21 November 2019

Celebrating World Fisheries Day

Today’s annual World Fisheries Day is a great opportunity to celebrate Australia’s safe and sustainable seafood industry that supports thousands of jobs throughout regional Australia.

The world has a huge appetite for our premium seafood products and all Australians should be proud of and celebrate the great work our fisheries do for our regional communities.

Australia’s seafood industry is a great success story that contributes $5.3 billion to our economy and supports more than 41,000 people, their families and their communities.

It is central to our plan to grow Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries to $100 billion industries by 2030.

The industry is well managed and sustainable, with the Fisheries Status Reports 2019 confirming none of the fish stocks solely managed by the Australian Government were subject to overfishing.

This is the sixth year in a row that Australia has achieved this, which is a testament to our management of the industry over a long period of time.

We want to ensure the sector can continue to grow in a positive and sustainable way for generations to come, and we are delivering on the strong commitments we took to the 2019 election.

Work to deliver a Commonwealth Fisheries Resource Sharing Framework is already well underway, and Australia’s first National Fisheries Plan will develop a comprehensive strategy for the industry’s future.

Having a vibrant and strong industry is a key priority for the Morrison Government, and these strong actions will help us manage Australia’s fisheries carefully and sustainably into the future, to the benefit of all Australians.