FRDC: Leadership development is essential to rural sector strength

The Fisheries Research and Development Corporation (FRDC) was formed as a statutory corporation in July 1991 under the provisions of the Primary Industries and Energy Research and Development Act 1989. The Corporation is responsible to the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry.

The FRDC is also one of the longest term sponsors of the Australian Rural Leadership Program, having sponsored places on all but the first course. ARLP graduates are at the vanguard of many areas of the industry – from roles within the Corporation itself to peak industry bodies, in government and downstream industries.

Leadership plays a major role in the FRDC’s work. Fishing is a highly regulated industry at Commonwealth and State levels, and subject to increasingly intensive scrutiny from the non-government sector, including the environmental lobby. Industry figures have described its development as “maturing through adversity”.

As such, leadership and succession planning are prime factors in its future, be it in fisheries management and development, research, Indigenous engagement and environmental issues – including aquaculture, climate change and the management of endangered species.

The FRDC’s strategic investment benefits three industry sectors, commercial (wild catch and aquaculture), recreational and Indigenous.

The FRDC acknowledges that fishing is a ‘lifestyle’ industry and that its ongoing viability is at the mercy of claims on its workforce by other, better-paying sectors such as mining.

Jointly funded by the Australian Government and Australia’s fishing industry, the FRDC invests in fisheries research, development and extension activities (RD&E).

The FRDC coordinates government and industry investment and establishes and addresses research, development and extension priorities by collaborating with stakeholders and partners. It is involved at any one time in more than 400 projects.

The FRDC continues to support the ARLP, and its latest program TRAILblazers, as it sees the program as a significant developer of human capacity across all of rural Australia, which is in turn ultimately good for fisheries as well.