Welcome
We are pleased to advise that we have four new excellent members joining our Advisory Council who will bring different skills, knowledge and expertise broadening our scope. Lene Northwood, Dr. Daryl McPhee, Istiaque Doza and Krisztian Kutas are already making contributions, and you can see everything about them at Advisory Council - SCA .
Also, importantly, joining our Administration Team (Admins - SCA) is Theressah Helna who is preparing our financials and assisting us in meeting our ACNC obligations.
Australian Fish Names Standard AS5300
We noted this on FRDC Standards group Australian Fish Name Standard AS5300 Newsletter “South American Flathead Work to strengthen the Standard’s complaints and appeals process has concluded, with the new arrangements being embedded into official documentation. Once done, the appeals will be processed against the FNC’s decision to change the name of the imported species Percophis brasiliensis from South American Flathead to South American Duckbill.”
If you see who is making the appeals you will know which organisations do not have consumers front and centre in ensuring fundamentals of choice, safety, transparency, honesty, etc. They have sales and profits in mind by creating confusion.
This confusion could well be impacting genuine fishers of Flathead and their Australian supply chain, so we hope they are fighting for their livelihoods and making their voices heard.
Whilst the appealers may wish to avoid South American Duckbill, they should never be allowed to use South American Flathead as that simply becomes ‘Flathead’ when it is in cafes/pubs, etc.
Evidence was passed onto the FNC with the submission. The submission was well supported. The FNC agreed after the usual rigorous processes and made its judgement.
However, confusion still continues and consumers are still being duped through the delays of an appeal.
In our opinion, no one would argue that an Australian staple fish like ‘Flathead’ could be substituted with a South American species Percophis brasiliensis unless sales/profits were embedded in their psyche over ensuring truth and honesty in labelling.
We will continue to follow this to its conclusion and will keep you informed.
CoOL/AIM
The new CoOL/AIM regulation is starting 1 July 2026, but this will only work if it is regulated well and that the “M” has to be justified when queried otherwise you can see hospitality industry simply putting “M” on everything to meet the legal requirements.
Regulations like these are not a cure for issues in the Australian Seafood Industry despite their strong push to get them approved. Australia has no mountain of fish being sold cheaply - it is still heavily reliant on imported fish/seafood to feed our seafood requirements. In NSW they say they are 80+% reliant on imports and they just built an $800 million +|- new Fish Market!
We would prefer to see a more positive, pro-active approach than the AIM program where we simply promote “Australian Harvested Seafood” with the industry and hospitality group working in harmonisation.
Regulation only works if it is well policed and we know there will be inconsistencies as it will be run by State/Territory processes.
Why do we treat Exports and Imports differently at the border.
DAFF and DFaT continue their Export fish/seafood policies/processes/promotions and with the volumes of imports you would think that imports would be border checked in no less the same way as our Exports.
As we pointed out in our submission to the Productivity Commission that is not the case. Weights and measures for example are not checked with imports at Border Control as the Australian Govt see that as a quality issue between buyer/seller and not an area where consumers should be protected. In USA and EU, they do not see that similarly. We highlighted that in our submission. Actually, it is the same with domestic sales - there is little or any checks on weights/measures.
SCA is working with National Institute of Measurement (NIM) and will continue to work to strengthen this area where Dilution, Addition and Adulteration strike in fraud. These areas impact on quality and when that is tarnished then trust begins to slip away. Will keep you informed on our progress.
Current Work
We expect to finalise our submission to the Murray Darling Basin relating to various issues but are focusing on the need for a Freshwater Aquatic Food Centre of Excellence which, amongst other things would take on the invasive European Carp issue.
We are also planning to launch our 2026 Victorian Election Platform early May in plenty of time for promotion and discussion for the 28 November 2026 election. Victoria has gone from a fisheries model state operation to one where the only thought is recreational fishing. Only just over 20 years ago we had a Co-Management Council which worked with all stakeholders and had sustainable fisheries with over 100 years of supply to the Victorian public. This has changed and the consumer is much the worse for the changes. We will be focusing on many issues in our platform, and we hope it will encourage everyone to see what is possible and assist in your voting preferences. The platform is based on concepts from the Objects of our Constitution.
Our excellent technical group behind the scenes of our website are currently working on an online SCA shop and a new website www.i-cadmus.org which will be a global repository for fraud in seafood. We are working with a number of organisation on this and expect to be able to announce a JV webinar with FAO shortly.
Comments
No comments yet.