Progressing The National Fisheries Digital Data Framework - Industry Consultation
Funder
Fisheries Research and Development Corporation
Funding Amount
$28,290.42
Summary
Australian fisheries data is currently stored in a segregated manner and connectivity is minimal between sources, leaving data to be relatively inaccessible. The majority of Australia's wild catch fishers continue to complete their catch and effort reporting via paper log books that then require data entry capacity to ensure these can be utilised by the appropriate users - stock assessments, SAFS, etc... The move to electronic, real time data reporting would enable a higher level of data to be c ....Australian fisheries data is currently stored in a segregated manner and connectivity is minimal between sources, leaving data to be relatively inaccessible. The majority of Australia's wild catch fishers continue to complete their catch and effort reporting via paper log books that then require data entry capacity to ensure these can be utilised by the appropriate users - stock assessments, SAFS, etc... The move to electronic, real time data reporting would enable a higher level of data to be collected but would also allow fine scale management of fishing operation and ultimately greater sustainability of fish stocks.
As a result of this, corresponding jurisdictional management agency investment in improving infrastructure is also often segregated. Harmonising fisheries digital data could derive not only efficiencies in the data use (data can be collected once and used many times) but also in infrastructure investment. Harmonised investment in infrastructure as well as innovative change in regards to how a range of services and information are utilised in fishing and aquaculture could deliver greater profit and improve timeliness of decision making. It is however important that and framework proposed has the confidence and support of both government and industry. This project seeks to ensure that industry is involved in progressing the data framework, and that suit a framework suits their needs. Objectives: 1. To engage with industry to ensure the future of fisheries data is end-user driven 2. To understand current and future capability in fisheries data infrastructure Read moreRead less
Investigating The Use Of Trace Element Profiles To Substantiate Provenance For The Australian Prawn Industry
Funder
Fisheries Research and Development Corporation
Funding Amount
$248,043.12
Summary
Industry stakeholders from ACPF and APFA have identified the potential for the "Love Australian Prawns" campaign to be undermined by the practice of unscrupulous operators substituting Australian prawns with lower value product. Therefore it has been proposed that, to support the national marketing strategy, a rapid and robust scientific method must be developed to verify compliance and, ensure product integrity, including food safety, truth in labelling and traceability. The trace metal a .... Industry stakeholders from ACPF and APFA have identified the potential for the "Love Australian Prawns" campaign to be undermined by the practice of unscrupulous operators substituting Australian prawns with lower value product. Therefore it has been proposed that, to support the national marketing strategy, a rapid and robust scientific method must be developed to verify compliance and, ensure product integrity, including food safety, truth in labelling and traceability. The trace metal authentication methods used by other primary production industries represents a possible opportunity to prove provenance. Should the technology prove suitable, a detailed and effective communication strategy (aligned with the LAP distribution channels) is considered mandatory to ensure whole of chain knowledge of the capability and aligned consequences for substitution offenders. This project is broken into two parts; 1) Proof of Concept: To establish enforcement agency and supply chain usage of the tool, to call for tenders against a defined brief 2) Database construction and extension: If project investors agree that the proof of concept will meet the need (ie a project STOP/GO point), the technology will be utilised with the plan to implement it as a provenance tool.
Objectives: 1. To investigate and pilot a cost effective, legally enforceable method to establish the provenance of prawns and ensure robust identification of source harvest areas for the Australian prawn industry. 2. Investigate and confirm with stakeholders how the method can be used as a basis for preventing/discouraging the substitution currently impacting the LAP national strategy and otheraccreditation/branding initiatives (eg MSC). 3. To communicate the outcomes of the project results to supply chain partners and regulators and evaluate such that is can be shown that they aware that such a method exists and how it can be used to manage product integrity issues. Read moreRead less
SCRC: Supply Chain Research And Analysis To Support The Future Commercial Roll Out Of The Australian Wild Abalone (TM) Program - ACA Component
Funder
Fisheries Research and Development Corporation
Summary
The Australian Wild Abalone (TM) supply chain education program is the direct result of Seafood CRC, FRDC and ACA investment over the past 5 years. While there has been significant progress and the supply education program program is being trialed in Hong Kong and China there are several elements that need further research to support the full commercial roll out of the AWA (TM) marketing and promotion program beyond 2015.
There is a need to gain deeper and more insightful engagement ....The Australian Wild Abalone (TM) supply chain education program is the direct result of Seafood CRC, FRDC and ACA investment over the past 5 years. While there has been significant progress and the supply education program program is being trialed in Hong Kong and China there are several elements that need further research to support the full commercial roll out of the AWA (TM) marketing and promotion program beyond 2015.
There is a need to gain deeper and more insightful engagement with the supply chain partners focusing on the key decision makers and the factors that influence purchasing decisions within the F&B sector in China and Hong Kong.
