitates processes such as public consultation and dissemination of results of final approval of applications.
Enhancement and farming of scallops in NSW using hatchery produced seedstock
Tactical Research Fund: Defining a resource sharing option in a multi-sectoral fishery: using the Queensland Coral Reef Finfish Fishery as a test case
The Management Plan for the Queensland Coral Reef Fin Fish Fishery will be reviewed in 2012. At
the recent FRDC-funded workshop, fishery stakeholders agreed on a vision for the fishery as well as
the need for a collaborative resource sharing agreement. Finite coral reef fin fish resources are
accessed by multiple extractive user-groups (commercial, recreational, charter, indigenous fishers),
and are also of interest to conservation bodies, management agencies and the general public.
Currently the commercial CPUE of both major species are unstable (FRDC 2008/103), recreational
effort increases have occurred in some areas (GBRMPA, unpub data), growth in the charter sector
has some long-term participants concerned while data paucity for the indigenous sector needs
attention. In order to restore confidence in the social, economic and ecological sustainability of this
fishery, and ensure multi-stakeholder satisfaction, a resource sharing agreement needs to be defined.
The project will define a resource sharing agreement that will be presented to the Fisheries Minister
and his department for adoption. Stakeholders will also identify key areas of data deficiency and
workshop solutions for obtaining such.