The papers published in this book were all presented at the Symposium "Making the Most of the Catch..." held in Brisbane, Australia, 25-27 July 1996.

The contributors came from many countries and from many different institutions. They were selected in an endeavour to present a broad spectrum of information at a range of levels such that there would be topics of vital interest to each of the participants, whether they were involved in research, industry or regulation. The topics also represent many of the issues which are of current and future concern to the Australian industry, whose export markets are mostly in Asia, particularly Japan. Domestic issues were not neglected and presentations concerned aquaculture as well as the capture fisheries.

This Symposium was organised deliberately to immediately precede the Second World Fisheries Congress which was being held in Brisbane to cover regulation, biology, stock assessment and political issues in fisheries. In view of the fact that the world's fishery resources are fully exploited, the theme of "Making the Most of the Catch..." was considered to be highly appropriate to the current situation.

The funding investment in, and conduct of, research and how best to ensure transfer of results and information, and to effect improvements in communication and training added to the theme. The influence that different practices in feeding, harvesting and transportation may have on live and aquacultured species and how these practices can be controlled to result in a better product broadened the theme. The latest in safety issues, the challenges of inspection, HACCP, better techniques for the development of new products and the influence of process variables extended matters. A notable inclusion was in the example of the integration of catch data with complex process information thus creating a nexus of pre- and post-catch information to optimise yields and to plan fishing operations, a concept not yet employed, and probably unheard of, in fisheries management.

The Symposium was solely organised through the Centre for Food Technology, a unit of the Queensland Department of Primary Industries which also organised an international seafood conference in 1991. However, apart from a conference organised by FAQ and held in Melbourne in 1984, "Making the Most of the Catch..." is the first international symposium of Australian origin in the field of seafood technology from which written papers have been submitted and published as a proceedings. The Symposium attracted many of the workers from the major institutions around Australia who have involvement in some aspect of seafood research. Probably more important was the fact that it was attended by many scientists from overseas. That result and these proceedings amount to an injection of intellectual capital into the Australian scene facilitating the forging of personal links between scientists working on a similar problem in different situations. It is not just the exchange of knowledge and the continuing value of the material in the written proceedings, but, it is these ongoing personal links from which new and important contacts are made which provide overwhelming justification for meetings such as this.

This project was undertaken in collaboration with Pacific Export Services Queensland Pty Ltd and had the primary objective of developing a powdered shark cartilage product on a pilot commercial scale for the domestic and export markets. The investigations undertaken in this project required several discrete development steps: sourcing of the raw material, removal of excess flesh from the backbone, development of the drying, milling and packaging protocols, establishment of suitable quality manufacturing and testing procedures, and identification of the markets and market requirements. Considerable time and effort was committed to the development of the appropriate techniques and equipment necessary for the production of a quality powdered shark cartilage product. The procedure which is currently employed for shark cartilage powder manufacture involves a heat-pump drying process and a sequence of milling steps. The final product must maintain a low moisture content and produce a fine (<40µm) powder. Additionally, considerable expertise was developed in the handling of the powdered product, and in the further value-adding of the powder into encapsulated and tableted products. Although this project has concluded, the author has a keen interest in the product and in the potential for alternative uses of the shark cartilage. These uses include: treatments of various inflammatory ailments (e.g. arthritis), extraction of collagen or gelatin for the food or pharmaceutical industries, and extraction of chondroitin sulfate for use in corneal transportation media. This project has developed ideas also in the area of total utilisation of the shark, which includes such areas as leather, meat, offal and fin. The project has successfully developed a method for the manufacture of a fine white powder derived from the backbone of the shark. The commercial partner is very satisfied with the results and is keen to continue the development of the process and improvement of the product. Sales of the product in the domestic and international arenas have surpassed expectations.