The Strategic Plan Summary (FRDC 2002/313) reports as follows:
For all its economic promise the industry faces some challenges that constrain growth and profitability:
• Lack of appropriate peak body structure and supply chain fragmentation
• Limited enterprise commitment to joint industry development
• Complacency in dealing with market issues – predominant wild caught focus
• Limited sectoral or peak body strategic planning
• Policy dominated by resource managers and technologists rather than those with commercial and market experience.

The industry structure comprises around 700 small owner operator businesses with little or no capacity to coordinate investment in and manage industry development. Recovering lost industry value and delivering future growth is contingent upon coordinated investment in industry development at the whole of industry level.

SRL is now established and positioned to implement the strategic plan, and integration of R&D work across stakeholders, States, Australia and New Zealand, rock lobster subprograms, researchers and other related disciplines is now feasible under the leadership of SRL.

Two distinct needs are involved in any consideration of better national R&D co-ordination for the southern rock lobster sector:

1. The strategic issues of R&D prioritization, funding and the linkages to (and support for) both industry development plans and Government objectives of industry development.

2. The operational issues of facilitating effective communication and coordination at all levels (industry/researchers, among researchers, among industry, FRDC/researchers etc).

SBT:
There is a need to better identify the relationship between hormonal treatment and spawning performance as this will determine the hormonal manipulation strategy. There is also a need to better
understand factors associated with broodstock mortality, as currently 30% of the broodstock die every year and thus need to be replaced.

We need to develop methods of ensuring that all females participate in spawning every year and how to extend the spawning cycle to have eggs for four months of the year.

There is a need to advance the initiation of spawning to October (from the current norm of February) so that the fingerlings are ready to be transferred to sea cages sufficiently early in the calendar year for optimal seawater temperatures.
SBT broodstock reach spawning age at about 12 years of age. There is therefore a need to examine alternative technologies and approaches to obtain tuna seed from younger fish.

YTK:
This genetic management and selection project is needed to maintain a commercial advantage in a highly competitive market and as a management tool to prevent inbreeding.

It is difficult to source wild YTK broodstock, and the current stock are getting older and larger. There is a need to source new broodstock, and it will be advantageous to use selected F1, provided they can be genetically managed.