Queensland’s commercial fisheries produce about $250 million of seafood annually, and contribute more than 10% of Australia’s seafood production in both quantity and value. The fishing industry is diverse in species targeted, methods used and areas fished. There are around 1,500 licenced fishing boats operating in Queensland’s waters, comprised of 60 different fishery / gear.
The Queensland fishing industry currently lacks a peak organisation that adequately represents the majority of these licences. While the Queensland Seafood Industry Association (QSIA) has undertaken this role in the past, a range of circumstances resulted in reduced representation and effectiveness. Ongoing changes in the regulatory and marketing arenas, as well as increasing demands from NGOs continually raising sustainability issues have prompted QSIA and the Queensland Seafood Marketers Association (QSMA) to initiate this project to scope potential options, processes, funding models and structures for a peak body that can best meet the needs of today's seafood industry and represent the majority of licences.
The structure and funding models of other primary industry were reviewed to assist developing options for a future Queensland peak body (herein titled “Seafood Queensland” for simplicity). These options were presented at an initial workshop with industry members, where they were refined and presented to the wider fishing and seafood industry throughout regional Queensland during port visits. Some 2900 flyers for the port visits and hard copies for the survey were sent out resulting in 100 attending the port visits and 152 completing the survey. Feedback from the port visits, and results of an industry survey were used to draft a structure and funding model for Seafood Queensland, and propose a way of moving forwards.
Amongst those industry members who completed the survey, there appears to be strong support amongst industry for a new seafood peak body, with about 80% of survey respondents stating that they would consider contributing financially to Seafood Queensland if it was tackling the issues they were concerned about and performing to their expectations. The survey highlighted that the primary roles of Seafood Queensland should be representation and advocacy, lobbying government, stakeholder communication and consultation. Membership should comprise wild catch, processor / wholesale and marketing sectors, but there was much less support for inclusion of aquaculture, charter boat, importer or retail sectors. Seafood Queensland should have a regional-based structure comprising at least four regions, with a Chair elected from each region to be members of the Board. Whilst the simplest mechanism for membership fees for Seafood Queensland would be a flat fee for each member, fees that are weighted according to the gross value of production (GVP) of each sector should be considered.
With suggestions from this project on the roles and responsibilities, structure, membership and funding options, it is now up to industry to progress the process of establishing “Seafood Queensland”, but it is recommended that further steps be delayed until results of the recent Fisheries Management Review are available.