The FRDC released the Status of Key Australian Fish Stocks Reports in 2012 to provide a scientifically robust, simple tool to inform fishers, seafood consumers, managers, policy makers and the broader community about the stock status of key wild-caught fish stocks around Australia. This publication was prepared by the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences, in collaboration with government fishery research agencies in all Australian jurisdictions with marine fisheries, an enormous task that involved cooperation from over 80 researchers.

The collation of data from 49 different species (or species complexes) from around Australia required cross-jurisdictional cooperation in determining assessments. This process highlighted the differences in data collected between agencies in terms of quality, quantity and format, which greatly increased the effort required to prepare the Reports.

The second edition of this series is being prepared during 2014, and it is anticipated that it will be repeated every second year. The effort and cost of producing the report could be significantly reduced if the data used to inform assessments was standardised across jurisdictions, and was readily available through a fisheries data portal. Further, making this data publically available through the website would allow the public to run their own queries, increasing transparency, reducing red tape and creating other efficiencies.

Before this can be done however, there is a need for greater understanding of the challenges involved in mapping fisheries data collected by different agencies. Given the large number of fisheries agencies around Australia, and the variety of data they collect and/or generate, this proposal is for a pilot study focusing on data collected by SA and NT, who have agreed to participate.