FUTURE FISHERIES STRATEGY-SIV's Response
The Department of Primary Industry (DPI) released a reforms paper titled "Future Fisheries Strategy: Proposals for Reform" for public comment in October outlining a proposed Future Fisheries Strategy for Victoria's wild harvest fisheries for the next 15 years.
Seafood Industry Victoria (SIV) will be responding to the DPI's proposed reform paper on behalf of industry and will be encouraging the seafood industry to participate in upcoming consultation arrangements with DPI to ensure your voice is heard.
Questions still remain regarding the finer points of the implementation plan, the cost imposts to industry and the determination of catch allocations for Victoria's fisheries especially in an integrated framework when recreational fishing effort and catch data is inadequate. The feedback from industry this far is the Future Fisheries Strategy: Proposals for Reform is not supported due to the uncertainty and level of ambiguity within the document.
SIV expects that industry will have further questions and comments on the proposed reforms and encourages industry to provide written comments on DPI's reform paper by following this link:
http://www.dpi.vic.gov.au/fisheries/about-fisheries/strategy-and-policy/call-for-comment-future-fisheries-strategy.
To be able to provide a uniform voice on behalf of SIV's members, it would be appreciated that submissions made to DPI also be forwarded to SIV. The submission period has now been extended until 1 March 2012.
FOOD SAFETY PLAN TEMPLATES
Why does seafood need food safety plans?
Food safety ensures quality. A quality product builds a strong market for all of us. That's important. The food safety plan protects the product from the water to the table.
The plans cover all areas of the seafood industry and the templates have been built to help you develop a food safety plan for your business. There are four templates along with a Food Safety Guidelines (672.36 KB).
The templates are;
Every stage of handling is covered so that in this way the food can be tracked all the way to the consumer. The fillet in the fish market can be traced all the way to the source of the catch, so we all share in the responsibility in making our product safe for eating.
You will have one template that relates to your business. You may have other templates as well. For example, a fisherman who sells to wholesalers and also to the public needs the wild catch and the retail template. A trout farm that supplies restaurants and smokes trout for sale needs an aquaculture, processing and retail templates.
The job now is to identify where your business fits with the templates - across what areas do you operate? Once you have identified the requirements, you can customise the templates as you need.
Refer to the guidelines document for a complete explanation on how to proceed. If you have any queries contact the SIV office.
Thanks for making the seafood industry stronger.
ORDER UNDER THE FISHERIES ACT-Protected Species Interaction
The Department of Primary Industry (DPI) have informed SIV that rock lobster, giant crab and scallop commercial fishers are authorised by an order (valid for 12 months from Government Gazette publication date of 8 November 2011) under the Fisheries Act to take and release protected species from incidental interactions without prosecution.
The following conditions apply:
· The taking is incidental to fishing activities and occurs unintentionally;
· The taking is in course of normal fishing activities;
· All reasonable efforts are taken to release the protected species to the waters from which it was taken in a viable condition as soon as possible; and
· The incidental interaction with the protected species is reported to Fisheries Victoria as soon as practical.
If the incidental interaction with the protected species is reported in your log books, then all rock lobster, giant crab and scallop commercial fishers, under the order are exempt from prosecution. Please ensure you are recording your interactions and notifying Fisheries Victoria immediately once an incident occurs.
SIV has also been notified by the Department of Sustainability and Environment (DSE) that longer term authorisation is still in the process of development for orders under the Flora and Fauna Guarantee Act 1988 and Wildlife Act 1975. SIV will be contacted once these arrangement have been finalized and will advise you when more information is available.
If you have any questions please call Renee Vajtauer on (03) 9329 5660.
The Victorian seafood industry boasts some of the finest seafood in the country. The cooler waters of Victoria produce high value species such as southern rocklobster and abalone. There is quality scallops available from Bass Strait and Bay and Inlet fishers provide fresh, locally caught scalefish. Other important fisheries that are targeted in Victoria are the eel, giant crab and wrasse.
Some of the fisheries contained within Victorian waters are;
History shows us that entire towns have been built as a result of commercial fishing activities. Approximately $180 million of seafood product is landed at Victorian ports and a large proportion ($130 million) comes from Victorian managed fisheries with the remaining from Commonwealth and Tasmanian fisheries. Victoria is also the hub for processing the majority of south-east Australian catches. The industry is an important source of jobs and provides employment for around 8000 people in harvesting, processing, wholesaling and retailing sector. Areas that can also offer employment are fisheries management, fisheries science, administration, and accounting or even as a chef.
The significance of Victoria’s fishing industry has seen seafood become an important part of healthy eating. Seafood is an excellent source of protein and vitamins such as B12. Researchers have found that a diet containing fish can be beneficial in preventing health problems such as heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes and arthritis. Seafood also contains fats and oils, of the good kind! Omega-3 and omega-6 contained within fish reduce the risk of heart disease and are important for growth.
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