In March 2021 the FRDC published an initial rapid assessment - Impacts of COVID19 on the Australian Seafood Industry: January-June 2020 - of the direct and indirect effects of disruption to seafood production, supply chains and markets caused by the global COVID19 pandemic. That assessment covered the initial period of the shocks wrought by COVID19 and demonstrated the availability of data to support rapid assessment in such conditions.

However gaps remain to be addressed, including:
1. comprehensive coverage of production effects in fishing and aquaculture across all Australian jurisdictions,
2. coverage of impacts on recreational fishing activity and Indigenous commercial seafood activities;
3. assessment of emerging medium-term impacts (such as changes in Australian consumer purchasing behaviours, structural effects in labour markets and export-oriented sectors, effects of alterations in tourism patterns); and the interactions with non-CV-19 impacts (such as trade tensions affecting exports); and
4. the effectiveness of crisis responses.
Furthermore, the capacity to access data to support rapid assessment in times of systemic shock needs to be consolidated. Finally, insights from rapid assessments need to be harvested to provide Australia with a framework for assessment of systemic (i.e. large-scale, multi-level) risk to the Australian seafood community.

This project addresses these needs through a follow-up Impact assessment report which is more comprehensive, given data availability. The follow up report will include case studies of crisis responses by key government and industry decision makers, and the lessons learned for preparedness for future shocks. It will develop a Guideline for rapid assessment of economic and social effects in fisheries and aquaculture, which will contribute to FRDC's capacity for rapid appraisal and assessments. The guideline will include quality assurance steps to be applied to rapid assessments. Finally, the project proposes to draw insights from this more comprehensive assessment to identify what risk factors to assess, and how, in order to prepare for systemic shocks in future.

After discussions with MSC, ASBTIA applied for MSC and completed the pre-assessment (ACDR) for SBT caught in the Great Australian Bight (GAB) for farming. An approved CAB, Marine Resources and Assessment Group (MRAG) completed the ACDR (attached) and identified three possible challenges to certification. First was that the MSC Standard requires the product to be “landed.” This was resolved because SBT caught for farming is officially deemed “landed” by AFMA and CCSBT. Second was the SBT listing under the EPBC Act 1999 – the same problem faced by Orange Roughy East (ORE). ASBTIA has applied to the Australian Minister for Environment for SBT to be delisted in 2021.

Another major problem is that the MSC Standard requires the SBT stock to be “at least an 80% probability that the true status of the stock is higher than the point at which there is an appreciable risk of recruitment being impaired” (MSC Standard SA2.2.1.1 and SA2.2.1.2). The Standard notes that: “Where proxy indicators and reference points are used to score Principle 1 (Pl 1.1.1), the team shall justify their use as reasonable proxies of stock biomass for the PRI and/or MSY.” The Standard also notes that “The recent trends in fishing mortality rate may be used as a means of scoring stock status.” (SA2.2.4). Currently the CCSBT MP is tuned to a 70% probability of rebuilding the stock to the interim rebuilding target reference point of 20% of the original spawning stock biomass by 2035, which does not meet the MSC Standards.

As soon as this problem was identified by MRAG in the ACDR – ASBTIA had detailed discussions with AWE and CSIRO on how this barrier could be overcome. The view that SBT could not pass the MSC Principle 1 without this being resolved was then supported by the ISSF analysis in February 2021 (see www.iss-foundation.org) CSIRO noted that the problem could be addressed by a project – but that it required use of data and analysis which evolved from the meetings of the CCSBT Extended Scientific Committee (ESC) but were not published or used in the ESC annual Reports (see www.ccsbt.org)

This project seeks to position the NT seafood industry to have a clear understanding of suitable and cost effective, valued systems and processes for adoption. It is the critical first step required to aid a shift in the behaviour and culture from a government driven data collection process for legislative purposes, to a process that is trusted and valued by industry to deliver data insights beyond regulatory requirements. As a result, it will help position the NT wild harvest and aquaculture sectors with securing access, investment and development opportunities.

Current negotiations for access to Aboriginal-owned tidal waters have reached a critical point. A gap exists in understanding what level of industry adjustment might be required to ensure Indigenous investment in the industry is not unnecessarily impacted. Better understanding the full value of the NT seafood industry to the NT community could assist with all strategic decisions related to Blue Mud Bay negotiations, infrastructure investments – and help support investment in the industry going forward.

Without a plan to enhance the visibility of the wider socio-economic value and benefits of our industry, we will continue to face increasing pressure on our social licence to operate – which has the potential to impact all aspects of the local industry, including access, industry structure and increased fees. It will also limit our ability to identify the best opportunities for future growth and sustainability.

Further, there is limited availability of current financial and economic information for our individual NT wild harvest fisheries and sector specific aquaculture activities. Due to this lack of information there is little scope for economic analysis, hence limiting opportunities for providing advice to policy and decision makers.