Standard Presentation Australian Marine Sciences Association Annual Meeting 2023

Australia’s imports of threatened seafood species (#113)

Leslie Roberson 1 , Carissa Klein 1
  1. University of Queensland, Point Lookout, QLD, Australia

The Australian government has made commitments to improving sustainability of its seafood but has taken few actions to address the problem of imported seafood, which comprises roughly two-thirds of the country’s seafood consumption but is subject to relatively few regulations. One component of this complex sustainability challenge is the ecological status and future viability of the imported species. A global analysis of fishing and trade of marine fish and invertebrates found that threatened marine fish species are legally caught in industrial fisheries and traded extensively around the world(1). While Australia plays a relatively minor role in global seafood trade, seafood is culturally and economically important and demand is steadily increasing. We build on this global analysis to focus specifically on Australia’s imported seafood. In addition to global seafood trade databases, we incorporate higher resolution and country-specific data sources to explore trade dynamics, key trade partners, and trends for imported threatened species, including taxonomically broad categories that likely obscure greater volumes of these species. Although the country’s conservation efforts have focused on threats to species within Australia, its international biodiversity commitments mean it also has a responsibility to manage its direct impacts on biodiversity originating outside its borders.

  1. Roberson, L. A., Watson, R. A., & Klein, C. J. (2020). Over 90 endangered fish and invertebrates are caught in industrial fisheries. Nat Commun, 11(1), 4764. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-18505-6