Harvest strategy

Paula Shoulder said in an initial response AFMA was developing a harvest strategy policy that would set boundaries for acceptable levels of risk and establish binding rules to support the decisions that would be made in the face of fluctuating stocks or uncertain information.

She said targeted fishing would stop for stocks that reached a defined limit reference point. AFMA would investigate moving to monthly quota reconciliation for all fisheries to ensure that quota was closely monitored and so fishers could quickly reconcile after any over-catching. As a first step, quarterly quota reconciliation will begin in the Southern and Eastern Scalefish and Shark Fishery this year.

The policy will include a framework to rebuild overfished stocks.

Tight timing

AFMA expects to complete the framework by the end of this month and build it into harvest strategies for individual species and stocks in the next 12 to 18 months.

The discarding of quota species will be illegal from next year and, in conjunction with industry groups, AFMA will implement measures to significantly reduce discards in all Commonwealth fisheries, with a goal to halve bycatch by 2008.

Ecological risk assessments to be made in all fisheries by the end of next month will be followed by management action to address the broader ecological impacts of fisheries on protected species and the marine environment.

VMS, ITQs for all

The entire Commonwealth-licensed fleet will be required to install vessel monitoring systems by July next year and improved compliance and data verification methods will be introduced.

An electronic licensing system that provides online access to fishing rights will allow self-service licence and quota transactions between fishers, with an expected reduction in costs to both industry and AFMA.

On management methods, Paula Shoulder said Commonwealth fisheries would move to output controls through individual transferable quotas.

Management arrangements between the Commonwealth and states that were not efficient and cost-effective would be streamlined.

She said that within one year of implementing harvest strategies across all fisheries AFMA expected no species or stock would be classified as ‘subject to overfishing’.

“Within four or five years these measures will ensure that the trend in the number of stocks that are classified as overfished will decrease, rather than increase as it does now,” she said.

“Eventually, we anticipate that there will be no overfished stocks in Commonwealth-managed fisheries.”

MORE: AFMA, phone 1300 723 621; www.afma.gov.au.

Fishery action

Specific draft actions announced for three AFMA-managed fisheries includes:

Southern and Eastern Scalefish and Shark- Most water below 700m to be closed to fishing from next year, except for some targeted orange roughy and alfonsino. Gear restrictions and spatial closures to be introduced this year to reduce the main ecological impacts on vulnerable species and important habitats. Only boats with ‘adequate levels’ of quota allowed to fish.

Eastern tuna and billfish- In 2007, a maximum 7m hook sets in the mainland AFZ and 2.5m in the rest of the fishery, with drum monitoring required on every longliner. An initial Total Allowable Effort of 7.8m clips, with sub-area factors in at least  three zones.

Scallops, Bass Strait Central Zone-  Total closure till at least December 2008. Beginning in 2006-07, annual management fees will be subsidised on a reducing scale for three years, up to a total of $15m.

MORE: AFMA, phone 1300 723 621;

www.afma.gov.au

Competitive edge attracts

Australian aquaculture is beginning to display a competitive edge that is attracting overseas and local investors.

Several listed company floats have been welcomed by the market and New Zealand operators have begun investing on this side of the Tasman to escape over-regulation at home.

The Kiwis include four mussel growers. One, Picton’s Port Mussel Company from the top of the South Island, is now part of a venture producing blue mussels near Port Lincoln.

As Port’s General Manager Terry Schwass told his hometown journalists: “Here in New Zealand it seems we are forever faced with stonewalling and goalpost-shifting by governments and their departments”.

In contrast, South Australia had welcomed his company with open arms, offering more water to add to an initial 120ha operation.

SA initiatives

Praise from across the Tasman is music to the ears of Ian Nightingale, Executive Director, Aquaculture, of economic development agency Primary Industry and Resources SA (PIRSA), because it ratifies the steps South Australia has taken to provide consistent zoning and certainty of access.

“We also grant registered leases that are the equivalent of real property rights on land. To a developer financing a venture, they deliver a second important benefit – the banks like them,” Ian Nightingale said.

He said the message from new investors was consistent. They had run the ruler over the other states and New Zealand and selected SA because of its consistent zoning.

“They don’t want financial help from government. They just want to know that when they put their money down government is not going to change the rules and leave them high and dry.

“Before a recent public float I took calls from a number of brokers. They didn’t want to know my views on the viability of the venture being floated – they’d already done their homework on that.

“Their question was ‘how ironclad is the government zoning?’ and of course I was able to answer with certainty.”

In 2004 PIRSA and FRDC launched Innovative Solutions for Aquaculture Planning and Management, a portfolio of seven R&D projects aimed at developing tools needed to maximise the state’s aquaculture potential.

The tools were and are intended to:

Catching up

Some other states intend to catch up, among them Queensland, which is about to follow the example of SA and Tasmania by identifying areas suitable for aquaculture and preparing the necessary plans.

Queensland’s General Manager of Fisheries and Aquaculture Development Ian Yarroll said this would be done region by region.

He said Queensland had already established a legislative framework to allow an integrated approval process for aquaculture elements.

The National Aquaculture Council (NAC) confirms that the states that have streamlined their regulations have begun reaping the financial benefits of new industry investment adhering to best practice principles, particularly in the past year.

More to come

NAC Chief Executive Officer Simon Bennison predicts further improvements in the investment climate for local and overseas aquaculture investors, particularly in forward-thinking states that have pegged out areas for further development.

“They’ve mapped their waters, identified the premium aquaculture sites and laid down the necessary regulatory groundwork so that, when an interested developer comes in, it’s all there ready to go”, he says.

Past and future, he describes FRDC’s R&D planning, funding and management as an essential foundation – “as an industry we’ve done studies that show how FRDC’s strategies have increased our efficiency”.

Not that it’s all beer and skittles. For white-flesh finfish aquaculture, Simon Bennison sees some challenging years ahead as overseas producers up the competitive ante.

But for other species, particularly shellfish, tuna, top end prawns, rock lobster and for aquaculture technologies such as recirculation systems, he sees opportunity for both onshore and offshore investors, although the former Australian Government-industry goal of national aquaculture production being worth $2.5 billion a year by 2010 appears to have been quietly abandoned.

“Development must be sustainable –national growth will do well to achieve a target of 10 per cent a year,” he says.

“Our future remains in high-value products and our advantages are improved and improving regulatory systems, industry capacity and skilled people, underpinned by strategic
R&D.

“We have constantly improved
 efficiency and lowered production costs and there are still technology gains to be made.”

MORE: Simon Bennison, email nac@asic.org.au; Ian Yarroll, phone 07 3224 2184; email ian.yarroll@dpi.qld.gov.au; Ian Nightingale, phone 08 8226 0261; email nightingale.ian@saugov.sa.gov.au

Profits hard to find

ABARE has forecast a marginal revenue rise for the Australian fishing industry this financial year, with total value expected to increase from $2.1 billion to $2.15 billion, on the back of a lift in seafood exports from $1.5 billion to $1.6 billion.

However in real terms this means overall values will continue to fall. ABARE – an Australian Government economic research agency – points out that although the volume of fisheries production has risen by 30 per cent over the past five years, its real value has slumped by 25 per cent.

It says this reflects declines in average real prices for seafood, meaning that,  although production has increased, values have not kept pace.

This was particularly the case in 2002-03 and 2003-04 and to a lesser extent in 2004-05, when exports lost ground in the face of a strengthening Australian dollar.

Aquaculture earnings in 2004-05 fell a further 15 per cent to $619m, largely because the export price for southern bluefin tuna fell by 26 per cent to $19kg, for an overall reduction of $108m on the previous year.