Understanding and utilising Chinese digital media will be a key marketing tactic in the future however very little is known about how best to use it. There are significant cultural and language barriers that need to be overcome so this project seeks to research, trial and evaluate at least two potential digital platforms to better understand how to incorporate Chinese digital media effectively into a marketing strategy.
The decision behaviour within the China based supply chain remains somewhat opaque beyond the importer and their immediate customers. There is a need to build on the relationships with the China and Hong Kong based importers and to work with them to consolidate those relationships to better understand the F&B sector in China and the retail sector in Hong Kong, in particular. this research is needed to gain a better understanding of how and when purchasing decisions are made. The ways in which consumer behaviour influences those decisions also needs further research.
In addition there is a need to research the potential for the AWA program to be expanded into other markets as an investment risk mitigation strategy for the industry. Singapore, Japan and the Australian domestic market (capitalising on the predicted Asian tourist boom) are all potential markets that have been identified through Seafood CRC research (eg SRL market diversification opportunities) and other sources. Research will be undertaken in partnership with Australian exporters and their importers in Singapore and Japan. If there is sufficient interest research will also be undertaken in the domestic market. Articulating the benefit cost of expanding the program to those markets, based on robust market research, is needed to enable the Australian Wild Abalone to prioritise fund for future market development efforts. There is also a need to investigate and make recommendations on potential funding options for the commercial roll out of the AWA (TM) program.
Finally there is a need to complete the registration of the AWA certification trademark, establish the AWA management committee and sign on suppliers.Read moreRead less
Developing Automated Data Cleansing And Validation Processes For Fisheries Catch And Effort Data
Funder
Fisheries Research and Development Corporation
Funding Amount
$397,750.00
Summary
During a recent national Fisheries Statistics Working Group meeting, data managers from all Australian states highlighted and discussed the likely high prevalence of inaccurate or fraudulent data supplied by fishers and accrued through data-entry errors. Current data quality control measures in each jurisdiction are largely heterogeneous, undocumented and often rely on manual checks by clerks or analysts that are labour intensive and costly and not routinely executed. Because many of these check ....During a recent national Fisheries Statistics Working Group meeting, data managers from all Australian states highlighted and discussed the likely high prevalence of inaccurate or fraudulent data supplied by fishers and accrued through data-entry errors. Current data quality control measures in each jurisdiction are largely heterogeneous, undocumented and often rely on manual checks by clerks or analysts that are labour intensive and costly and not routinely executed. Because many of these checks occur during manual data entry of paper-based records, these are likely to become obsolete as reliance on electronic reporting increases, with data entered directly by fishers through online portals or mobile applications.
There is a need to develop automated data cleansing and diagnostic procedures that can be applied post-hoc or retrospectively to large fisheries databases to detect and flag errors and outliers and provide subsets of reliable catch and effort data for stock assessments and other analyses. This project will contribute towards addressing these issues, by developing automated processes to routinely assess newly entered fisheries catch and effort data for errors, retrospectively quantify error rates in existing data and assess their likely influence on the outputs of stock assessment analyses. The outcomes will help improve the quality and accuracy of catch and effort data used in routine stock assessments, and in turn lead to more sustainable management of wild capture fisheries resources.
Objectives: 1. Review existing data quality control and cleansing processes applied to fisheries catch and effort databases in all state and commonwealth jurisdictions. 2. Develop a suite of generic algorithmic and statistical approaches to detect and flag different error types (e.g., anomalous, missing and outlying values) in fisheries catch and effort relational databases. 3. Trial the above approaches with several case-study fisheries datasets to assess the performance of different data cleansing approaches, quantify error rates and types and assess the sensitivity of catch and effort statistics to these errors and outliers. 4. On the basis of the above findings, recommend a standard national approach for data cleansing and validation of fisheries catch and effort data. 5. Customise and integrate the generic approaches into NSW fisheries database systems to implement automated data cleansing processes. 6. Extend the results of the project to fishers and industry representatives to encourage greater accuracy in fisheries catch and effort data reporting. Read moreRead less
Formation Of An Industry Strategic Plan For Development Of A Quality Index For Australian Seafood
Funder
Fisheries Research and Development Corporation
Funding Amount
$4,585.00
Summary
Objectives: 1. To achieve broad agreement of key stakeholders on development of a strategic plan for establishing a quality index for selected Australian seafoods including benefits and costs. 2. To outline how to implement the first stage of this strategy including proposals for trials. 3. To assess infrastructure, resource and training requirements for implementation of the strategy.
