Rising fuel prices, value from waste, digitising supply chains, labour shortages and building capacity were hot topics at Seafood Directions 2022 in September – issues all being tackled by FRDC’s transformative investments.
Shared and complex challenges facing the fishing and aquaculture sector were key topics of discussion at Seafood Directions 2022 held in Brisbane in September – the first major in-person gathering of the industry since the COVID-19 pandemic began more than two years ago.
They were also the focus of a presentation at the conference by FRDC General Manager for Strategy and Innovation Matt Barwick, who outlined FRDC’s investments in transformative solutions.
FRDC General Manager for Strategy and Innovation Matt Barwick.
Matt said rising fuel prices, finding value from waste streams in an emerging circular economy, unlocking value in a digital world, addressing labour shortage and building capacity, and being flexible in our approach to the future were among the hot topics for fishing and aquaculture.
In his presentation, Matt outlined FRDC’s evolving approach to investment, its work with stakeholders to help solve these and other problems and its support for Australia’s seafood sector to innovate and remain profitable.
Challenges driving change
Matt said some of the drivers of change that fishing and aquaculture – and all of Australia – would wrestle with in coming years include adapting to the changing climate, maintaining sustainability, emerging diseases and escalating geopolitical tensions. Artificial intelligence and automation, demographic shifts, increased diversity, and the need for transparency in business and decision-making would also continue to disrupt the global economy, often in ways that could not be predicted.
“It reinforces the importance of flexibility, diversity and connectivity, and the need for transformation of our infrastructure, production systems, supply chains, and trade relationships,” Matt said. “Going back to the way things were pre-pandemic would be a missed opportunity, and potentially a threat to the ability of Australia’s seafood sector to survive inevitable future changes and disruptions.”
In his presentation, he outlined the need to focus on solving the problems of today, while also allocating much-needed time and resources to tackling longer-term shared strategic issues. Ten of these highlighted in FRDC’s 2022-23 Annual Operational Plan include:
- collaborating across agriculture, fisheries and forestry to target shared strategic issues
- bringing together a collective to lay foundations for successful digital transformation
- activating programs to improve the resilience of fishing and aquaculture to a changing climate
- activating programs to aid transitioning fishing and aquaculture into a circular economy
- initiating an expanded program to build capability and capacity across fishing and aquaculture
- deploying a regional network to facilitate greater adoption of R&D
- exploring opportunities to enhance national sustainability reporting
- investigating opportunities to optimise equitable sharing and security of access to Australia’s aquatic resources
- understanding and responding to threats and opportunities presented by alternative proteins, and
- partnering to increase opportunities for Indigenous communities in fishing and aquaculture.
Presentation: Being innovative to solve problems and deliver value across fishing and aquaculture, presentation by Matt Barwick at Seafood Directions 2022.
Investing in innovation
One newly started project aims to help improve climate resilience and relates to improved seasonal forecasting tools being developed in collaboration with Agricultural Innovation Australia and the Bureau of Meteorology. The Agri Climate Outlooks project is focussing on developing user-friendly forecasting resources that operate over seven days and out to 12 months, to help producers understand risks and opportunities associated with a changing climate across agriculture, fisheries and forestry.
Matt also highlighted the work underway and led by Western Rock Lobster to digitise its supply chain, as a great example of accelerating digital transformation. This project is a case study within the larger Australian AgriFood Data Exchange, a joint initiative of government, research, industry partners and research and development corporations, including FRDC. It aims to create an interconnected data highway across agriculture, fisheries and forestry.
“Another important example of innovation to build resilience to a changing climate right now is the Climate Resilient Wildcatch Fisheries project led by Seafood Industry Australia in partnership with Austral Fisheries and Blue-X,” Matt said.
“This is helping to answer the question ‘what’s next after diesel?’. This critical work into alternative fuels aims to help offer solutions to both rising diesel prices and the need for lower carbon fuel sources. Though the project is still in its early stage, there are exciting preliminary indications that there may be some relatively easy options for some styles of fishing,” Matt said.
On the topic of finding ways to help the sector transition to the circular economy, he pointed to recently completed work by Professor Kate Barclay at the University of Sydney, who is leading a project to identify opportunities for fisheries and aquaculture in Australia.
“This is about wringing every last drop of value out of production, whilst also exploring regenerative opportunities for the natural systems that we rely upon. FRDC will build on the outcomes of Kate’s research,” Matt said.
These examples were each explored in more detail in presentations by project leaders throughout the Seafood Directions program and together help illustrate how FRDC continues to support the seafood sector in tackling complex problems.
Agile research strategies
“I think as a fishing and aquaculture community we know the kinds of outcomes we need, although we may not be sure exactly how we are going to get there,” Matt said. “There is a lot of uncertainty in complex problems, and no prescriptive answers. That’s why a ‘probe-sense-response’ approach can be so important to enable us to explore options, take a step and then revise our direction if we need to, and then repeat this process, learning and adapting as we go.
“It allows for the creation of prototypes to test, get feedback on, adapt and revise, or to abandon quickly if it shows no promise. We also need to partner with leaders in Australia and internationally in our sector, or from other industries, who are addressing these same challenges we are facing.”
Learning from international experience and looking beyond the fisheries sector has been a particular feature of the alternative fuels project, taking in fuel developers and port infrastructure providers.
Likewise, the Agri-food Data Exchange has brought together a range of telecommunication providers, primary industry peak bodies and a diverse range of agri-businesses to take part in research and help develop the data exchange.
“End-user desirability remains one of the critical dimensions to achieving impact through innovation,” Matt said. “A great example of this is the role that industry partners are playing in helping to shape our investment approach to building capability, capacity and culture change led by FRDC Project Manager Sally Roberts.
“Perspectives from across fishing and aquaculture also continue to help shape the focus of FRDC’s network of extension officers, and it was great to see so many conference delegates keen to share their thoughts and ideas with the extension officers during the conference.”
During the Q&A session that followed, Matt was asked about the continued importance of profitability as a focus of FRDC investment. He responded that profitability remains a clear and vital element of achieving a vibrant future for fishing and aquaculture in Australia.
He said investment through the FRDC’s transformation initiatives in digitalisation and AI, in responding to climate change, embracing opportunities in the circular economy, and delivering more equitable outcomes, would help ensure a bright and profitable future for fishing and aquaculture.