On a brighter note, ABARE says a forecast fall in oil prices and a depreciating dollar should now reduce costs and increase revenue in the medium term.

ABA has a $100m target

$8m-PLUS invested so far, in year two. A target of $100m to be invested by 2011 through managed investments, most of the money coming from private investors in Sydney and Melbourne. Ultimately, multiple farm sites with jobs for up to 100 people, with perhaps another 100 in downstream processing.

That’s the projection of Australian Bight Abalone Ltd (ABA), a public unlisted company that bought pre-tested intellectual property and chose South Australia as the place to commercialise it because of its clean water and sound legislation.

ABA is growing greenlip abalone in sea cages on a three year cycle for export, principally to China and mainly on a live, harvest-to-order basis, but with provision for dried, canned and whole-frozen product, plus cryovac.

“In selecting the jurisdiction in which to locate, security of tenure is the biggest issue,” said ABA CEO Andrew Ferguson from the company’s operations headquarters at Elliston, about 170km north-west of Port Lincoln, the mainland base for its adjacent leases in the Investigator Group of islands.

“But,” he said, “there’s no doubt SA’s regulatory framework is designed to attract sound corporate developments with the ability to professionalise the industry.

“It requires transparency and you must be able to demonstrate you have a sound, commercial proposition.

“This is a process that appeals to our company and its investors.

“Production leases are renewed annually, but you know that if you comply with the Act there’s no likelihood that this won’t happen.”

MORE: Andrew Ferguson, email Andrew@australianbight.com.au; www.australianbight.com.au

$A drop helps two ways

A DEPRECIATING Australian dollar won’t just help seafood exports – it will also increase the price of imports, leading to better returns for Australian fishers supplying the domestic market.

But the Australian government economic research agency ABARE says that, despite this, ‘the mismatch’ will continue between Australian production of high value seafood and its domestic demand for low value products.

It predicts further increases in imports of vannamei prawns and frozen freshwater fillets and points out that in the first half of this financial year imports of frozen fillets from Vietnam rose 37 per cent on the same period in 2004-05, representing a doubling in annual volume since 2002-03 to 5400t.

Thailand too remains a major supplier. In 2004-05 it provided almost 60 per cent of Australia’s imports of canned fish, 35 per cent of its imported fresh, chilled and frozen prawns and 18 per cent of its canned crustaceans and molluscs.

But ABARE puts particular emphasis on the increase in prawn imports from China and Vietnam – China’s volume rising from 250t in 1999-2000 to 4800t in 2004-05. Vietnam’s volume grew from 1300t to 6700t over the same period.

Significantly, seafood imports overall have become cheaper as volumes rise.

ABARE says the real value of imported seafood has fluctuated around $950m for the past five years, but volume has increased by 33 per cent.

This includes supplies from New Zealand, which in 2004-05 provided 37 per cent of Australia’s imports of fresh, chilled and frozen seafood, 31 per cent of its canned crustaceans and molluscs and 20 per cent of its fresh, chilled and frozen molluscs.

MORE: www.abareconomics.com

Retail, Ari & Mary’s way

FOR 22 years – starting as a kid – Ari Velonias worked for the man. In seafood retail, wholesale and export. Listening, learning. Watching, waiting. And planning, always planning.

Along the way he married Mary. He, 19. She, 16. Then they began planning together and waiting – till their kids had grown and they could take the step they had rehearsed and refined.

That time came two years ago. They sold ‘everything we owned’, including their house, leased an ugly paint store in the Melbourne silvertail suburb of Hampton, alongside Brighton; and began swinging the demolition hammer – literally – to create  Fegari Seafood, a retail outlet that’s become something of an overnight sensation after its 22 year gestation.

Every detail came out of their heads, fully formed. First, the ambience: Ceiling-to-floor glass internal walls, with pale cream backing – easy to clean, seamless, no grout, no cracked tiles.

Deep blue ceiling, soft blue shop lighting, bounced and diffused high off the glass, complementing a tiled floor with inset, lit, glass panels containing sand, shells and other marine still life. Soothing, moving marine images on a big wall-mounted plasma flat-screen, facing the customer. Understated? No. Effective? You bet.

Next, the practical pieces: Length-of-the-shop and return glass-fronted display case without vertical supports, at pre-planned height, pre-planned depth. To ensure excellent product view for customers, relaxed eye contact over the top and easy, non-stretch access for staff retrieving the desired fillet, cutlets, clams, calamari, rock lobsters, oysters...

Ice, 1t daily

All of which, exposed to the air, rest on a continuous bed of flaked ice – one tonne of it – replaced daily.

And lit by natural light quartz halogen globes, suspended above and outside the display, so they don’t dry the seafood or raise its temperature.

“Don’t refrigerate. It dries out seafood too. In our natural cabinet the ice keeps our fish at zero to 2°C all day,” says Ari.

Back wall, behind the serving area, stainless steel benches, kickback and trough, including a filleting bench, so all fish can be filleted and portioned in front of the customer. To background music, from a built-in, unseen sound system.

Out the back, seamless epoxy flooring, an ice-making and flaking machine, freezer room and cool room, both with double-layered, made to order insulation panels. Plus a second, smaller, cool room with the same heavy duty insulation, where the day’s fish scraps and all other disposables are binned and stored for disposal.

A total design effort to eliminate hard-to clean angles, crevices, surfaces, even though the wash-down detergents (two) are highest food grade. And throughout, not a hint of fish odour.

Cost? Don’t ask

The builders, subbies and fit-out people did, frequently. Ari, on site all day, every day, during the makeover got plenty of: ‘this is going to cost you a fortune - do you know what you’re doing?’

“After 22 years, I was 99.9 per cent confident,” he says. Still, the opening was stressful, exciting – and tiring.

“We got seven hours sleep in total over the first three days,” recalls Mary, “and in the first week a lot of people came in for our advertised giveaways.

“We didn’t care if they didn’t buy. We just wanted them to see our design and our quality and our service.”

That’s service

One of the giveaways, through a draw, was $1000 worth of seafood.

As for service, Ari and Mary delivered it to the winning couple’s home and cooked it there for the winners and their 10 invited guests.

And business now? “Great”, says Mary, with their second anniversary still weeks away.

So great that in the Easter and Christmas rush the shop can’t accommodate all the waiting customers, who spill out on to the street.

The Fegari solution for this and other busy times  is a machine that dispenses consecutively numbered tickets, to ensure everyone gets served in turn.

“Cost a bloody fortune,” says Ari, “but not one customer leaves unhappy and it stops us getting stressed too.”

No stress either for the man of mature years who turned up with folded deck chair, took his ticket and reclined outside in pre-planned comfort till his number came up.

Not that Fegari’s a generational thing. Writing in the The Age newspaper’s  Epicure section, Leanne Tolra reported: “As we left Fegari Seafood, my eight-year-old said: ‘That’s the coolest fish shop I’ve ever seen’.”

Fegari’s regulars would seem to agree. Especially that dude with the deck chair.

Quality in

“I have about five regular wholesale suppliers. When fish arrives, I assess it. Only me. Temperature first, appearance, smell. Then I cut it. If it’s no good, it goes straight back. But that’s rare. They know our standards.”            Ari Velonias

Quality out

“I’m fussier than our customers. We put their fillets and other finfish in foil trays with a reflective lid, to avoid sweating. No plastic wrap or plastic bags, for the same reason and to avoid squashing. Always with storage advice. We guarantee it will last three days in their fridge. In warm weather, or if the fridge is more than few minutes away, or if they’re likely to have the car heater on, we add small non-drip ice packs. And they can bake in our foil containers – and avoid the washing up.”

