Back to FISH Vol 23 3
PUBLISHED 1 Sep 2015
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MORE INFORMATION FRDC +61 2 6122 2100 frdc@frdc.com.au

The Australian Seafood Cooperative Research Centre (Seafood CRC) officially opened for business on 6 August 2007 and the agreement with the Australian Government ended on the 30 June 2015. The FRDC was the largest partner investor in the Seafood CRC contributing about $31 million over the past eight years of operation.

 

This means that for most of the projects completed the FRDC contributed about 71 cents in every dollar. The FRDC has worked closely with the Seafood CRC to transition activities and incomplete projects for ongoing management and to ensure the legacy of its investments endures and continues to deliver benefits to its participants and end users. By the numbers, here are some of the achievements of the Seafood CRC.

1 Seafood CRC

The Seafood CRC mission was to contribute to the economic growth and the industrial and commercial success of the Australian seafood industry by assisting end users to profitably deliver safe, high-quality, nutritious Australian seafood products to premium markets, domestically and overseas.

The headquarters of the CRC was based at Flinders University in Adelaide and research projects were conducted throughout Australia and even in China.

  • Four research programs: Production Innovation, Program and Market Development, Communication and Education, Commercialisation and Utilisation
  • Eight years of operation, from 2007 to 2015
  • 10 supply chains improved
  • 100+ usable project outputs or products developed. These have had direct and practical application to aquaculture, ocean fisheries, domestic and export markets.
  • 176 milestones achieved.This is all but one of the milestones outlined in its Commonwealth Agreement.
  • 300 research publications
  • 500 data loggers tracking temperature during oyster transport
  • 540 projects undertaken
  • 30,000 Cobia sent to market
  • 2,300,000 Love Australian Prawns recipe booklets distributed
  • 5,000,000 healthy fish fed on improved diets
  • 12,000,000 healthy Bluefin Tuna larvae
  • 5,000,000,000 genetically improved oyster spat distributed

 

The money

  • $31,000,000 invested by the FRDC as one of the main Seafood CRC participants
  • $35,500,000 funding contributed by the Australian Government
  • $68,000,000 the value of in-kind contributions provided by the Seafood CRC’s participants
  • $83,000,000 received from government, the FRDC and other participants to the Seafood CRC and spent by the Seafood CRC during its life

The people

  • 10 staff
  • 14 board members
  • 34 participants
  • 67 graduate students who completed their higher degrees with the support of the Seafood CRC
  • 97 travel bursaries supported by the Seafood CRC to attend a variety of educational and professional development activities in Australia and overseas
  • 2000 Australian seafood end users in aquaculture, fisheries, domestic and export markets to benefit from Seafood CRC research
  • 4000 of China’s best chefs seeking Australian abalone thanks to the Australian Wild Abalone™ marketing camp

4 programs

The Seafood CRC had four planned outcomes to help link researchers with industry and government, with a focus on research application. These outcomes were presented as programs.

Program One: Production Innovation aimed to substantially increase the production and profitability of selected wild-catch and aquaculture species.
Program Two: Program and Market Development was given responsibility for increasing demand and access to premium markets for Australian seafood while fulfilling consumer demands for safe, high-quality, nutritious seafood products and increasing profitability throughout the value chain.
Program Three: Communication and Education delivered additional outcomes in the form of skilled scientists, industry-ready graduate students, informed industry personnel and increased social capital among all participants.
Program Four: Commercialisation and Utilisation was directed to the delivery of the outputs from the other three programs.