Seafood Experience Australia (SEA) on Friday lauded the Australian government's "belated" pledge to support the establishment of a levy mechanism to fund seafood marketing.
According to the industry organization, Tony Burke, Australia's minister of agriculture, fisheries and forestry, is reaching out to industry players to gauge their interest in an industry-wide or sector-by-sector levy mechanism and is working toward legislation to make it a reality.
The current administration promised during the 2007 election that it would back the formation of a levy mechanism. "SEA has pursued the government relentlessly on this issue since the 2007 election," said SEA Chairman Dr. Ron Edwards.
The seafood industry is Australia's last major agribusiness without a marketing and promotion body, according to the SEA.
"The past three year's inaction on something that could so quickly move the industry from dependence on government handouts to a self-funding model that addresses, in a strategic rather than ad-hoc manner, the key issues on promotion and marketing seems totally wasteful," said Edwards.
Among the seafood-promotion events the SEA has already organized is the International Seafood & Health Conference and the Wonders and Opportunities of our Ocean public exhibition, which takes place at the Melbourne Convention & Exhibition Centre from 6 to 10 November.