Ari Velonias

Phone service

“We have customers who like species we can’t get every day, special fish like Tasmanian striped trumpeter, WA goldband snapper, coral trout, red emperor. So we take their phone numbers and when we have their favourite, we ring them.”
            Mary Velonias

Best advertising

“When we started, a lot of people locally didn’t know much about seafood – what’s blue eye? what’s hapuku? And a lot of families wouldn’t touch fish. But word of mouth here is big. So we get first-time customers who say: ‘My friend told me I should come here, but you’ll have to tell me what to buy and how I should cook it’. And we do.”

            Mary Velonias

Fish killers

“One woman complained that fish we had sold her was awful. How did you cook it? ‘In the oven – three hours at 150°C-180°C’. So I gave her some more free and told her how to cook it. She came back ecstatic. ‘It’s so easy’, she said. Another said ‘now this will shrink by 50 per cent when I cook it, won’t it?’

Turns out she normally put her fillet in cold water, bought it to a simmer and poached it for 45 minutes.”

Ari Velonias

On communication

“Customers will say: ‘I want fish for my kids – 50g for my baby – fish for a barbecue’ or, sometimes, ‘inspire me’. It’s about listening, finding out what they want and making sure they get it. We have customers who live several suburbs away and some who come from hours away – Mornington, Mentone, Shepparton, Echuca. And one across the border in Deniliquin who picks up a monthly order.”

            Mary Velonias

Staff qualities

“We both are up at 4am and work 13 to 15 hours a day, five days a week. Our daughter Vicki (19) is one of our three employees, my sister Stella’s another.

New staff? We don’t want people who’s seafood experience is a lifetime of bad practice that’s hard to unlearn. Give me a good communicator. We can teach the rest.”

            Mary Velonias

Retail recipe

“Quality and customer service.”            

            Ari Velonias

“You have to care from the heart.”                                    Mary Velonias

“You have to be made for it.”                                     Ari Velonias

“It’s not about dollar signs. You’ve got to love what you do.”     

            Mary Velonias

And then…

“We’re still renting. My first goal is buying our house back.”

            Mary Velonias

The plunge

“Best thing we’ve ever done? God yeah!”

            Mary Velonias

MORE:  Ari and Mary Velonias, phone 03 9533 4411; email fegariseafood@hotmail.com, fegari@bigpond.net.au

Pills a qualified choice

Fish oil capsules get a qualified tick from the consumer magazine Choice for people who want omega-3 benefits but don’t eat seafood.

But it advises pill poppers to read the labels carefully.

All five brands it tested contained as much omega-3 as claimed, but  some capsules contained 1000mg each and others only 500mg.

For seafood eaters, Choice advocates fresh fish rather than frozen because, it says, most frozen product is white fish such as blue grenadier (hoki) or imported hake, which are low in omega-3 and ‘don’t work out as cheap as you might think’.

It rates canned fish an even easier option, acknowledging pink and red salmon, mackerel and sardines as good sources of omega-3 – but not tuna.

MORE: Choice, February edition; www.choice.com.au; Australian Consumers’ Association, phone  02 9577 3399

Wal-Mart, ASDA tick MSC

WAL-MART, the United States’ biggest retailer, says it will source all its wild harvest and frozen seafood from suppliers certified as sustainable by the Marine Stewardship Council within three to five years. 

As a first step, the seafood it already retails from MSC-certified fisheries will carry the MSC eco-label later this year.

Wal-Mart’s move is being followed by its British subsidiary  ASDA, the UK’s second-biggest retailer.

 “Our customers tell us they want to buy their fish with peace of mind. We believe the MSC mark, together with clear country of origin labelling, will give our customers the reassurance they’re seeking,” said  ASDA Chief Executive Andy Bond.

By September, the UK retailer will label all its fish with the nation of capture.

 ASDA will also stop selling swordfish within the next four months and will suspend the sale of North Sea cod while it works with European Union

fisheries authorities and the North Sea Regional Advisory Committee to establish a stock recovery plan for the species.

Its moves follow highly-publicised Greenpeace protests in Britain, after which it removed shark, skate wings, ling, huss and Dover sole from its 280 stores and committed to featuring sustainable seafood in monthly promotions.

ASDA serves about 12 million shoppers weekly.

In the United States, Wal-Mart vice-president Peter Redmond said the giant retailer believed it was essential to take a leadership role.

“The MSC label assures our customers that they are buying from a retailer that is taking concrete steps to keep wild-caught fish available to present and future generations.

“We have also been working on programs for farm-raised shrimp and salmon and hope to be able to discuss our plans in those areas in the near future,” he said.

“This is a big and exciting development,” said Marine Stewardship Council Chief Executive Rupert Howes.

The MSC, a non-profit organisation set up to promote solutions to over-fishing, says its blue eco-label is now carried by more than 300 seafood products sold by major retail chains in more than 24 countries.

MORE: www.walmartstores.com; www.msc.org

Dialling up Vic rec catch

Fisheries Victoria is using a 12 month phone survey to estimate the numbers of snapper and other key species taken by recreational boats on Port Phillip and Western Port bays.

Principal Investigator Sandy Morison said FRDC project 2003/047 was a pilot to determine the best way to obtain annual estimates of the total recreational catch of key species in Victoria’s main bay and estuary fisheries.

A  review of all previous Victorian  survey methods had shown the telephone to be the most cost-effective medium.

For the pilot, researchers have created a sampling framework from the state’s database of recreational licence-holders – a planned cross-check with boats registered with Marine Safety Victoria hasn’t eventuated because of perceived privacy issues.

Phone interviewers are conducting a specific number of interviews each month, mostly outside office hours.

Respondents have been given recall diaries and species identification sheets and these and frequent phone contact are expected to minimise errors. The objectives are to:

Sandy Morison said the majority of recreational  fishing in Victorian bays and inlets is in Port Phillip Bay and Western Port and 95 per cent of the catch there is made from boats.

Information is being compiled for a number of species, but particularly snapper and King George whiting.

The 12 month survey covers November and December, when adult snapper are targeted, January to April, when the recreational emphasis is on juveniles and the autumn and winter seasons, when whiting are usually targeted.

Sandy Morison said managers currently did not know if the total recreational catch of these and other species such as bream approached, equalled or exceeded the commercial take.

With resource allocation between the commercial and recreational sectors assuming increasing importance and ESD-based management plans for Victoria’s bay and inlet fisheries about to be developed, cost-effective methods were needed to collect meaningful recreational data, he said.

MORE:  Sandy Morison, phone 03 5258 0232; email sandy.morison@dpi.vic.gov.au.

Rec grants roll on

MORE than 90 applications have been made for funding in the second  round of the Australian Government’s recreational fishing community grants scheme.

The first round, completed in October, attracted 166 applications.  The scheme invites communities, recreational fishing clubs and other organisations to apply for $100,000 each to develop new projects or complete previously planned ones.

Applications received so far cover fishing clinics and camps, boat ramp improvement, jetties and other fishing platforms, restocking, education and awareness campaigns and provision of fish passage and marine rescue items.

The government has provided $15m over three years for the scheme. A third round of applications will be called before then end of next month.

MORE:  www.daff.gov.au/recfishinggrants

Saving sandbar sharks

Western Australia has acted to reverse a stock decline in its demersal whaler shark fisheries after FRDC-funded research showed the sandbar (thickskin) shark had little ability to counter fishing mortality and the dusky shark also was in decline.

