Mixed seafood
The national trade organization representing Australia's commercial seafood industry, Seafood Industry Australia (SIA), has welcomed Federal Parliament's decision of withdraw the Biosecurity Protection Levy bill.
According to the Australian Government, the Biosecurity Protection Levy ensures that those who directly benefit from Australia's strong biosecurity make a "modest" and "direct" contribution to ensure the biosecurity system is sustainably funded into the future.
In contrast, Australian seafood producers were "deeply" concerned by the funding model in its current form, SIA confirmed. The organization is committed to collaborating with the federal government to establish a sustainable funding model that protects Australia's marine environment while ensuring the future viability and prosperity of the Australian seafood industry.
"On behalf of the Australian seafood industry and SIA members, we thank Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, Julie Collins, for responding to industry concerns regarding the biosecurity funding model and recognising the need to find a balanced and practical approach to sustainable biosecurity funding," SIA CEO Veronica Papacosta expressed.
Additionally, she assured: "The marine estate is a complex environment for biosecurity protection and prevention systems. SIA looks forward to partnering with government and researchers to better understand how risk factors and risk creators can be better identified and managed."
Driven by the increase in salmonid value, aquaculture's share of total Australian fisheries and aquaculture gross value production in 2021-22 was 56%. This means that aquaculture stood out within the Australian seafood industry, surpassing the value of wild catch.
Data provided by the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences (ABARES) Australian Fisheries and Aquaculture Statistics, the gross value of fisheries and aquaculture production (GVP) in 2021-22 increased by 8% to AUD 3.42 billion (EUR 2.10 billion / USD 2.31 billion).
In terms of domestic consumption, in 2021-22, Australians consumed around 350,000 tons of seafood, equivalent to 13.8 kilograms per person.
