Background and RDE Goals:
The Commonwealth Research Advisory Committee (COMRAC) comprises of a board of experts who are responsible for facilitating the identification and delivery of efficient and effective research in Commonwealth waters. COMRAC is also tasked with developing a 5-year Research, Development and Extension (RD&E) Plan that provides a framework to identify and invest in key strategic research needs of Commonwealth stakeholders between 2017 and 2022, with the intent to ensure a healthy marine ecosystem and efficient, productive and profitable fisheries (including commercial, Indigenous and recreational).
The State and Territory RACs, in conjunction with other FRDC Partner groups (IPA's and Subprograms), have released the first open call for applications to be evaluated in 2018. The following priorities have been identified as priorities to this RAC. Note that some priorities are applicable to multiple jurisdictions - for the full list of priorities download them here.
Development of Discard and Bycatch Triggers for Use in Commonwealth Fisheries Under the New Bycatch Policy |
COMRAC |
Developing Capacity and Capability Within the Recreational Fishing and Indigenous Sectors to Better Engage with Government on Fisheries Management Issues |
COMRAC; HDRS |
Cumulative Impacts Within Fisheries |
COMRAC |
Multi-Species Fisheries: Harvest Strategy Implications of Maximising Economic Yield and Implementation Options for Commonwealth Fisheries, With a Focus on the Southern and Eastern Scalefish and Shark Fishery (SESSF) |
COMRAC; HDRS |
Members:
Priority list:
FRDC Management Contacts:
Chris Izzo – Executive Officer (M 0419 852 723; E christopher.izzo@frdc.com.au)
Alison Connelly – Secretariat (M 0437 694 485; E alison.connelly@frdc.com.au)
Meeting dates:
COMRAC meeting no. 7 - 22 March 2018
COMRAC meeting no. 8 - 12 July 2018
COMRAC meeting no. 9 - 11 October 2018
COMRAC meeting no. 10 - 21 March 2019
COMRAC meeting no. 11 - 11 July 2019
COMRAC meeting no. 12 - 10 October 2019
Associated IPAs:
Australian Council of Prawn Fisheries IPA
Sub-Antarctic IPA
List of Commonwealth Related projects