Marketing names for fish and seafood in Australia

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Marketing names for fish and seafood in Australia

Background
Introduction
More on CSIRO database Codes for Australian Aquatic Biota (CAAB)
More on Seafood Services Australia

Background

Confused about what fish you bought? 

In 1998 The Australian Government Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry (DAFF) produced a publication Marketing Names for Fish and Seafood in Australia. It contained a standard naming system which is considered vital for the efficient marketing of seafood across the vast continent of Australia. The book provided a pivotal tool for achieving efficient communication in both the domestic and export areas of Australia's important and rapidly expanding fishing industry. On adoption of these Marketing Names, both the trade and the consumer can have greater confidence in what they purchase. The DAFF Fisheries book is no longer in print but was the precursor to two online services for marketing names in the seafood industry.

The CSIRO database Codes for Australian Aquatic Biota (CAAB) and Seafood Services Australia websites work together to implement the standard for names in the domestic and export fish and seafood industries in Australia. 

Introduction

CSIRO Marine Research, Fisheries Research and Development Corporation, and Seafood Services Australia have joined forces with fish-book authors, fish taxonomists, recreational anglers, aquarists, and the fishing industry to produce a uniform list of names for Australian fishes.

The draft list of names was constructed from options used in Australia for each species. While there will be regional preferences for some fish names over others, the use of one name per species across the country will have great benefits.

More on CSIRO database Codes for Australian Aquatic Biota (CAAB)

CSIRO database Codes for Australian Aquatic Biota (CAAB)  - is a continuously maintained and expanding 8-digit coding system for aquatic organisms in the Australian region maintained by CSIRO Division of Marine Research.

CAAB currently contains codes and taxonomic information for the following aquatic organisms in the Australian region: 

  • over 4,500 codes for fishes (CAAB category 37), representing virtually all known marine and freshwater species in Australian waters; 
  • codes for other marine vertebrates (CAAB categories 39 - reptiles, 40 - birds, 41 - mammals), representing all currently recognised marine species in Australia; 
  • over 14,000 codes for marine invertebrates (CAAB categories 10 to 36) in Australian waters, including sponges, stony corals, echinoderms, commercially important crustaceans and molluscs, tunicates, and other taxa; 
  • codes for Australian seagrasses and mangroves (CAAB category 63) 
  • codes for a representative selection of Australian seaweeds and microalgae (CAAB categories 52-55 and 70). 

List of Standardised Australian Fish Names List

More on Seafood Services Australia (SSA)

SSA members and partners Seafood Services Australia Ltd helps the seafood industry, nationally, to make the most of its opportunities for sustainable development.

To get ahead and stay ahead in this competitive world, all types of businesses need the latest and best knowledge. They need to be innovative. They need the benefits of adopting the best and most efficient industry practices.

SSA works with the Australian seafood industry to do just that. We’re dedicated to helping seafood businesses and organisations to stay in business and be more competitive in domestic and global markets that are becoming more and more challenging and sophisticated. We’re also dedicated to helping seafood businesses and fisheries to follow sustainable, responsible environmental practices and to clearly demonstrate this to the community.

Australian Fish Names List 

Who's who?

CSIRO database Codes for Australian Aquatic Biota (CAAB) - hosts and developes a coding system for aquatic organisms in the Australian region maintained by CSIRO Division of Marine Research.

Seafood Services Australia (SSA) - is a not-for-profit company limited by guarantee and is a partnership between the Fisheries Research and Development Corporation (FRDC) and the Australian Seafood Industry Council (ASIC) who are the company’s founding members.

Fisheries Research and Development Corporation (FRDC) - the leading Commonwealth Government agency responsible for planning, investing in and managing fisheries R&D throughout SSA delivers or advises on a substantial proportion of the FRDC’s Industry Development Program (applicable to the commercial sector of the fishing industry but excluding biological aspects of aquaculture production); manages the FRDC-funded Seafood Industry Development Fund; provides the FRDC with advice on other industry development proposals; and is the distribution agent for FRDC publications.

Australian Seafood Industry Council (ASIC) - the seafood industry’s peak body. The Council’s advice on national seafood industry matters is essential to SSA’s capacity to develop and deliver programs that help to progress the sustainable development of the seafood industry.