There are now a number of 'seafood chooser' initiatives globally that seek to inform the consumer on sustainable seafood choices. They differ in a number of ways, with some being voluntary such as the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC), while others are mandatory, such as the FRDC’s
This project was developed to document biosecurity protocols used on affected prawn farms on the Logan River in the two growing seasons since they restarted following shut down after the 2016-17 WSD incursion. Opportunistic sampling of non-commercial crustaceans (plankton, small crustaceans) was also undertaken in northern Moreton Bay and the Logan River during April and May 2020 at a time when it was known that WSSV was active in the environment. These samples have been archived and a stop work stage of the project has been enacted upon completion of this fieldwork.
If required, the samples collected can be tested by qPCR for WSSV in order to determine if they were acting as WSSV vectors and/or reservoirs in the Logan River and northern Moreton Bay. This information would be useful to inform the design of more detailed epidemiological studies of the distribution of WSSV in the environment of SE QLD that may be undertaken in the future. Review of the biosecurity protocols the prawn aquaculture industry in the region have implemented since 2016-17 to exclude WSSV vectors from their farms will also be undertaken to determine what worked, and what didn't. This information can then be used to inform biosecurity planning for the prawn farming industry on the Logan River moving forward to identify best practice for WSSV exclusion, in order to increase their chances of successfully farming prawns in the presence of the virus and reduce risk of WSSV spillback into wild crustacean fisheries.
The prawn aquaculture industry is committed to a strategy of enhanced farm biosecurity to reduce the potential for production losses caused by disease agents. This has been brought to the forefront of development priorities for industry by the recent white spot virus incursion into southern Queensland, but it is also driven by considerations that current farming practices are vulnerable to other disease agents that could emerge in the future. It is well recognised by aquaculture disease experts and the industry that a critical pathway for disease incursion is via the water sourced from local waterways which for Australian prawn farms is the adjacent estuarine creek or river. Treatment of farm influent water to eliminate or reduce disease agent load, particularly that associated with live vectors of disease, such as crustaceans or fish, is seen as the most basic course of action to address farm exposure to this risk.
In consultation with local and international technical experts, industry has identified that filtration and some type of chemical disinfection is the most practical approach for prawn grow-out farms. However the level of information available on design criteria and effectiveness of proposed treatment systems is lacking, particularly in relation to Australian farming conditions. Information derived from overseas experiences of farming prawns under threat of multiple diseases has been instructive, but due to significant differences in farming systems, the local industry sees a need to generate additional information that has direct relevance to Australian farms and practices. Given the anticipated high investment by farms to implement significant upgrades to water treatment practices, improved information for systems design parameters and relative risk reductions for different options under consideration are a high priority.
Individual Transferable Quotas (ITQs) and Individual Transferable Effort (ITE) systems have been introduced to a wide range of Australian fisheries (FRDC 2017-159). Since 1985, forty-six ITQs have been introduced to a range of fisheries and can be found across all jurisdictions in Australia; six ITEs have also been introduced, mainly in prawn trawl fisheries. Such systems allocate shares or portions of a total allowable catch (TAC), or total allowable effort (TAE), between fishers, vessels, communities, or others with an interest in the fishery.
Experience shows that ITQs as generally designed and implemented have not always fully delivered promised outcomes, have had outcomes that were unintended and unwanted, and in some instances have resulted in outcomes that make it difficult for fisheries managers to deliver against other, in many cases non-economic, objectives of fisheries management. In some instances, these unintended and unwanted consequences may also have been inappropriately attributed to the ITQs/ITEs and may more be down to other drivers such as globalisation or changes in stock abundance.
Building on industry and management’s growing interest in improving ITQ-fishery outcomes (SRL Corporatisation Workshop, Melbourne Airport, October 2019) and on the findings of 2017-159, this work will aim to provide evidence-based advice to managers and industry on options to address any performance gaps or unintended and unwanted consequences, and the potential effects of any proposed interventions on the economic, social and environmental outcomes of ITQs as generally implemented in Australian fisheries. The scope of options will include industry-led private sector initiatives, as well as Government-led changes to management.
In developing the 2020-25 Strategic Plan, FRDC identified five outcomes and associated enabling strategies, including Outcome 4: Fair and secure access to aquatic resources. In developing Outcome 4, FRDC realized that it did not have a shared appreciation of the different beliefs and values that underpin perceptions of fairness and security. Furthermore, it was acknowledged that such values differ within and between different sectors of the fishing and aquaculture sector and can be the source of tension and conflict.
The FRDC is therefore seeking to understand contrasting and complementary values among Indigenous, commercial, and recreational fishing sectors. The proposed project will provide valuable information towards building trust across the industry through an improved understanding of the social, economic and ecological values within and among the three sectors. It will also provide FRDC with the basis for monitoring progress towards the achievement of Outcome 4.
The primary objective of the project is to collect, analyse and report on the values held by the Indigenous, commercial and recreational sectors. Findings from the project will be used to inform resource management and support for fair and secure access to aquatic resources. The findings will also be valuable to regulators’ through an enhanced understanding of values across the different sectors leading to more efficient and effective consultation processes.
