AWA News - February 2017

Dear Abalone Stakeholder

Welcome to the year of the Fire Rooster, and the first edition of AWA News for 2017!

It's an exciting year ahead for the industry and with the AWA Project Team roadshow underway - the team is visiting all abalone producing states to undertake consultation and feedback sessions about the Industry Marketing Levy, the proposed Five Year Promotional Plan and future opportunities.

In 2016 the team met with South Australian Abalone licence holders in October, followed by the Australian Wild Abalone exporters and the Abalone Association of Australasia (AAA) in November. Following this consultation, changes were made to the proposed levy design as well as the Draft Marketing Plan.

This year, the AWA Team met the Western Australian stakeholders earlier this month at their industry meeting where they were presented with an updated Draft Marketing Plan 2018-2023 (available to download via this link), further information about the Levy Process, and an opportunity to ask any questions.

We are planning to meet face to face with as many people as possible. Please contact us to find out when the team will be in your state or to organise a meeting with us.

Find out more at www.abalonepal.com

A dedicated website www.abalonepal.com has been set up as a place for you to access all the important documentation including the Australian Wild Abalone Levy Drafts for Consultation:

- The Marketing Plan Summary
- The Full Marketing Strategy
- Annual Operating Plans

...as well as answer some of your Frequently Asked Questions about the Marketing Levy and the process, and provide links to other useful resources.

You will be asked to provide a password to access the website, please enter the password AWA (in capital letters)

We want to hear from you

If you have attended a Roadshow meeting, had a look through the information on the website or have any questions, we want to hear from you, so please contact us

Next Steps

- The Consultation period will run from February to April this year, including industry consultation and meetings held in each abalone producing state. This week Australian Wild Abalone team will be attending the Abalone Association Australasia meeting on 23 February 2017.

In May to June 2017 the Australian Electoral Commission will conduct an a secret ballot and papers will be sent by mail to all quota owners and licence holders, the AEC will manage the returns and advise the outcome.

If positive support is received a submission will be prepared and discussed with the Minister in July to September 2017 with an anticipated Levy start date of June 2018.

We will continue to keep you updated throughout his process and will be available to answer any questions or comments you have - please contact us.

The Australian Wild Abalone® team will be visiting all AWA producing states. If you would like to find out when the team will be in your state and arrange to attend a meeting or a visit please contact us

Just a reminder of the AWA achievements and key outcomes from 2015-16

The full Australian Wild Abalone 2015-16 Final Report containing the achievements from that year and key outcomes of the program is available for download here.

DOWNLOAD THE AWA 2015-16 FINAL REPORT HERE

The Australian Wild Abalone (AWA) Program is an initiative of Abalone Council Australia Ltd and has been supported since 2009 by the Fisheries Research and Development Corporation (FRDC) and the Australian Seafood CRC. Following the closure of the CRC on 30th June 2015, the FRDC continues to support the AWA program through ongoing investment in market related R&D. AWA Program promotional activities continued through 2015 and 2016 thanks to funding from the Tasmanian Abalone Council Ltd and direct financial investment by AWA exporters. The AWA Program Team would like to acknowledge and thank the FRDC, the Seafood CRC, the Tasmanian Abalone Council and the AWA exporters for their ongoing support for this important industry initiative.

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