Seafood CRC: Maximising The Quality Of Australian Wild-caught Prawns (Quality Assurance)
Funder
Fisheries Research and Development Corporation
Funding Amount
$177,179.94
Summary
Despite overwhelming support for industry investment to implement the national prawn market development strategy developed by Brand Council (CRC 2011/736), a major aligned industry concern was the inconsistent quality of, in particular wild caught prawns, and how this inconsistency may have the potential to negatively impact the market development activities. The Australian wild catch prawn industry is widely distributed and characterised by variation in geography, target species, operating/h ....Despite overwhelming support for industry investment to implement the national prawn market development strategy developed by Brand Council (CRC 2011/736), a major aligned industry concern was the inconsistent quality of, in particular wild caught prawns, and how this inconsistency may have the potential to negatively impact the market development activities. The Australian wild catch prawn industry is widely distributed and characterised by variation in geography, target species, operating/harvest systems, size of vessel and operator capabilities. Additionally, there can be high staff turnover, language and cultural differences and literacy issues. This leads to inconsistent product harvesting, brining, cooling, preserving, packaging and grading and/or inappropriate processing, which causes inconsistent product quality. Such quality issues can be exacerbated by poor handling at both retailer and consumer level.
While prawn quality standards have previously been created, there has been little integration, acceptance or uptake of these standards and associated training by indutry More often, standards have been created at fishery, company and vessel level, or are at the request of down chain partners. With considerable industry investment to both develop and implement the national Australian prawn strategy, there is now a greater incentive for the production of a consistent quality product to underpin the Australian prawn strategy messages/activities and ensure the best possible prawn experience for consumers.
Objectives: 1. The Australian prawn market development strategy is underpinned by supply of a consistent, high quality product. 2. To establish, trial, and evaluate the impact of a national, whole of chain, prawn quality program for grading, shelf-life, appearance and provenance of Australian prawns. Read moreRead less
A Study Of The Retail Sale And In-home Consumption Of Seafood In Sydney
Funder
Fisheries Research and Development Corporation
Funding Amount
$115,000.00
Summary
Given the many changes to the business environment and eating habits in Sydney since the National Fish Consumption Study, particularly this year, there is a need for up to date reliable information on the retail sale and in home consumption of seafood in Sydney to comprehend and overcome this reported downturn in seafood retail sales and for long term planning for the producers and marketers of seafood.
This information would also allow industry to make better use of underutilised seafo ....Given the many changes to the business environment and eating habits in Sydney since the National Fish Consumption Study, particularly this year, there is a need for up to date reliable information on the retail sale and in home consumption of seafood in Sydney to comprehend and overcome this reported downturn in seafood retail sales and for long term planning for the producers and marketers of seafood.
This information would also allow industry to make better use of underutilised seafood species which are currently not fetching high prices. With the growing number of Vietnamese and Korean fish shops in Sydney, some importing fresh seafood from Vietnam, and the growing interest in ethnic foods, import replacement with our underutilised species is of great importance.
Australia as a whole can benefit from the results of this research because Sydney is the major domestic market for seafood, wild caught or farm grown, in all states.
The Olympics in Sydney in the year 2000 places even greater importance on having reliable information for sound planning for future seafood needs. This study on the retail sector would complement an earlier study on the seafood demand from the catering sector undertaken by the applicant for the FRDC last year. Objectives: 1. To measure retail sales and in-home consumption of seafood in Sydney: examine the species and volumes purchased by consumers; 2. Examine the factors influencing consumer decisions to buy/not buy; 3. Examine retailer's purchases, behaviour and attitudes; 4. Propose actions which can be taken to increase the sale and consumption of Australian seafoods, particularly underutilised species, in a profitable manner for both the producers and retailers. Read moreRead less
Tactical Research Fund: Providing Social Science Objectives And Indicators To Compare Management Options In The Queensland Trawl Planning Process
Funder
Fisheries Research and Development Corporation
Funding Amount
$95,000.00
Summary
Fisheries management has mostly been directed by economic and ecological objectives. With the introduction of the call for triple bottom line assessments of industry and government performance, a need for social objectives has become apparent which has remained largely unaddressed in terms of integration into management plans for specific fisheries.
In addition, consideration of social impacts of different management options are very important for the Queensland trawl fishery. The rea ....Fisheries management has mostly been directed by economic and ecological objectives. With the introduction of the call for triple bottom line assessments of industry and government performance, a need for social objectives has become apparent which has remained largely unaddressed in terms of integration into management plans for specific fisheries.
In addition, consideration of social impacts of different management options are very important for the Queensland trawl fishery. The reason for this is that the fishery ranges from having communities where trawling is the major source of income to the opposite case where trawling is only a minor component of the community activities and income. The fishery also spans almost the whole length of the eastern Queensland coast with a complex multi-species, multi-fleet fishery which is worth about $100M - Queensland's most valuable fishery. Management options need to balance community, economic and biological needs. Any changes to the management of the fishery can substantially change the biological status of stocks, fishery profitability but also equity between fleets and communities.
Queensland DEEDI are presently developing a new draft Plan for comment and input to this is essential and urgent.
There is therefore a need for specific social objectives and associated relevant indicators for Queensland DEEDI to use in the development of management plans and the assessment of them.
Objectives: 2. Test and verify applicability of social objectives and indicators using semi-quantitative analyses with stakeholder groups 3. Identify social objective and indicators of relevance to the Queensland trawl fishery Read moreRead less