Management and monitoring of fish spawning aggregations within the West Coast Bio-region of Western Australia

Funded Activity Summary

Many fish form spawning aggregations. Targeted fishing of these increases short-term catch rates but can lead to serious declines in aggregation biomass, reproductive output and stock sustainability. Traditional monitoring and stock assessment methods can also be compromised by aggregation fishing (Die and Ellis 1999; McAllister and Kirchner 2000). Globally, the deleterious impacts of aggregation fishing are becoming more obvious and the issue is receiving increasing attention. This is highlighted by recent temporal/spatial closures to protect spawning shallow water aggregations of snapper in Western Australia. However, there is little knowledge about the prevalence of aggregating species or their aggregations in WA waters, or of the affects that aggregation fishing has on stock sustainability. Management of aggregation fishing is thus a significant consideration for the Ecological Sustainable Development initiative and the ‘wetline’ review process that is currently underway within the West Coast Bioregion. There is a pressing need to obtain biological and ecological information about aggregations and to factor their exploitation into management plans.

This project has been developed with, and has the strong support of, recreational and charter fishers and their peak bodies, who have expressed considerable concerned over growing fishing pressure on key recreational species. Commercial interests will similarly benefit from long-term conservation of these species and the project has received support from the WA Fishing Industry Council. The project relates to the following Department of Fisheries Strategic Plan Objectives: 1) Improved sustainability of fish stocks and production. 2) Increased economic benefits to the community from fish (eg charter fishers will benefit from a sustainable sportsfishery and the positive image resulting from research and management). 3) Increased industry and community involvement in the development and implementation of management strategies (eg the inception of this project has and will require considerable liaison with fishers, universities and CALM scientists. Completion of the project will require open and ongoing communication between groups). This project will provide advice to the Integrated Fisheries Management Advisory Committee that will be established to deal with issues associated with the proposed Integrated Fisheries Management Plan (A. Cribb, pers. comm.).
REFERENCES
Die DJ, Ellis N (1999) Aggregation dynamics in penaeid fisheries: banana prawns (Penaeus merguiensis) in the Australian Northern Prawn Fishery. Mar.Freshwater Res. 50:667-675
McAllister MK, Kirchner CH (2000) Development of bayesian stock assessment methods for namibian orange roughy Hoplostethus atlanticus. S.Afr.Mar.Sci. 23:241-264

Objectives:
1. To identify species that aggregate to spawn within the West Coast Bio-region and to describe (eg location, size, timing, nature) the aggregations of key demersal species such as snapper and dhufish.
2. To investigate the biology, ecology and fishery for samson fish with emphasis on the sportsfishery targeting deep water spawning aggregations west of Rottnest Island.
3. To establish methods and protocols for monitoring fish aggregations.
4. To review relevant information and provide advice on the impact of aggregation fishing and the management of aggregating fish species in WA (with specific advice for key species within the West Coast Bio-region).

Funded Activity Details

Start Date: 30-06-2004

End Date: 12-09-2008

Funding Scheme: Funding Scheme not available

Funding Amount: $630,431.00

Funder: Fisheries Research and Development Corporation

Research Topics

ANZSRC Field of Research (FoR)

There are no FoR codes available for this funding activity

ANZSRC Socio-Economic Objective (SEO)

There are no SEO codes available for this funding activity

Other Keywords

Biomass | Commercial Species | Electronic Monitoring | Mortality | Recreational Fishing | Reproduction | Restocking | Survey

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