Project number: 2024-014
Project Status:
Current
Budget expenditure: $350,175.00
Principal Investigator: Julie Petty
Organisation: Seafood Industry Australia (SIA)
Project start/end date: 5 Dec 2024 - 3 Dec 2026
Contact:
FRDC

Need

In aquaculture, AgVet chemicals are important for disease prevention, hormonal manipulation, animal husbandry and decontamination of equipment. Providing coordination of AgVet chemicals in aquaculture is imperative to ensure industry maintain access to safe and effective AgVet treatment options. Each project objective fits within the following strategies of FRDC’s 5 year strategic plan (Enabling strategies to help achieve R&D Plan outcomes - FRDC R&D Plan 2020-2025).
Strategy V “Provide foundational information and support services”
• Objective 1 fits this strategy by providing national coordination, ensuring existing MUPs and registrations do not expire and seeking and securing funding for priority AgVet chemical products. Key beneficiaries would be industry, permit holders, veterinarians and APVMA.
• Ongoing national coordination is needed;
o to ensure AgVet priorities of the growing aquaculture industry are regularly progressed towards permitted products; and
o to improve industry disease preparedness, particularly during emergency disease outbreaks; and
o to streamline seeking and securing funding for priority products to ensure resources are not wasted (understanding what projects and data are available, avoids resource duplication and provides higher return on investment).
Strategy IV “Build capability and capacity”
• Objectives 2 and 4 fit this strategy through educating aquaculture stakeholders on safe and effective AgVet chemical product use, ensuring industry have understanding on available products (particularly in case of an emergency):
• Improved education on safe chemical use is needed;
o to improve trade and market access (consumer and environmental safety); and
o to improve industry understanding of available AgVet products available for use.
• Additionally, throughout the project, we seek to build capability and capacity within industry ensuring that industry more collectively has a better understanding of their obligations, how best to engage with AVPMA, and how to better future proof aquaculture’s access to vital AgVet products.
Strategy III “Promote innovation and entrepreneurship”
• Objective 3 fits this strategy through determining options for a user-pays system for ongoing national coordination of AgVet chemical products in aquaculture.
• The last project concluded that a user payers system was needed and supported by industry though the specific model and amounts were not determined. Regardless, support was expressed for the program to:
o secure a system for ongoing coordination;
o ensure permitted products in existence are maintained;
o allow for long-term planning where forecasted AgVet chemical priorities (for future disease threats) are accounted for and project funding is progressed;
o optimise resource usage

Objectives

1. Provide national coordination of agricultural and veterinary (AgVet) chemical products in aquaculture
maintain access to permitted products and seek and secure funding for aquaculture priorities.
2. Improve industry education on safe and effective AgVet chemical use
3. Investigate options for a user-pays system for ongoing coordination for AgVet chemicals in aquaculture and develop a transition plan to be executed at the conclusion of this project.
4. Capability and capacity building plan developed and executed to imbed skills within industry

Related research

Industry
Industry
Industry