Written evidence submitted by the Western Australian Fishing Industry Council (WAFIC)

1. WAFIC is the peak body for Western Australian fishing and aquaculture industries. Its membership comprises of companies, associations and individuals engage in the production of seafood. (see http://www.wafic.org.au/)

2. Our interest in making a submission to the Committee is limited to the question that refers to the MSC ecolabel and certification scheme and its effectiveness at ensuring fisheries are sustainable.

3. A partnership between the State Government and the fishing industry has been entered into to rollout MSC certification of the State’s fisheries. The reasons for this approach and the results to date may be of interest to the committee.

4. The State Government/WAFIC announced a $14.5m third party certification initiative in March 2012. In September 2012, after a due diligence process, the Government announced that the Marine Stewardship Council certification program was chosen as the provider of third party certification for the State’s fisheries.

5. Objectives for this initiative are:

• Provide public confidence that WA’s commercial fisheries deliver sustainable seafood
• To meet the retail trend to only serve fish from fisheries either independently assessed or in a fishery improvement project
• To assess WA’s commercial fisheries against a credible, third party, science based standard

6. Policy Drivers behind this initiative:

• Polling showing industry either poorly regarded or not understood by the community. Also community does not believe industry or Government. Community wants independent credible validation.
• Desire by Governments at both a State and Commonwealth levels to put in place large Marine Protected Areas.
• The increased political activity of some of the NGOs publically promoting marine reserves, and demonizing the commercial fishing industry, as justifying large no take reserves
• Retail trend for responsibly and ethically sourced seafood and other primary industry products.

7. The Government/WAFIC wanted to provide the industry with a credible tool in which the industry could reposition itself and respond positively to these pressures.

8. What is the initiative broadly?

• All fisheries in WA have been subject to MSC pre-assessment. Pre-assessments provide an appraisal of individual fisheries to determine whether a fishery could successfully pass a full MSC assessment. The pre-assessment reports have been provided to licensees and will be confidential to the fishery.
• For those fisheries that have deficiencies that would prevent them successfully achieving MSC certification, a Fisheries Improvement Program will be offered. FIPs are a transparent, accountable and disciplined program which sets out a work plan to remedy these deficiencies.  This is voluntary
• For those fisheries identified as being ready, Government will provide funding to those fisheries that wish to proceed into full MSC assessment. Important to note that this is a voluntary step, not mandated.
• In addition, the Government will pay the costs of the first annual audit of the fishery following MSC certification
• MSC certification lasts 5 years and annual audits are required each year
• To take up this offer a fishery must commit to sourcing funds for remaining 3 annual audits and commit to seriously appraising whether to enter into re-assessment at the end of the 5-year certificate.

9. A website - www.wamsc.com.au has been launched to provide background to the State Government's $14.5m initiative to give WA commercial fisheries the opportunity to be assessed by the Marine Stewardship Council's independent 3rd party certification program and to report on progress.

10. Fisheries in the program so far

• Western Rock Lobster Fishery (see http://wrlc.com.au/wp/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/WRL-Fishery-MSC-Cost-and-Benefit-Review-2015.pdf for recent publication “An independent cost and benefit analysis of the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) certification for the WA rock lobster industry”
• Exmouth Gulf Prawn fishery
• Shark Bay Prawn fishery
• Mandurah Crab fishery (certified jointly with the recreational fishers – a world first)
• Mandurah Mullet fishery
• Deep Sea Crab Fishery
• Wild Oyster fishery (pearl production- a jewellery fishery- again a world first)
• Abalone fishery
• Octopus fishery
• Shark Bay Crab fishery
• Shark Bay Scallop fishery
• Abrolhos Island & Mid-West Scallop fishery

Collectively these fisheries account for over 80% of the annual production by value for the State’s fisheries.

11. Reported Benefits so far

• Demonstrated sustainable fisheries: the MSC certification represents best practise globally for the management of fisheries. Those fisheries certified have meet that best practise and, as a result, can and are confidently asserting their credibility on use of public resources. This is very important in meeting the expectation of the community for independent verification of industry practises not only in the fishing industry but also other primary industries. The community expects that use of public resources is ethical, responsible and does not degrade these community owned resources.
• Access to new markets
• Existing markets secured
• Government support: research and management resources provided to maintain certification
• Investment and banking confidence: some local investors are specifically seeking to invest in several of the MSC certified fisheries
• Lending rates discounted: financial institutions are lending at reduced rates for MSC certified fisheries
• Bycatch reduction eg adoption of sealion excluder devices in the lobster fishery and sea snake handling procedures to minimise mortality in the prawn fisheries
• Independent scrutiny: annual audits ensure that fishers can be confident that government managers and researchers are meeting MSC certification requirements and therefore the value of their asset in the form of an access right is being maintained or improved.

12. In 2012 we conducted a due diligence process in determining the most credible globally ecolabel underpinned by science and best practise that met the objectives of our initiative. We concluded that the MSC met these requirements and importantly was the only credible ecolabel that was consistent with the FAO Guidelines for Ecolabelling of fish and fishery products from marine capture fisheries. Recently this has been confirmed by the independent Global Sustainable Fisheries Initiative (GSSI) which benchmarks fisheries certification schemes against the FAO Guidelines. GSSI found that the MSC certification standard aligned with all the components of its benchmarking tool (see http://www.ourgssi.org/benchmarking/recognized-schemes/marine-stewardship-council/).

It is currently the only global standard on wild capture fisheries to meet this benchmark

13. The WA Government and industry remain committed to the ongoing role out of MSC certification of the State’s fisheries. This is resulting in the realignment of organisational arrangements, reporting and research to closely mirror MSC assessment and audit requirements, and address conditions resulting from assessments. This represents a jurisdictional reform to the management of fisheries in Western Australia.

14. The WA Government and industry have made the judgement that for the industry to flourish and to continue to generate economic and social benefits to the WA community through wise and prudent use of public resources the MSC provides a powerful tool to assist in achieving those objectives.

May 2018