Richard Colbeck: Australian fisheries benchmarked against the world’s best

World experts on fisheries management are meeting in Adelaide this week to share new technologies and best practice methods for managing small pelagic fisheries.

Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Agriculture, Senator Richard Colbeck, said the week-long workshop is a great opportunity for Australian fisheries scientist, managers, the fishing sectors and conservation groups to find out how Australia’s small pelagic fisheries stack up against global best practice.

“Australia is hosting leading experts from the US, Spain, Chile, Portugal, Netherlands and Greece who will be sharing global perspectives of fisheries management techniques including harvest strategies, catch limits and mitigating ecosystem impacts,” he said.

“Australia’s fisheries are sustainable and well managed and I am sure we will stack up well against world’s best practice.”

“It will be a useful exercise to share experiences between countries and identify opportunities for further improvement of Australia’s well managed small pelagic fishery.”

Senator Colbeck said the collaborative nature of the workshop would ensure a wide range of views are heard.

“Australian fisheries managers are focused on continuous improvement, and developing our science base and listening to issues raised by stakeholders is an important part of this process,” he said.

The technical workshop is hosted by the South Australian Research and Development Institute (SARDI) and funded by the Fisheries Research and Development Corporation (FRDC).
SENATOR THE HON RICHARD COLBECK Senator for Tasmania Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Agriculture