Dear Minister,

On behalf of the board of the Fisheries Research and Development Corporation (FRDC), I have pleasure in presenting the Corporation’s annual report for the year ended 30 June 2020.

The report has been prepared and approved by the directors in accordance with out legislative obligations under section 28 of the Primary Industries Research and Development Act 1989 (PIRD Act); and sections 39 and 46 of the Public Governance, Performance and Accountability Act 2013 (PGPA Act).

The report provides a clear picture of our performance against priorities and performance indicators in achieving the FRDC’s planned outcome (page 13) for you, the Minister for Finance, members of parliament, FRDC stakeholders and the Australian community.

FRDC’s annual report [performance statements] is produced in accordance with s39 (1)(a) of the PGPA Act for the 2019-21 financial year. The performance statements start with the directors’ review of operations (pages 5 to 10), followed by Report of Operations Part 2: The FRDC’s operational results, services and governance (pages 30 to 125). The financial statements and the Australian National Audit Office audit of the FRDC financial statements (starting on page 121) – which returned an un-modified audit report, complete the FRDC performance statements. It is the opinion of the board of FRDC that the statements accurately present the FRDC’s performance in the reporting period and comply with s39 (2) of the PGPA Act.

This report documents inputs (income and expenditure pages i-iv) and, outputs from research and development against the performance measures published in the 2019-20 Portfolio Budget Statements Budget Related Paper No. 1.1, Agriculture Portfolio and the FRDC Annual Operational Plan (pages 16 and 208). The report also includes an overview and assessment of the longer-term outcomes for the Corporation’s investment that utilises the methodology developed by the rural research and development corporations (RDCs) (page 90). Report of Operations Part 1: The directors’ review of operations and future prospects contains information on planned budgets and future activities.