About 90 per cent of its north-west fishery is to be closed indefinitely and effort reductions will be implemented in the west and south coast fisheries.

For the sandbar shark, Principal Investigator Rod Lenanton of the WA Department of Fisheries put potential population growth in the absence of fishing at only 2.5 per cent per year.

Estimates based on annual vertebral growth bands suggest sandbar males mature at 14 years and females at 16. Gestation lasts 12 months and the mean litter size is 6.5 embryos.

Tagging data indicates that juveniles tend to favour temperate waters for several years, then slowly migrate to the tropical north to join the breeding stock.

Consequently, in the western zone of WA’s temperate shark fisheries during the 1990s they quickly became the principal catch. Researchers found the current gillnet catch here was mainly aged two years to 10 years.

A northern longline fishery developed in the late 1990s saw a second dramatic increase in sandbar catches, but here those landed are mainly adults.

Reassessment of a second whaler, the dusky shark, using the new demographic analysis techniques developed in this project, indicated that it too was less resilient to fishing than previously thought, with females taking about 30 years to mature.

A consequent lower estimate of the  sustainable harvest level tallies with fishery catch-effort data that indicate the breeding stock of dusky sharks has been in decline for years, resulting in a reduction in recruitment.

MORE: Rod Lenanton, WA Department of Fisheries, phone 08 9203 0111; email rlenanton@fish.wa.gov.au

Tuna manual is a hit

An onboard manual to improve product quality on tuna longliners has been commended by users throughout the supply chain.

The 80-page Australian Tuna Handling Manual sets out to help fishers understand the nature of the fish, plus optimal handling, quality and safe food practices – and thus have a clear grasp of what processes they can control to maximise quality and improve market access and profit.

Jenny Davies of Ocean Wild Tuna says copies are being used on her company’s longline vessels, where they will be invaluable in helping skippers deliver the crew training necessary to achieve the best possible prices.

“Market prices reflect in the crews’ share and ultimately in their bank balances so are of utmost importance to them,” she said.

Lucas Woolford, Quality Assessment Manager at the Sydney Fish Market, said the manual set a standard for all Australian fisheries.

 It was a great help for inexperienced fishers and for experienced ones who needed to break out of set ways of handling fish.

He said in the Sydney Fish Market it was proving to be a valuable educational tool and also provided much-needed guidance for retailers and restaurateurs in assessing sashimi grade tuna.

Concept for the manual came from former Western Australian Rural Woman of the Year Erica Starling, who co-wrote it.

She and co-author Geoff Diver were helped by the South Pacific Council, which gave them access to the words and graphics in the manuals it had developed for its longline tuna fisheries.

Funding came from the Rural Industries Research and Development Corporation, through the Rural Woman of the Year award and from FRDC through the SSA Managed Seafood Industry Development Fund.

The manual, on water-resistant stock, is  available from Seafood Services Australia, phone 1300 130 321. Cost: $98, including $10 handling and postage.

Securing jewies’ future

Northern Territory researchers have been joined by southern counterparts in a FRDC-funded effort to secure the future of the big, hard-fighting black jewfish, an aggregating species and one of the north’s signature angling attractions.

The team from the NT Department of Primary Industry, Fisheries and Mines, the Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS) and the Tasmanian Aquaculture and Fisheries Institute (TAFI) aims to improve understanding of the biological importance of its annual aggregations through project 2004/004.

The black jewfish grows to 40kg and ranges waters from the tidal zone to 100m deep. It can be targeted in river and estuarine systems and in coastal and offshore waters.

Senior NT scientist Michael Phelan says with its impressive size and fighting ability it mirrors the attributes of its southern counterpart, the mulloway. The most striking difference is that the black jewfish is not elusive. It has a strong predilection for deep holes and structures such as wrecks or reefs, takes fresh bait and lures and makes up a sizeable proportion of the catch of recreational fishers and fishing tour clients.

With a little local knowledge, a strong line and an equally strong back, he says, anyone can land one of these monster fish – particularly when they aggregate.

Each year big aggregations form at locations across the north, from central Queensland to northern Western Australia, their predictable nature and inshore locations ensuring the popularity of jewies with the fishers who target them.  Although the biggest aggregations comprise thousands of fish their biological purpose and importance are yet to be proven.

Fishing’s threat

However international evidence shows that aggregation fishing can rapidly undermine fish stocks. Chronic effects include reduction of size-age structure and deteriorating reproduction. Acute effects include a complete loss of aggregations.

Michael Phelan says nowhere in the published literature is there evidence of a lost annual aggregation ever reforming. To establish the movement patterns of black jewfish, the researchers have released 84 specimens off Darwin, each carrying traditional external plastic tags, as well as acoustic tags surgically implanted in their body cavities.

All were caught and released in water less than 12m deep to ensure they came to the surface and returned to the bottom full of energy.

To capture information on their movement, more than 50 receivers have been deployed along 300km of coastline. Pulses from the acoustic tags are recorded when a fish swims within a few hundred metres of a receiver.

This data will be downloaded soon for collation and deciphering. Meanwhile, project staff are making hydrological and bathometric surveys of the aggregation sites and profiling the age and sexual maturity of participating fish.

Michael Phelan says the resulting knowledge of aggregating behaviour will allow custodians and fishers to use stocks sustainably, so they can be enjoyed equally by current and future generations. A public workshop to discuss project results will be held in Darwin later this year. The date will be posted on the project web page at www.fisheries.nt.gov.au along with details of the study’s components.

MORE: Michael Phelan, phone 08 8999 2144, email Michael.Phelan@nt.gov.au; Principal Investigator Colin Buxton, phone 03 6227 7256.

Bays blissful for Bacash

In Melbourne these days seafood is spelled Bacash by a lot of foodies.

The Age newspaper’s Good Food Guide has just honoured South Yarra restaurateur Michael Bacash with its Michelin-like chef’s hat for supreme and sustained quality. And his preference for and advocacy of the fish from Port Phillip and Western Port bays - rock flathead, snapper, calamari, red mullet, King George whiting -  has become dogma among the faithful.

Not that he thinks these species are the ultimate. He doesn’t. Their attraction is that they are local, so he expects to get them flapping-fresh.

“There’s something beautiful about opening an oyster and seeing it plump and in great condition.

“About getting calamari and seeing it change colour when you smack it because it’s so fresh. About filleting a garfish and seeing the phosphorus-blue still lining the stomach.

“I enjoy fresh seafood and I enjoy presenting it to people the way it should be presented,” Michael Bacash says.

Just the way it used to be when he was a kid, really, out on the bay with his father, coming in with a big appetite and a few fish and whacking them straight on the little gas burner the moment the feet hit the shore.

Something akin to seafood perfection, that. But expecting this quality, consistently, through the commercial seafood chain – he has to be joking, doesn’t he?

Pointing the finger

Except he isn’t. But he can’t get the quality he expects all the time. And he makes no bones about pointing the finger. At his wholesale sector.

“I see the industry shaped like an hourglass,” he says.

“At the bottom you have producers Australia-wide passionate about quality. We can now get great Spring Bay scallops on the half shell from Tasmania. Fresh baby octopus from SA. Mussels in 5kg bags, date-stamped. And so on.

“At the top of the glass there are people like me – a prisoner of my standards. I just cook fish. And that’s all good fish should require.

“But in that narrow bit in the middle we have some wholesalers who don’t give a damn about the species or its condition. All they care about is they’ve bought it, so they have to sell it.

