It is accepted that the plight of our fresh water systems necessitates urgent action. FRDC itself identified the need for this project.

It is indeed significant that the comments provided in “Australia : State of the Environment” on each of the ten key threats to sustainability confirm that indicators of all ten show continuing deterioration.

While most of this broad spectrum of issues has been the subject of at least some research our knowledge of the interrelationships betwen fisheries and fresh water ecosystems remains seriously inadequate. Urgent requirements include:

· a current review of the factors which influence productivity of Australia’s inland fisheries,
· correlation of cause and effect for the major threats identified,
· correlation of cause with the relevant management or regulatory authority,
· an assessment of data and knowledge (research) needed to facilitate management action,
· an assessment of areas where research is most likely to lead to significant management action,
. an evaluation of what strategies have worked, or are working, in one or more State or
Territory and assessment of the likelihood of success from nationalising, or at least broadening
or transposing, this strategy,
. an assessment of potential cooperative approaches to commissioning and funding priority
research