THE Minister for Agriculture and Water Resources has appointed Anna Willock to the role of Acting CEO of the Australian Fisheries Management Authority (AFMA), commencing November 24, 2018.
With over 20 years’ experience in marine fisheries management in Australia, through the Pacific region and internationally, Anna brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to the agency.
Having first worked for the agency in its infancy in 1992, mainly in the then South East Trawl Fishery, Anna left AFMA to take up the fisheries management advisor position with the Pacific Islands Forum Fisheries Agency. Based in Honiara, Solomon Islands, Anna was part of the team supporting the Pacific Island countries during negotiation of the treaty establishing the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission.
Moving back to Australia, she was the marine fisheries advisor at TRAFFIC International; a non-government organisation working globally to help ensure sustainable and legal trade in wild animals and plants. In this role she was part of the discussions in the early 2000s with the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR) on moves to control the then rampant illegal fishing of Patagonian Toothfish in the Southern Ocean.
This work was followed by a second stint at AFMA in a senior policy role that then opened the door to an opportunity at the Department of Agriculture and Water Resources (DAWR), where she led Australia’s international fisheries engagement through various regional fisheries management organisations (RFMOs).
More recently Anna has been working at the senior executive level in DAWR in various policy and program roles, including drought assistance, concessional loans programs for farm businesses, reviewing legislation underpinning agricultural levies, and examining policy settings impacting the Australian dairy industry.
Anna is looking forward to reconnecting across the many agencies and organisations that are key to fisheries management and compliance, both domestically and internationally, and to continue delivering sustainably-managed fisheries for Australia.
Anna will continue in the role until the appointment of AFMA’s new CEO.
