Project number: 2008-334
Project Status:
Completed
Budget expenditure: $30,960.00
Principal Investigator: Andy Bodsworth
Organisation: Cobalt MRM Pty Ltd
Project start/end date: 30 Nov 2008 - 30 Nov 2009
Contact:
FRDC

Need

On one level there is the need for new and innovative ways to share knowledge between seafood industry workers. The current model relies upon a cascade effect of information to trickle down to workers through various channels. This project will employ a different method for transferring knowledge, through direct fisher to fisher exchange programs. To generalise, most fishers would probably fall into the kinesthetic style of learning. Kinesthetic persons learn best through a hands-on approach, actively exploring the physical world around them. An exchange program where by fishers directly exchange practical knowledge could prove an ideal method for improving the capacity of the seafood industry.

On a second level, the current skills shortages at all levels of the economy is constraining efficiency and growth. The seafood industry has a national pool of skilled workers at its disposal, but it is possibly one of the least mobile. Many other industries have mobile workforces, eg horticulture and the wool industry. In Europe there is a program that promotes mobility between countries for all sectors. There is no reason why the Australian seafood industry workforce cannot be more mobile. Due to management measures to ensure sustainability, the seafood industry is no longer a 365 days per year industry. This doesn't promote job security and those people that have skills could be lost to the industry seeking more secure income. Meanwhile in other parts of the country sectors of the industry requiring skills for short periods of time could utilise those skills, if they could get them. Therefore there is a need to understand the impediments that face workers in shifting between sectors of the industry.

This project aims to begin to identify these impediments and provide the foundations for programs to mobilise the pool of workers.

Objectives

1. To demonstrate that a seafood industry exchange program is an effective means to transfer knowledge and skills between fishers
2. To lay the foundation for the development of a national seafood industry exchange program
3. To identify the impediments and solutions to increasing the mobility of the Austrlian seafood industry's workforce

Final report

ISBN: 978-0-9808262-0-3
Author: Andy Bodsworth

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