The SeSAFE project has to date focused on raising safety awareness and the development/delivery of safety training modules. This is a response to current inadequacies in safety training in the fishing and aquaculture industry.
It is now timely for SeSAFE to address other inadequacies in safety training by:
• Filling the gap that allows new crew to step foot on a dangerous work platform before receiving any safety training
• Providing consistent safety training content to all fishers nationwide
• Promoting SeSAFE as the industry benchmark in pre-sea safety training, that also serves to demonstrate achievement towards duty-of-care requirements
• Developing a standard of achievement and certificate of completion, for use as a recognised industry standard and potential requirement for employment at sea
• Overcoming jurisdictional inconsistencies and inadequacies in safety training
• Developing fishery-specific modules for multiple fisheries, to complement onboard safety inductions
• Extending SeSAFE training to seafood processors, fishery observers, and others
• Establishing a secure funding base to ensure persistent, long-term delivery of SeSAFE training as well as a permanent hosting organisation, e.g. Seafood Industry Australia.
There is also a need to continue existing SeSAFE activities because:
• Many fishers and others are anticipating recurrent safety training
• SeSAFE is one of the few sources of fishery-specific safety training, such as safe handling of fishing gear
• It will leverage progress and momentum toward improved safety performance, which may otherwise be foregone
• Several agencies, e.g. the Australian Fisheries Management Authority, are poised to use SeSAFE to provide safety training
• SeSAFE training means individuals can avoid group training sessions and reduce the risk of Covid 19 infection.
SeSAFE training responds to Objective 3 of FRDC’s National RD&E Seafood Industry Safety Initiative Strategic Plan 2019/21, 'Increase uptake by industry of workplace safety and safety training programs and education tools', by serving the education component of the Strategic Plan.
The aquaculture, commercial and recreational fisheries sectors along with the FRDC have recognised the need to continue the work of the Australian Animal Welfare Strategy (AAWS) Aquatic Animal Working Group (AAWG) (2005-2013). In September 2018, the FRDC funded a workshop to review the activities of the AAWS-AAWG and for the industry peak bodies to prioritize knowledge gaps for future R&D. One of the recommendations from the workshop funded by FRDC 2017-221 was to conduct a stocktake of the current industry processes and legislation that relate to aquatic animal welfare.
The initial stocktake was completed in 2006 by Dr Paul Hardy-Smith and colleagues. The aquatic animal welfare landscape has significantly changed since 2006. States and Territories are developing animal welfare legislation and guidelines that either specifically addresses aquatic animal welfare considerations and/or includes aquatic animals (e.g. fish, crustaceans) under the definition of “animal” in the legislation. This changing landscape has implications for “in-field” practices (e.g. methods used to kill aquatic animals) and other practices (e.g. transportation of live aquatic animals).
It is critically important that the commercial wild capture, aquaculture and recreational fishing sectors understand the implications of this changing landscape. These sectors need to ensure their own guidelines or codes of conduct are addressing the regional requirements and if they are not, then it is important that they are assisted in addressing changes to protect themselves. It is important that aquatic animal welfare requirements in no way place human welfare at risk. There is a need to promote the changes to industry practice that have positive outcomes for aquatic animal welfare and to ensure industry practices are keeping within the welfare requirements of that State or Territory.
Our project will comprehensively document and analyse the legislative framework as it applies to aquatic animal welfare in each State and Territory. The project will identify key areas of concern for commercial wild capture, aquaculture and recreational sectors which will be used to assist in developing priority case studies.
There is a need to develop capacity within industry in order to progress future co-management initiatives in the Bass Strait Central Zone Scallop Fishery (BSCZSF). Central to future co-management initiatives will be industry’s ability to collect data in a systematic and scientific manner that is robust and reliable to inform management decision making. Industry needs to be trained to coordinate and collect data. This data may also deliver cost savings when compared to the current pre-season biomass surveys.
The unprecedented impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic have forced industry and management to review existing research and management processes to ensure the on-going viability Australia’s fishing industry. Whilst the scallop fishery has to date been largely shielded from the impacts (a seasonal effect) there is tremendous uncertainty about the coming fishing year and markets. There is now a need to re-think the data collection processes for this fishery and provide the industry with the opportunity and capacity, under a co-management approach, to cost-effectively collect data to inform management decisions.
The coming season provides the perfect opportunity for the first steps into a new co-management paradigm. The biomass in western Bass Strait waters are significant, with many in the industry saying it’s the highest in over 40 years of fishing. Based on the 2019 TAC, the maximum harvest fraction last season was less than 9% of the surveyed biomass, noting it was even lower, as the TAC remained under-caught. Furthermore AFMA have recently announced that the formal pre-season biomass estimation survey will not proceed in 2020 due the uncertainties surrounding the impacts of COVID-19.
This project will investigate industry’s capacity to coordinate in-season biomass surveys and provide the opportunity for industry to understand the requirements to undertake formal scientific studies.
