ABSTRACT

Australia has responsibility for the fourth largest maritime jurisdiction in the world. The Australian exclusive economic zone (EEZ) and claimable continental shelf is 16 million km2, extending from tropical to Antarctic waters. While the Australian EEZ is not highly productive on a world scale, it nonetheless supports a number of commercially lucrative fisheries, including tuna and billfish, high-value shellfish and crustaceans, and increasingly important mariculture of salmonids and southern bluefin tuna.1 Australian fisheries have experienced a period of impressive growth in the recent past, driven by significant developments in aquaculture. The gross value of Australian seafood production in 2002-2003 was A$2.3 billion2 and is forecast to reach A$5 billion by 2020. It is expected that aquaculture developments will furnish the vast majority of this economic growth. Aquaculture production has trebled in the decade to 2002-2003, and the value of this production more than doubled in the same period. Exports of aquaculture have grown in value from A$246.7 million in 1991-1992 to A743.5 million in 2002-20033 (see Figures 15.1 and 15.2). Moreover, aquaculture and associated processing are vital rural industries, sustaining regional communities around the coastline.4