The recent Southern and Eastern Scalefish and Shark Fishery (SESSF) Declining Indicators project (FRDC 2016-146) culminated in a successful workshop discussion involving effective contribution and engagement from all fishery stakeholders with particularly good industry attendance and engagement. The Declining Indicators project entailed the presentation of a series of subject matter papers covering seven focus areas:
- legislative / management impediments
- fleet capacity and characteristics
- fisher behaviour and vessel operation
- climate change and oceanographic conditions
- costs of production and markets
- quota ownership and trading
- the assessment process.
At the workshop numerous hypotheses were tested through presentation, discussion and survey approaches. This resulted in a range of significant outcomes recommended for adoption to improve the sustainable, efficient and cost-effective management of the SESSF.
In conjunction with the current project, there have been other recent strategic projects which elucidate current issues in the SESSF and their potential to be addressed in future SESSF management: FRDC 2014-203 ‘SESSF Monitoring and Assessment – Strategic Review’ (Knuckey et. al 2017); FRDC 2016-139 ‘Decadal-scale projection of changes in Australian fisheries stocks under climate change’ (Fulton et al. 2018); and ‘FRDC 2016-059 Adaptation of Commonwealth fisheries management to climate change’ (Rayns et al, underway). There is a need for the outcomes and recommendations of all of these project to be considered together to inform future management of the SESSF and in particular to help inform the design of the upcoming project: FRDC 2018-021 ‘Development and evaluation of multi-species harvest strategies in the SESSF’.
The new proposed project, an implementation workshop, will draw together the outcomes of these projects to be assessed, conveyed to those outside the Declining Indicators group, and implemented into the fishery.
Final report
The key outcome of this project is the implementation plan at Appendix 1 which provides a comprehensive, prioritised list of actions for the SESSF as it transitions to a new harvest strategy framework. The implementation plan also provides a framework for ongoing governance and reporting to ensure the benefits of recent research can be realised.
This project ensured that views of stakeholders were taken into account in the effective adoption of research outcomes. The high level of stakeholder engagement has increased support for pursuing the resultant list of actions.
Fundamental to the transition of the SESSF is the current FRDC project to revise and update the SESSF Harvest Strategy Framework (Development and evaluation of multi-species harvest strategies in the SESSF (FRDC 2018-021)). Many of the recommendations from the implementation plan at Appendix 1 will help inform that project.
