Capacity building with our regional partners is a pivotal part of fisheries management. To help develop our region’s future fisheries managers, on 21-22 July 2016 AFMA hosted 25 Indonesian students undertaking a Sustainable Fisheries Management Course run by the Monash University. The students were government officials from various areas within the Ministry for Marine Affairs and Fisheries. The two-week Monash course aims to increase participants’ skills in, and knowledge of sustainable fisheries management and maritime economy.
While at AFMA’s Canberra office, the Indonesian fellows participated in a variety of seminars from AFMA and other Australian Government agencies including the Department of Agriculture and Water Resources, Department of the Environment, the Fisheries Research and Development Corporation and the Australian Border Force.
Course coordinator, Dr Paul McShane, highlighted the value of the work between to the two countries for global, sustainable fisheries and thanked AFMA for hosting the visit.
“Australia provides a good working example of sustainable fisheries management and ecologically sustainable development more generally,” Dr McShane said.
“AFMA presents a standard for fisheries management that will form the basis for ongoing collaboration between Australia and Indonesia as Indonesia seeks to develop sustainable prosperity from its aquatic living resources. ”
AFMA looks forward to continuing to work with Indonesia and other regional neighbours to ensure the sustainability of shared fish stocks. More information about Commonwealth fisheries management and how we work with other countries can be found at afma.gov.au.