Strategy for Security, Independence and Community Connection
When West Australians think of lobster, they think of special occasions, celebrations, time with family and holidays. We’re a successful industry, but there is more we can achieve.
For our industry to reach its potential, we need to work together in pursuit of opportunity, while working equally hard to protect ourselves from existing and future challenges. As the peak body for western rock lobster fishers, Western Rock Lobster (WRL) is seeking support for an integrated strategy for security, independence and community connection.
Central to this strategy will be negotiating changes to West Australian law that secure resource access rights for both the western rock lobster fishery and other WA fisheries. We’re proposing a property-based framework for resource allocation and reallocation that puts the fishing industry on a level playing field with other resource industries, such as mining.
The other complementary elements within the Strategy are independence for WRL, greater industry-led research, and increased community connection.
Independence for WRL will allow the industry’s peak body to act without constraint in representing industry’s best interests and facilitate genuine co-management with government of the valuable lobster resource.
It will also allow WRL to provide additional services for industry such as a unit registry and quota trading platform, as well as establish an industry-led Research Network partnership to deliver best practice science-based on identified local research priorities centred around maintaining growth and competitiveness in an increasingly complex and uncertain world.
The Strategy also seeks to strengthen the western rock lobster industry’s community connection by increasing the availability and accessibility of western rock lobster to the local community in collaboration with, and of benefit to, other sectors such as tourism, hospitality and regional development.
