The publication A Review and Synthesis of Australian Fisheries Habitat Research, by Mike Cappo, resulted from a three-year review of fisheries habitat research. The report identified the stressors and responses that characterise fisheries habitats.

The FRDC requested AIMS to design a marketing strategy to optimise the results of the research and gain wide adoption and endorsement of the review.

The market target was all who have, or can have, an impact on the fisheries habitat: federal and state departments, agencies, industry organisations, Environment Australia, the National Heritage Commission, state environment agencies, research agencies, the Queensland Department of Primary Industries, PISA, CSIRO, South Australia RDI, New South Wales FRI, New South Wales Fisheries, Northern Territories Department of Primary Industries and Fisheries, TAFI, Western Australia Fisheries, universities, the Australian Institute of Marine Science, Cooperative Research Councils, Queensland CFO, WAFIC, TFIC, SAFIC, NTFIC, VFIF, AFMA, QFMA, and other Research and Development Corporations.

Mike Cappo and AIMS Communications brainstormed strategies for marketing the review, and put a proposal to the FRDC which was accepted.

The marketing strategy consisted of a booklet, Research Priorities for Fisheries Ecosystems Protection, a poster, a CD-ROM, and web publication of the review, launched by the Hon. Mark Vaile, Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry on 4 November 1998 in Canberra.

Keywords: Fisheries ecosystem protection, marketing

A major reason for the code is to ensure that quality of product is maintained throughout the industry, particularly with new entrants. With the appointment of a full-time extension officers to the freshwater crayfish industry and an increased profile of the support agencies at field days and agricultural shows, there is an expected increase in people taking up yabby farming. The Western Australian yabby industry has a number of processors that receive product from growers and various depots that act as staging facilities for receiving product. The supply network varies from State to State however the processor network in Western Australia does provide an excellent model for industries in other States when developing a coordinated supply and marketing chain. 

The code outlines the do’s and don’ts of growing yabbies. It does not discuss the higher technological aspects of processing.

The Code identifies best practice farming methods and quality processes for product(including safety).

All sectors of the freshwater crayfish industry will benefit from the Code.  Developing sectors of the industry, such as new producers, will be able to adopt quality standards that result in high returns without having to suffer mortalities and loss of quality through poor handling or packaging. The Code provides a mechanism for informing and teaching producers of advances in handling their product.

Australian fisheries are managed by governments to ensure that commercial fishing is undertaken in a sustainable and economically efficient manner. Fisheries management decisions influence the level of catch from a fishery, either directly through setting the total allowable catches that the industry may take or indirectly through restrictions on the number of operators and the equipment they may use. It is therefore important that the impacts of fisheries management decisions can be evaluated in the light of their impact on the fishing industry and on the public.

The relationships between the volume of fish landed and the prices that oper­ators receive are central to considerations of economic efficiency. The commercial value of fisheries is determined by the volume, the species and size composition of catches and the values placed on them at commercial markets. To establish the benefits and costs of fisheries management options, such as reducing the catch in a fishery or changing the composition of catches through introducing gear restrictions, it is desirable to know how industry revenue will be affected by the change.

The objective in the first part of this study is to establish the relationships between prices received by operators and the volume supplied to the market. The analysis is conducted for product landed from the south east fishery, which is a major source of fresh fish for domestic consumption. The fishery is managed under an individual tradable quota system, based on setting of total allowable catches to restrict the commercial harvest. The analysis covered the quota species of the south east fishery which were sold on the Sydney market.

If relationships exist between the quantity of fish produced from the fishery and the prices received by fishing operators, industry revenue will be affected by market factors. For example, if prices received by fishing operators are responsive to changes in volume sold then the impact on revenue of a reduc­tion in total catches will be partly offset by higher prices. Where prices are determined by the catch in the fishery then the economically optimal catch will be lower than the optimal catch where prices are determined indepen­dently, such as by overseas markets.

The NSW oyster industry is one of the states oldest and most valuable fishery, with a farm gate value of more than $27 million in 1994/ 5. It has an impressive history covering more than a hundred years of farming the native Sydney rock oyster Saccostrea commercialis but has experienced a decline since its record year of 1976 / 7 (Chapter 2). Nevertheless the N SW industry produced more than 60% of the country's oyster output in 1994/5.

A strategic R & D plan covering six key project areas has been produced to help transform the NSW oyster industry into a united, forward looking industry, producing a range of quality assured oysters and other products, marketing in a more collaborative and profitable manner.

Eat fish and you'll live longer and healthier. Everyone knows this - or do they? Where did this common understanding of the benefits of fish arise and what is the scientific basis for these claims. What are the "best bets" for nutrition-based fish promotion in Australia?

Considerable scientific information on the health benefits of eating seafood is accumulating, yet relatively little of this information has been effectively communicated to the general public or translated into opportunities to promote fresh seafood consumption. There is a need for this to be done, since the FRDC-funded Sydney asthma study demonstrated clearly the commercial potential of communicating research findings to the mass market.

This project has looked at the scientific evidence and translated complex nutrition research findings into a form upon which marketing and promotion material on fresh fish can be based.