Fisheries research fund to boost productivity and innovation

Productivity and innovation in Western Australian fisheries will be boosted by a new collaborative research fund.

The WA Department of Fisheries and the Centre for Fish and Fisheries Research at Murdoch University will invest a total of $300,000 over three years into the fund.

The money will be used to leverage funding for larger national and international collaborative research projects.

Fisheries Minister Kim Chance said Western Australia’s fishing community would be the major beneficiary of the initiative.

“This arrangement will rationalise research effort, encourage collaboration and provide benefit to the state by ensuring ecologically sustainable fisheries,” Mr Chance said.

“It will also help increase export earnings, attract international students and provide a critical mass of researchers working together for a common aim.”

“The research will focus on improving knowledge and strategies to further the development of ecological and sustainable fisheries and increase our knowledge of the biology of the fish fauna that occupies the Swan River.”

Mr Chance said the new research funding was made possible because the Gallop Government had delivered four successive balanced budgets without selling off the State’s assets.

Murdoch University Executive Research Strategist Professor Val Alder, said the partnership reinforced the University’s tradition of having an internationally recognised, quality fisheries research centre.

“The scheme will develop further focus and synergy between Murdoch University and the WA Department of Fisheries; building capacity and equipping fisheries scientists with the tools needed to pursue innovative research in this field,” Professor Alder said.