“Every day I look at the fish that comes into the restaurant. Sometimes I’m incredibly happy. Sometimes I’m… flabbergasted.”

Been there

So could he do better?

“As a wholesaler? I tried, years ago.”

And?

“I was incredibly unsuccessful. Distracted by still owning a restaurant that provided my primary income, ignorant of the politics of supply - and idealistic.

“I chased only the best restaurants, sold only what I’d put my name to. So if I was holding fish two or three days old I’d dump it. And lose money.”

“Could I do it successfully now? I think so. By buying or buying into a big operation that already has extensive distribution with high end potential, but has a secondary market too, because there has to be cheap seafood – not rubbish – for those who want it.

“As for me, I know my suppliers can’t personally select every piece I order. They have staff who start at four in the morning and some four-in-the-morning people don’t share my standards.

“But it doesn’t have to be this way. If you look after fish properly, it’s easy. All I ask is: ‘Tell me the truth’.

“Don’t say: ‘Too expensive’. Do say: ‘Not good enough’.”

So. A steak house, perhaps?

“No. Steak arrives at a restaurant cryovaced. If you’re going to cook something, eat something, it should be a very sensory thing.

“You don’t get that from a slab of meat or a chicken in a plastic bag.

“I love running a restaurant and I love seafood. So I think it’s onwards and upwards.”

Indefinitely?

“Till commonsense takes hold - absolutely.”

MORE: Michael Bacash, phone 03 9866 3566; email mail@bacash.com.au; www.bacash.com.au

R&D guides ab pioneers

Victorian couple Stephen Rodis and Melinda Clarke met on a bit of a high.

He, a designer, was flying for fun. She, a producer, was snapping reference photographs over Melbourne for a hand-drawn, panoramic map of the city, that re-created the 3-D perspective and style popularised by pioneer European balloonist-illustratators of the 1800s.

Today, Managing Director Stephen and Company Secretary Melinda are still on a high running Great Southern Waters, an abalone farm on Victoria’s Bellarine peninsula. It’s hands-on, house on site, on call 24-7, living and breathing a still-expanding development.

“It began in the early 90s. Stephen saw a paua farm in New Zealand, spotted basic design defects, came home and said ‘we could do this’.

“I’d never seen an abalone in my life. But we started researching, went to FRDC subprogram conferences, talked to MAFRI, leased a hatchery at Queenscliff for a pilot program and began searching for a farm site,” said Melinda Clarke.

Good neighbour

They found their 20ha site close to both Geelong and Melbourne – on Port Phillip Bay, on the outskirts of a small township, with holiday houses alongside. Then began a torturous process of obtaining state and local government approval for a farm and a 500m pipeline into the bay to supply seawater – and convincing the townspeople, nearby house owners and holidaymakers that an abalone farm would make a good neighbour, partly by persuading doubters to visit their pilot project at Queenscliff.

Their business plan said: Attract investors and go from there. But the meetings with the suits of the Melbourne financial district didn’t go too well.

“At that time, unless you had a dot com after your name people didn’t want to know you,” Melinda Clarke said.

So they sold their Melbourne house, put the proceeds into pumps and pipes and kick-started the development.

“For the next couple of years we chased finance and times were very tough. But we got through it,” she said.

Then they found their major investor, through a friend of a friend – not a corporation, but an experienced man of the land who understood the need for patient, research-based development and who has ‘tipped millions’ into the company.

Almost 10 years on, the farm now occupies about half the site, with eight months construction still to go.

120t annually

GSW is a closed-cycle operation, using its own broodstock to produce greenlip and greenlip-blacklip hybrids. Approaching year four of full nursery production, it’s looking to an annual harvest of 120t of three-year-old abalone.

The 18 full-time staff, including two scientists, are backed by a dozen casual workers. Great Southern Waters is also home base for one tertiary student completing a masters degree and another doing a PhD on immune response.

Sales have begun to Japan, mainland China and Hong Kong and other markets are being researched.

R&D foundation

With the farm nearing completion, the business plan stipulates continued growth on the back of sound R&D.

“R&D is our foundation,” Melinda Clarke said.

“We have a formal – and expanding – R&D budget, directed mainly at improving our culturing systems and selective breeding.

“FRDC’s Abalone Aquaculture Subprogram has been the springboard for the development of the entire Australian industry.

Australia’s labour cost is much higher than other countries’ and we’ve had to concentrate on maximising production efficiencies to compete.

“There’s healthy rivalry between farms, but there’s also good cooperation. Most people know it’s the Chileans and South Africans who are our competitors – not the farm down the coast.

“At Great Southern Waters we’re ramping up to full production now and it really is exciting,” she said.

“But it’s still farming. Farming’s full-on. And it’s not for the faint-hearted.”

MORE: Stephen Rodis, Melinda Clarke, phone  03 5257 2033; email stever@gsw.com.au; melinda@gsw.com.au; www.gsw.com.au

Breeding shows

“We’ve recorded a 48 per cent difference in meat weight gain in 27 months between the best and worst performing families in our selective breeding program,” said Great Southern Waters Operations Manager Anton Krsinich.

The farm devotes part of its R&D budget to maintaining independent systems until the tagging stage for the 40-plus families produced annually in this program.

The families, established from different locations in the wild, have been pair-crossed to deliver a broad genetic breeding base for an R&D project that is delivering improved growth rates, meat-shell ratios and survival.

In the hatchery Anton Krsinich spawns genetically superior, domesticated broodstock.

The resulting larvae are transferred to nursery plate tanks, with narrowly spaced plastic sheets in parallel acting as artificial reef.

On the sheets grows their feed – Ulvella lens – a prostrate macroalga that Anton Krsinich helped isolate in a FRDC-funded project with Principal Investigator Sabine Daume as part of his masters degree at the University of Tasmania.

“The culturing of Ulvella lens as an appropriate food results in consistently high larval settlement, which minimises the number of broodstock required, thus creating more room for genetic improvement and minimising juvenile production risks,” he said.

GSW’s R&D is now heavily focussed on growout, with an honours degree project underway to assess the relationship between stocking density, water quality and flow rate and feed quantity, to help predict the combination that will deliver the most profitable outcomes at harvest.

MORE: Anton Krsinich, phone 03 5257 2033; email, antonk@gsw.com.au

Model farm

A computer modelling tool that can be interrogated about the variables of farm production is a goal of Great Southern Waters scientist Rodney Roberts.

His first step is capturing the farm data that will underpin the model.

“We maintain four abalone year classes at all times.

“We want to know what the commercial optimums are for water flows, stocking densities and feeding rates – to go from seat-of-the-pants to being able to validate all our assumptions.

“We also want to optimise auto-feeding and grading of our grow-out stock and to minimise feed, electricity and labour, which are our biggest costs,” Rodney Roberts said.

Currently one person looks after 70 grow-out tanks, each containing about half a tonne of abalone at harvest; and individual tank flows and food usage are measured and recorded daily.

“We also rely very much on diet development from FRDC’s subprogram. Our improvements in electricity usage, feed and labour all come from R&D and have a direct effect on profit,” he said.

Recs move to accredit

Recreational fishers and management agencies have supported a voluntary five star accreditation system for public fishing tournaments to ensure these competitions meet sustainability and other managerial guidelines.

Principal Investigator of the FRDC-funded project, InfoFish Services Manager Bill Sawynok, says tournaments have a high public profile and are important to the recreational sector. But fisheries managers previously had put them in the too-hard basket, with little regulation beyond size and bag limits. And organisers have no guidelines, codes of practice or accreditation systems to measure and improve their environmental performance. 

