Some 85 per cent of all equipment installed in small boats in Western Australia is imported. This includes outboard and inboard motors, winches, navigation and Global Positioning Systems.
The Boating Industry Association of W.A. considers that a number of the small boat builders in Western Australia are capable of exporting their products.
MARINE BIOTECHNOLOGY AND CHEMICALS
Australia's unique plants and marine organisms offer the potential to discover unique bio-active compounds which have therapeutic potential or which can be the basis for the further development of therapeutic compounds.
A single new pharmaceutical product with a novel therapeutic action could gross annual sales worldwide in excess of $1 billion and generate returns comparable to those of major export industries such as wool, wheat and iron ore.
An example of the role government can play, is the agreement between Griffith University and Astra Pharmaceuticals Pty Ltd, a subsidiary of Scandinavia's largest pharmaceutical group - AB Astra of Sweden - to screen natural products from Queensland's reef and rainforests. As part of the agreement the Queensland Government financed the $3 million Griffith Research Centre adjacent to the university. This facility is leased back to the university.
The size and scope of the market in underwater marine technologies is not well defined. One of the objectives of this strategy must be to analyse this market to determine its size and scope, and manufacturing and marketing opportunities in Western Australia.
OCEANOGRAPHICAL, METEOROLOGICAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL SERVICES
Australia has much to contribute to an understanding of the oceans and to marine science and technology and engineering by virtue of its geographic location, its relatively undisturbed marine environment and the quality of its researchers.
Western Australia, with its long Indian Ocean coastline and proximity to the South East Asian and South Asian community, has some location advantages, particularly concerning polar-orbiting satellite coverage, rapid access to neighbouring countries and some comparable regional coastal areas.
A significant issue influencing market opportunities is the developing Commonwealth Government policy relating to international activity in Oceanographical, Meteorological and Environmental Services (OMES) fields.
One of four recommendations made in the 1995 paper, Australia's Ocean Age, was that Australia's marine objectives and priorities should be promoted by enhanced linkages in the Asia Pacific region.
Australia has developed and maintains strong links with international marine science programs, many of which are sponsored by the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission.
Other international programs involving Australia in marine research include the International Geosphere-Biosphere Program, the World Climate Research Program, the International Coral Reef Initiative, the World Ocean Circulation Experiment, the Ocean Drilling Program, programs of the World Meteorological Organisation, and international remote sensing activities such as NASA's Earth Observing System.
