The Strategic Plan summary 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 300 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.

The ACA is now established and well positioned with the CRC to implement its strategic plan and to integrate R&D work across all stakeholders under its leadership. Two distinct needs are involved in any consideration of better national R&D co-ordination for the abalone 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 and researchers etc).

The seafood industry is facing unprecedented challenges (WAFIC 2020 Strategy, FRDC R&D 2015).
The networks established by CESSH have laid a strong foundation to attract national and international
investment partners. For the first time, the whole industry along the supply chain and post harvest is
working together to achieve outcomes that benefit the WA (and national seafood industry) and the
health of the Australian population. It is essential that the industry is able to remain viable and indeed
grow, within the constraints of an ever changing economic, technological and food security landscape.
There is a need for a continued go-to place that the industry can access to gain support to develop
new products, investigate novel and improved means of harvest, reduce production costs and provide
evidence of the value of consuming seafood. CESSH needs to build on existing strong capacity areas
and establish expertise in areas that are currently not available in WA to service the growing and
diverse needs of industry. This could afford industry a point of difference in the provision of world class
support to answer research and science questions that impact on growth, quality or profitability in a
timely fashion, an essential service for a primary industry.

Australian rock lobster fisheries, similar to their New Zealand counterparts, are coming under increasing pressure to forfeit access to fishing grounds and to shares of available yields as a consequence of a well organised and resourced marine protection lobby and opportunistic political decision making. In recent seasons the situation for the Australian lobster industries has been made more difficult because of Federal Government marine protected area agendas and difficulties in brokering direct export to the lucrative China market. Industry capacity that might otherwise be committed to improving reputation and efficiency and promoting economic growth and investment has instead been diverted to protecting existing access and utilisation opportunities. The rock lobster industries will directly and indirectly benefit from cooperative approaches to current and emerging challenges (the most recent being biotoxin events for example) and from collaborative efforts to agree and implement growth and consolidation strategies based on good science and credible decision making. The 'sharing of knowledge' which is a feature of each Lobster Congress draws greater numbers of industry participants into agreed work plans and creates wider understanding and awareness across the industries as to he need for responsible fishing, strategic responses to external forces, and wise and credible political lobby and positive profiles within the wider community.