BBP has invested heavily in an Akoya pearl farm in NSW, and this has been a high-risk venture. We see that our biggest challenges in the current economic climate are the maintenance of profitability in a depressed pearl market and the continued development our workforce skill base. In comparison to other Australian pearl operations, BBP cost of pearl oyster production is low and so major opportunities for profitability increase lie in improvements in the percentage of saleable pearls and increased pearl quality. These factors are a function of the skill of the pearl technician. BBP’s lead technician Rosanna Crisp was trained by an ex Port Stephens Pearl technician, and obtained further training from a visiting Japanese expert, but both experts recognised need for seeding protocols to adapt to NSW conditions. Rose has reached the point where further tuition and the opportunity to discuss potential modifications to techniques would be highly beneficial. Through benchmarking BBP seeding technology against that of international technician we hope to both quantify potential improvements in seeding success and work towards realising those improvements. Rose would then be instrumental in the disseminating those skills and techniques to others within BBP.

The technician to be employed works regularly in WA and we hope that experience gained in NSW would then in return be available to Abrolhos farmers. BBP looks forward to maintaining close links with WA pearl producers.

As the seafood sustainability debate in Australia moves forward, the dialog is increasingly not just between industry and government, but also with a range of marine conservation-focused NGOs. Industry needs positive dialog with these groups to build up trust and ultimately cooperation on sustainability issues.

Fishers have often been blamed for much that is wrong with the marine environment. However fishers understand that fishing and conservation are natural bedfellows as their livelihood depends on sustaining the ocean ecosystem and the resources within.

The seafood industry therefore needs to highlight the long-term benefit of balancing the need for conservation against the need for food and other services. In the UK there is a broad seafood industry perspective that fishers must be recognised as an essential part of building a sustainable future for the marine environment.

Phil, has been working in this field for the UK seafood industry for the past 20 years. Initially engaging with environmentalists when the rest of the industry thought it was 'crazy' to do so. He successfully managed to bridge the gap between conservationists, industry and government and for the last 10 years has run the UK's sustainable fishing advisory group, which brings together industry, conservationists and government membership.

It is felt that the seafood industry would greatly benefit and gain positive outcomes from the experience Phil has gained over the last 20 years. This is an opportunity to improve the communication, respect and cooperation between industry and conservationists that is so sorely needed.

Historically there has been an interest to expand the pilot scale operations of shellfish (mussel) farming in Jervis Bay, NSW. In addition, there are two major players from within and external to NSW that are interested in investing in shellfish (mussels, scallops and perals) farming inside the Bay, as well as pilot-scale, land-based, integrated systems that would like to develop shellfish culture. There have however been many barriers to such a sustainable seafood industry becoming a reality on the south coast, including complex jurisdictional and stakeholders issues, as well as expert capacity to evaluate industry potential.

From this perspective, the NSW Department of Primary Industries has taken the initiative to establish a working group that can identify the key sites (650ha) within Jervis Bay that could support a viable shellfish industry, and a draft NSW Aquaculture Industry Development Plan identifies potential shellfish culture sites. Alyssa Joyce has expertise in shellfish industry technology, site suitability assessment and indigenous development from Canada, and is currently researching applications of integrated shellfish-culture in Scandinavia. Alyssa's skills would provide a valuable contribution to the development of the shellfish industry on Jervis Bay as well as in integrated systems on the south coast.

The demand for high quality, locally produced seafood is increasing in NSW, particularly in response to tourism linked to fine food and wine trails. Jervis Bay is ideally suited to link sustainable aquaculture to the tourism experience as it boasts being in one of the top three most visited regions on the East Coast of Australia.

The indigenous development scholarship is part of the suite of professional development opportunities developed and managed through the FRDC people development program. This particular scholarship addresses the following objectives of the people development program 2008-2013:

Objective 1 Enhance industry leadership within all sectors
and; Objective 3 Provide opportunities for knowledge transfer and R&D adoption

The significant drivers identified in the FRDC people development program, addressed by this project
are:
- There is a shortage of industry leaders in all sectors of the fishing industry.
- There is an urgent need to develop people within all sectors who have the skills to effectively contribute to debate and policy development for significant challenges, including access to fish resources.
-Early career researchers and emerging industry leaders lack opportunities for formal mentoring and
professional development.
-There is a shortage of opportunities for people in industry to develop skills that are going to directly
improve business profitability and sustainability.
-The industry is geographically dispersed and fragmented, and needs opportunities to learn within and
across sectors.

The indigenous development scholarship is part of the suite of professional development opportunities developed and managed through the FRDC people development program. This particular scholarship addresses the following objectives of the people development program 2008-2013:

Objective 1 Enhance industry leadership within all sectors
and; Objective 3 Provide opportunities for knowledge transfer and R&D adoption

The significant drivers identified in the FRDC people development program, addressed by this project
are:
- There is a shortage of industry leaders in all sectors of the fishing industry.
- There is an urgent need to develop people within all sectors who have the skills to effectively contribute to debate and policy development for significant challenges, including access to fish resources.
-Early career researchers and emerging industry leaders lack opportunities for formal mentoring and
professional development.
-There is a shortage of opportunities for people in industry to develop skills that are going to directly
improve business profitability and sustainability.
-The industry is geographically dispersed and fragmented, and needs opportunities to learn within and
across sectors.