To remedy this deficiency, Recfish Australia through FRDC project 2005/235 has developed a concept for a national environmental management and accreditation system that takes into account the social and economic benefits of competitions, as well as their underwater impacts.

ISO 14001

It proposes that public tournaments be classified under an ISO 14001 environmental standard and accredited on a one to five star basis, one star identifying tournaments with high environmental impact and low social and economic benefits and five stars recognising those with negligible or positive environmental impacts, as well as high socio-economic benefits.

Participation would be voluntary, administration  would be by an independent company and the system ultimately could be self-funding through accreditation fees paid by tournament organisers.

Bill Sawynok  said the concept had been developed through consultation with recreational fishing organisations, organisers of major tournaments, state management agencies and the Australian Fishing Tackle Association.

All stakeholders had recognised it as an opportunity to promote the sustainability of recreational fishing and address welfare issues, particularly those generated by catch and release tournaments.

Acceptance by the wider recreational sector would, he said, show it was prepared to deal with issues of increasing concern to the wider community.

For tournament organisers the incentives to adopt accreditation would be the opportunity to:

The system would link with existing initiatives such as the National Ecological Sustainable Development of Fisheries program, FRDC’s National Strategy for the Survival of Released Line-caught Fish and the National Code of Practice for Recreational and Sportfishing.

After successful trials at four fishing tournaments, Recfish has asked FRDC to fund a follow-up project to develop the system.

MORE: Bill Sawynok, phone 07 4928 6133; email infofish@zbcom.net

Satellite data here

Daily Australian sea surface temperature (SST) information tailored for wild fisheries and aquaculture is available free at www.cmar.csiro.au/remotesensing.

So too are ocean colour charts derived from NASA’s MODIS satellite system that can reveal chlorophyll, algal blooms and the presence of land-sourced organic matter.

The Australian Fisheries Management Authority (AFMA) is using the satellite sea surface temperature information from the CSIRO to reset the boundaries of fishery conservation zones for southern bluefin tuna.

Precautionary management measures are applied in the zones off Australia’s east coast to minimise accidental capture of SBT there. AFMA reviews zone boundaries every two weeks between May and October in response to south or northward movements of the cooler ocean currents in which the tuna travel.

The sea surface temperature information and position reports from tagged SBT are fed into a CSIRO model and analysed along with advice from industry and independent observers. 

MORE: Inside back cover, this edition

Melbourne consumer survey

Know thy customer

About 23 per cent of Melbourne people have an environmentally aware attitude to seafood and thus are likely to respond to eco-labelling and ‘natural’  seafood promotion, according to the FRDC retail and consumption study.

They would be likely to pay up to 10 per cent more for environmentally-certified seafood, says Principal Investigator Nick Ruello, but would be turned off by promotions of species they believed to be over-fished, such as orange roughy and flake.

Another segment, seafood buffs, could be targeted with new products and epicurean experiences. The researchers identified five segments of consumers, based on their attitudes to seafood:

Advocating a move away from ‘one size fits all’ promotion, Nick Ruello said if each segment was targeted individually, seafood sales could be boosted by 10 per cent.

He said young adults were likely to use mobile phones and laptops to obtain restaurant guides and recipes and in the future would download cooking demonstrations on iPods.

Consumers in Melbourne, Sydney and Perth indicated they want to know the origin of the fish they eat and want more quick and easy meal ideas.

Providing this information should be a retail priority.

Overwhelming percentages of consumers in all three capitals rated correct labelling as very important when choosing seafood to prepare at home:

Misleading consumers was the worst thing retailers could do, Nick Ruello said.

He said the seafood industry overall would benefit from promotion that built consumer confidence and strengthened community support for commercial fishing and aquaculture.

However, promotion was effective only when the other elements of the marketing mix were in place.

“A consumer’s decision to buy fish can be very complex.

“The real issue for most consumers, regardless of budget, is not price per se but the value they see in the product.

So industry’s challenge is to add value by understanding what consumers want and understanding that value-adding does not necessarily entail high level – or indeed any – processing.”

Confidence still lacking

Although they like eating seafood, Australians still lack confidence in selecting and preparing it. So domestic sales suffer.

The latest FRDC funded survey showed some consumers will pay high prices for familiar or favourite fish, when they feel confident doing so.

They also may show extreme loyalty to particular species. Principal Investigator Nick Ruello said more than one third would choose another food rather than another species, if their desired species was unavailable.

Respondents who agreed with the statement –  I like to buy familiar types of seafood:

Respondents who agreed with the statement – I like to try different types of seafood:

Respondents who agreed with the statement –  I like to prepare seafood:

According to consumers surveyed, ideas for quicker and easier meals would help increase their confidence and skill in preparation and hence consumption.

Nick Ruello said many consumers had a ‘specific recipe syndrome’, thinking only one or two cooking methods or recipes were suitable for a particular species.

He said this could be overcome with information that a pleasing meal could be had from all species using most of the common cooking methods and proven recipes.

Bad news hits sales

In Melbourne, 11 per cent of respondents ‘strongly agreed’ they had reduced their seafood consumption because of adverse publicity about seafood contaminants.

Retailers confirmed that bad news undermined consumer confidence in all seafood when it focussed on food safety.

Principal Investigator Nick Ruello said it was evident in all three capital cities surveyed that wild-harvest and aquaculture industries had not engaged consumers in any significant way.

Nevertheless there was substantial latent support for commercial fishing that could be nurtured and harnessed to add strength to the fishers’ voice in the public debate over resource allocation.

At the same time, fishers had to stop criticising each other in the media because, when they did, ‘everyone loses’.

He said almost 40 per cent of Melbourne consumers surveyed would like to see more fresh local seafood; seven per cent would prefer more fish to be made available for recreational fishing and slightly more than 40 per cent felt the balance now was right.

In Perth in 1999, 76 per cent advocated a greater resource allocation to commercial fishing, with seven per cent favouring an increase for recreational fishers and six per cent content with the status quo.

Melbourne consumers saw aquaculture as the way of the future because it was more sustainable, while oceans were commonly perceived as heavily fished or overfished.

Concerns were raised about animal welfare and the use of chemicals in aquaculture.

Seafood from wild fisheries was seen as natural but there were some concerns about the sustainability of commercial fishing, especially for shark, orange roughy and tuna.

The taste of aquaculture fish was questioned by many retailers in Melbourne. Fishmongers in particular reported that farmed prawns and barramundi were not as good as the wild product.

Melbourne consumers seemed more positively disposed, although the retail survey showed aquaculture contributed 25 per cent to Melbourne’s supermarket supplies and 21 per cent to fishmongers’.

However when farmed species were introduced with adequate promotion, the uptake by consumers rose accordingly.

Nick Ruello said all categories of Melbourne retailers wanted aquaculture and fishing operators to provide in-store tastings and distribute consumer information and recipe leaflets to promote sales.

This was seen as essential in generating demand for new species.

Eco-education is needed

Because they have little knowledge of Australian fisheries management, many consumers accept media publicity about overfishing, pollution and other problems overseas and assume Australian resources are equally threatened, according to the latest FRDC-funded survey. Principal Investigator Nick Ruello said that when focus-groups were shown the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) logo it was not recognised by anyone, although reactions generally were positive. Once the MSC’s logo and objectives were explained, participants expressed interest and low-key approval.

Some indicated they would be willing to pay a little more for fish with MSC certification, but this decreased if it meant paying over 20 per cent more. Discussion indicated that support for MSC certification depended on individuals having confidence in fishing practices that are certified.

