Climate change and government barriers are some of the biggest challenges weighing down the seafood industry, a major agricultural conference has been told.
NSW mussel farmer Sam Gordon said climate change had been a "huge problem" for his Jervis Bay operation, with rain forcing him to close for almost half of 2022.
"Trying to manage processing staff when you're open one week, you're shut the next week ... and trying to explain that to the major retailers ... is a real challenge," he said.
Mr Gordon told the ABARES conference in Canberra that climate change had put aquaculture into "uncharted territory" and government barriers are also causing a major headache.
"I'm really worried that the state governments and commonwealth government just don't have the means to keep up with legislation," he said on Wednesday.
The seafood farmer said to operate his business he liaises with 13 different government departments, with his biggest challenge having to deal with conflicting regulations.
"We need to scale up and we'd like to go into offshore waters, the technology is there ... the challenge for us is government regulation because we're going into an area that's uncharted," Mr Gordon said.
Australian Fisheries Management Authority chief executive Wez Norris, who is tasked with making sure fish stocks are sustainable, described the jurisdictional arrangements governing fisheries as "ridiculously complex".
There are eight fisheries management agencies in Australia, one each for the six states, the Commonwealth and the Northern Territory, with "inflexible" arrangements over who manages what, according to Mr Norris.
And the climate is putting a strain on fish stocks.
"Some of these stocks are going to be in real trouble as a result of climate, as opposed to as a result of fishing," he said.
The conference was told "significant climate impacts" on Australia's marine ecosystem is affecting many fisheries species.
"The whole thing is completely changing," said Gretta Pecl from the University of Tasmania.
"Seafood production and management all over the world will continue to be severely challenged by the extreme challenges we are seeing in the marine environment."
Professor Pecl said she and all the other climate and ocean scientists she knows are "flabbergasted" by the recent increase in ocean temperatures.
A new average global sea surface temperature of 21.17C, averaged out across the entire ocean excepting poles, was recorded this week, according to Prof Pecl.
The comments come as ABARES, the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences, forecasts the gross value of Australian fisheries and aquaculture production will grow by half a per cent in 2023-24.
Data released on Wednesday show growth is being driven by higher prices of wild-caught rock lobster and higher volumes for various aquaculture species, including tuna, abalone and oysters.
Fisheries and aquaculture exports remain subdued, with export value expected to decrease by two per cent to $1.43 billion in 2023-24.
ABARES head Jarred Greenville said declining competitiveness of Australian seafood exports over the medium term is expected to see export value fall by around two per cent a year by 2028-29.
