During January, AFMA hosted fisheries officials from Indonesia and Chile with the aim to raise awareness of Australia’s whole of government approach towards sustainable fisheries management.
Consistent with this approach, Australian Government agencies, including the Department of Agriculture and Water Resources, Department of the Environment and Energy, Fisheries Research Development Corporation, Australian Border Force, and Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) were also on hand to discuss their involvement in ensuring that Commonwealth fisheries continue to rate well for sustainability.
Improving bycatch management and deterring illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing were the focus of discussion with the delegations. Of particular interest was how AFMA works collaboratively with industry to improve fishing operations domestically, and the effective levels of communication between operational agencies.
AFMA looks forward to continuing work with Chile, Indonesia and other regional neighbours to learn lessons and share experiences. As we all know, fish don’t have passports, so this level of collaboration is essential for healthy fish stocks.
More information about Commonwealth fisheries management and how we work with other countries can be found by clicking here.