The Melbourne community attitude to eco-labelling was also explored through a face-to-face consumer survey, in which 29 per cent strongly agreed they would be prepared to pay 10 per cent more for fish if they could be assured it came from a well-managed, ecologically-sustainable fishery.

Nick Ruello said this suggested that eco-labelling could offer a significant market premium if a certifying body gained the consumers’ trust and confidence. But he said the MSC and other certifying organisations would need to invest in an education and promotion program to make eco-labelling work effectively.

World eats 16.3kg

Global consumption of seafood increased by 0.1kg to 16.3kg  per person in 2003, according to preliminary figures from the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).

The FAO says the increase is mostly due to production in China reportedly outpacing population growth.

For the rest of the world consumption had been stable at 13.3kg of processed seafood for the previous six years. Still, global consumption of seafood had doubled since 1973, due to rapid economic growth in developing countries. Almost three-quarters of fisheries production was used for human consumption in 2003. The remainder was used mostly for fishmeal and oil.

The method

Information in the Melbourne survey was gathered from three sources:

As well, complementary reviews were made of earlier field surveys in Sydney and Perth.

Changes in consumer and trade attitudes were analysed, with an emphasis on under-utilised wild species and some aquaculture species.

The Melbourne study also sought consumer and retailer reactions to Australian product labelling, eco-labelling and adverse publicity about seafood.

Findings and other comprehensive information from the three studies are at www.frdc.com.au/bookshop.

He said …

“A valuable contribution to an increasing body of knowledge. It highlights the need to be consumer-focussed.”

– Eric Abetz, Australian Government Fisheries Minister

“For chrissakes read it and put it into practice.”

– Nick Ruello, Principal Investigator

“Good seafood, you don’t have to do much. Just cook it well.”

– Michael Bacash, restaurateur

“The Victorian industry put cash into producing this report. It’s good they see value in this sort of research.”

– Nick Ruello, Principal Investigator

“Imports have the same health qualities as local seafood.”

– Eric Abetz, Australian Government Fisheries Minister

“Seafood that’s sourced locally is just fantastic.”

– Michael Bacash, restaurateur

“We still have a long way to go to match the French - 31kg unprocessed seafood per person per year - or the Koreans - 55kg.”

–       Eric Abetz, Australian Government Fisheries Minister

Aussies seen and heard

Australian advances shared the spotlight at an international fisheries acoustics workshop attended by 60 participants in Hobart in March.

The workshop is held annually by the Fisheries Acoustics, Science and Technology working group of the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES).

ICES coordinates the marine research of 19 member countries around the North Atlantic. Australia is an affiliate member and this was the first time the workshop had been held outside a member country.

Australian research discussed included the potential use of acoustic data to monitor indicators for ecosystem based fisheries management; studies of prey species distribution in Australia’s Eastern Tuna and Billfish Fishery; and acoustic surveys of orange roughy and blue grenadier spawning stocks.

Workshop host Rudy Kloser of the CSIRO says a 15-year involvement with the ICES working group has kept his research team up-to-date with world best practice in the use of acoustic technologies and methods in fisheries research.

MORE: Rudy Kloser, phone 03 6232 5222; email rudy.kloser@marine.csiro.au

Wanted: dollar drivers

Proposals for R&D to improve profitability will be put to the annual meeting of the Australian Prawn Farmer’s Association in July.

The proposals have been short-listed from expressions of interest sought earlier in the year from farmers, hatchery operators and other potential R&D providers.

APFA Executive Officer Scott Walter said proposals selected at the meeting would be developed into applications for submission to FRDC.

APFA’s R&D projects are funded principally through a compulsory levy that raises about $300,000 a year after matching and is managed in partnership with FRDC.

However, the association has advised prospective applicants that this is not the only source of funding. It has strongly encouraged applications that:

MORE: Scott Walter, phone 07 3837 4777; email info@apfa.com.au.

Energy hits the deck

The first significant meeting of minds on energy options for Australia’s fishing fleet has resulted in a trans-Tasman R&D agenda for alternative fuels, greater efficiency and cleaner emissions.

The venue was a two day, FRDC-funded workshop in Melbourne, where alternative energy providers, boat and gear designers, trawl fishers, researchers and funding providers decided the process should begin with an energy audit of current Australian and New Zealand fishing operations.

A concurrent demonstration project on potential fuel and engine options will seek input from biodiesel and liquefied natural gas producers and conversion suppliers.

It will look at the technical and operational aspects of alternative fuels and additives, including dual fuels such as natural gas and diesel, the optimisation of existing engines and the potential of new hybrids using solar, electric, hydrogen and diesel energy.

A best practice fuel resource kit is proposed to show operators options for improved efficiency and cost-savings, plus a guide to show trawler operators how to minimise drag.

Participants said identifying actual energy use on a fishing vessel and the real-life practices on board were the first steps in fuel conservation.

Fishery managers will be asked to re-assess existing input controls that discourage economic and environmental efficiencies, such as vessel length restrictions,  crewing levels based on length and power and restrictions on pair trawling.

The workshop was told the 270 million litres of diesel Australian fisheries currently burnt each year accounted for up to 30 per cent of operating costs at current prices.

Future prospects were higher prices, a domestic oil production deficit beyond 2015 and a global need to reduce greenhouse gas production.

Organisers said as a scoping exercise the workshop had begun building energy efficiency networks and sharing knowledge.

It had initiated a greater energy system view, particularly between Australia and New Zealand; identified and acted to close gaps in education
and information; and had taken the first steps toward determining the best energy options for the nation’s
fishers.

MORE: Ian Knuckey, phone 03 5258 4399, email fishwell@datafast.net.au; Crispian Ashby, phone 02 6285 0425; email crispian.ashby@frdc.com.au

WA consults and informs                       

FRDC has congratulated Western Australian researchers Mike Mackie, Andrew Rowland and Paul Lewis for their success in communicating the desirability of protecting spawning finfish aggregations to resource users and the wider community.

In FRDC project 2004/051 Mike Mackie and colleagues from the WA Department of Fisheries and three universities are studying spawning aggregations of dhufish, snapper, samson fish and other key commercial and recreational species.

The objective is to document aggregating behaviour, assess options to monitor it and, in light of an increasing number of knowledgeable fishers equipped with GPS, depth sounders and the latest tackle, advise how the phenomenon may best be incorporated in fisheries management plans.

“To do this successfully, it was important to get resource users and resource owners - the community – informed and on-side from day one,” said FRDC Communications Manager Peter Horvat.

“Previously in WA there had been little awareness of aggregation exploitation,  or its potential impact on stocks that at other times are widely dispersed.

“Mike and his crew are raising awareness brilliantly, largely because they got the priorities right: Develop a good communications plan and begin implementing it long before taking to the water.”

The WA project was developed in liaison with the Australian National Sportsfishing Association, RecFishWest, the Australian Anglers’ Association, the WA Charter Boat Owners and Operators’ Association and the WA Recreational Fishing Advisory Committee. They and non-affiliated fishers pledged their support. Charter boat operators and recreational fishers offered in-kind assistance.

National recreational attention was attracted in advance with stories in the December 2003 issue of Modern Fishing, plus a piece in the Western Angler and another on its website.

With no formal commercial management advisory committees for the wetline fishery, researchers took their proposals to the WA Fishing Industry Council and individual wetline fishers, who also offered practical support.

Once underway, a research team that included scientists and students from Curtin, Edith Cowan and Murdoch universities used single and multi-beam echo sounders, underwater video and acoustic hydrophones to locate aggregations, identify species and estimate numbers in a project expected to span three years.

“The ability to hear the distinctive snap, crackle, pop of individual species was another communication opportunity to be seized,” said Peter Horvat.

“For commercial and recreational fishers, it resulted in Cacophony of the Deep  – an excellent story in Western Fisheries by freelance science writer Carmelo Amalfi.

“Then they and the general public had the opportunity to see and hear what the researchers could see and hear through a story shot onboard by ABC-TV’s current affairs program Stateline.

“There are some lessons here for researchers and for commercial fisheries. It requires time, effort, good planning and considerable persuasion.

“But if the objective is worthwhile, you can get the community singing  along with you.”

MORE: Mike Mackie, phone 08 9203 0209; email mmackie@ fish.wa.gov.au

Austrimi a highlighter

Though it’s Japanese-owned, Austrimi Seafoods at Geelong has become something of a little Aussie battler – with a couple of twists.

As Australia’s only producer of surimi-based seafood it occupies a unique market niche.

But here’s the first twist: Austrimi in the past has manufactured its own surimi – blocks of frozen fish fillet paste – the main raw ingredient of its seafood-based convenience products.

Now, however, due to what it describes as a decline in sustainable stocks and consistent catches in Australian waters, its surimi is imported, made from two fish - Alaskan Pollock, Theragra chalcogramma, from Canada and the widespread Indo-Pacific species marketed as threadfin bream, Nemipterus furcosus, from India, China and Malaysia.

In processing them to a paste it adds local starches and flavours to make a range of products – seafood bites, seafood balls, fish cakes –  each with a fish content of up 50 per cent. Plus crumbed Kalamari – a formed, tender combination of finfish and calamari - and its top seller, Austrimi Red Highlighter.

Market edge

Chances are you’ll find them in the frozen seafood section of your local supermarket. Austrimi’s marketing edge over imports is consistent quality, a willingness to produce to order and a guarantee of delivery, Australia-wide, within seven days of an order being placed.

“For Melbourne, seven days or less is easy. For Perth, not so easy. But we do it,” says the company’s food technologist Jacinda Pfeffer.

Now a second twist: Many Austrimi customers in recent years decided to complement or replace their stocks of Austrimi Red Highlighter with a cheaper fully-imported version. Customers liked the price, but not the imported product. Result: Sales of both lines plummeted.

“For this reason and because our sales have been seasonal – higher in summer, lower in winter – our R&D focus has been on developing new products, including natural crumbed fish which is best and healthiest oven-baked,” Jacinda Pfeffer says.

One that’s done well is a 1.25kg Seafood Combo pack, a heat-in-the-container assortment of southern blue whiting, caught off New Zealand and crumbed in Geelong; crumbed Kalamari rings, nuggets and seafood bites. At about $10 retail and accompanied by a salad, it’s proving a quick and affordable family meal solution.

“In the peak season we employ 40 to 50 people and our R&D aim is to broaden our range by building on our existing technological ability and expertise,” she said.

Quality goal

After 18 years in the business, Austrimi still seeks to raise the bar on quality. It was first to trial the Australian Seafood Standard, its HACCP and Good Manufacturing Practice systems are independently audited twice a year and it complies with the strict requirements of Woolworth’s Quality Standard.

All its products are individually quick-frozen using liquid nitrogen and packaging has been redesigned following the installation of a new, highly accurate, vertical fill-and-seal machine. But Jacinda Pfeffer hopes Austrimi’s next big thing won’t be frozen at all.

“We’re researching the possibility of producing a chilled version of our red highlighter.

“If we’re successful, we think it will appeal to consumers and to supermarkets, which will be able to incorporate it in some of their own fresh-daily salads and other value-added deli lines,” she said.

MORE: Jacinda Pfeffer, phone 03 5272 1690; email jacinda@austrimi.com.au; www.austrimi.com.au

MSC ticks icefish

The Australian icefish fishery in the sub-Antarctic has been certified as sustainable by the London-based Marine Stewardship Council (MSC).

Icefish trawl licences are currently held by two Australian companies, Austral Fisheries and Petuna Sealord, for the Heard and Macdonald Islands Fishery, where they manage their activities in partnership with the Australian Fisheries Management Authority.

Unlike the fishery’s other major target, the long-lived Patagonian toothfish, icefish are a small, aggregating, fast-growing mackerel-like species, with clearly-delineated year classes and wild population fluctuations resulting from big variations in annual recruitment.

“The fishers have worked closely with AFMA in developing stringent management rules, including limited catch levels and strict environmental protection measures,” Fisheries Minister Eric Abetz said.

In qualifying for the MSC logo, he said, he hoped they would reap the economic rewards their responsible approach warranted.

The companies’ success in pursuing and achieving certification has also been praised by WWF, the global conservation organisation.

With  many world fisheries under increasing pressure from overfishing, the Australian icefish fishery was a leading example of sustainable management, WWF-Australia CEO Greg Bourne said.

WWF asks consumers to seek out seafood carrying the MSC tick.

MORE: Lorraine Hitch, WWF Sustainable Fisheries Officer, phone 03 9669 1306

Toothfish Observers

Vessels in the Macquarie Island fishery for Patagonian toothfish now have to carry two independent observers each.

Australian Government Fisheries Minister Eric Abetz says the observers  will monitor fishing and collect data on target and bycatch species.

In a first for Australian fisheries half of next season’s statutory toothfish rights will be sold by competitive tender. Statutory fishing rights give fishers greater security than the Australian Fisheries Management Authority’s annually renewable permits by guaranteeing access for the life of a management plan.

The Macquarie Island fishery is divided into two sectors and for 2005-06 will have a combined total allowable toothfish catch of 380t.

Reef reveals its rarities

After more than 300 days at sea, scientists are compiling a picture of seabed life rich and rare from the length and breadth of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park.

They are processing 15,000 plant and animal samples, 2000 sediment samples, 2200 hours of video and 140 gigabytes of echo-sounder data from almost 1400 sites on the continental shelf.

These pieces of an underwater jigsaw were gathered during 10 voyages aboard the Queensland Department of Primary Industries and Fisheries
(QDPIF) research vessel Gwendoline May and the Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS) vessel Lady Basten.

They will form the basis of maps, databases and management tools to help marine resource agencies
conserve habitats and biodiversity and ensure that fisheries are ecologically sustainable.

“This has been the most intensive scientific exploration of the lesser known, deeper seabed of the world’s largest marine protected area,” said Principal Investigator Roland Pitcher of the CSIRO.

“Although we haven’t completed identification, we have already seen nearly 6000 types of organisms.

Some are new records for Australia and some may be unique to the Great Barrier Reef.”

About 50 scientists and technicians from five research agencies have contributed skills in biology, ecology, geology, physics and mathematics to the Great Barrier Reef Seabed Biodiversity Project.

“The scale is unprecedented and reinforces Australia’s role as leader in tropical marine science,” said CRC Reef program leader Peter Doherty of AIMS.

“It also demonstrates the benefits of collaboration. The arduous fieldwork, completed in just two years, could never have been achieved by one agency working alone.”

Principal funding agencies FRDC (2003/021), CRC Reef and the National Oceans Office provided top-up funds that permitted an extra voyage by both vessels to ensure complete coverage. Further funding came from AIMS, the CSIRO, QDPIF and the Queensland Museum. The study is affiliated with the global Census of Marine Life.

MORE: Roland Pitcher, phone 07 3826 7250, email roland.pitcher@csiro.au;

Peter Doherty, email p.doherty@aims.gov.au;

http://www.reef.crc.org.au/resprogram/programC/seabed/index.htm.