The review and amendment of existing Marine Parks Zoning Plans in Queensland (including the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority’s Representative Areas Program (GBRMPA RAP), complimentary state zoning of inshore areas has had significant social, economic (and environmental) impacts on industries that rely on marine resources for their existence. These plans have also often displaced fishing effort and increased pressure on other areas and have considerably impacted on the supply of seafood to the Queensland consumer.

The announcement that the Marine Parks (Moreton Bay) Zoning Plan 1997 would be reviewed in 2007, coupled with the track record of government decisions on Marine Park Plans within Queensland, indicates that there are potentially considerable implications for the three fishery sectors who operate within Moreton Bay, and for the supply of seafood to the Queensland consumer.

The various industry groups involved in the Moreton Bay Access Alliance (MBAA) have decided on a proactive strategy to address potential implications, on the understanding that the:
- EPA will commence review of the Marine Parks (Moreton Bay) Zoning Plan 1997 in February 2007 and will release a Regulatory Impact Statement (RIS) in September 2007 for public comment and stakeholder consultation; and
- EPA’s RIS proposals are negotiable.

The project aims to validate and quantify the impact of fishing activities on the Moreton bay environment and make a scientifically defensible case for boundary changes or alterations to the existing Marine Park Zoning Plan. The development of a defensible report will ensure that all parties have a common reference point in negotiations following the release of the RIS.

Given that the Marine Park or MPA in question is managed under state legislation, it is likely that the findings of this project may be relevant for other industry groups facing similar legislative reviews (or introduction of MPA’s) Australia-wide.

There is an urgent need to develop an understanding of the level of gear interaction between the prawn and scallop sectors and whether this may be a cause for the recent low scallop recruitment (and subsequent catches) in the fishery and if scallop fishing negatively impacts on prawns. This urgency was noted at a recent workshop reviewing the research and management needs in the Shark Bay trawl fisheries. Both sectors (prawn and scallop) support the need to fully and rigorously address the issue of gear interactions in those areas of the fishery where the distribution of the target species overlap. Scallop fishers are concerned that repeated trawling by the prawn fleet on scallop grounds may be affecting scallop recruitment. The use of adaptive management techniques such as trialling spatial closures within specific areas of the scallop fishery will provide key information about the usefulness of this management approach for the short-lived and sedentary scallop species Amusium balloti and to assess the impact of the closures on the capture of migrating prawns. This project will be used as a pilot study to assess whether closures can assist increase scallop recruitment and if area closures could be used as a possible management strategy in the future. Completion of this project should therefore result in information required to help optimise the use of these resources and assist in resolving the resource sharing conflicts between sectors within the region.

Developing specific models of water and scallop larval movements within Shark Bay along with an assessment of the relevant environmental variables (eg. SST) would also provide insights into the potential causes of the relatively low level of scallop recruitment in areas that were traditionally reliable scallop grounds.

Previous changes in fisheries management have had significant socio-economic impacts on Queensland fisheries (and likely on local seafood supply). E.g. the implementation of the RAP and GBRCMP implemented by the GBRMPA and EPA respectively in 2004 has resulted in over $80 million compensation being paid to fishers and related businesses to date. A more accurate measure of the extent of socio-economic impacts of the RAP is unavailable, however, due to the lack of established methodologies to monitor such changes, and lack of baseline socio-economic data prior to implementation of the RAP.
Management changes are planned for the near future for Queensland’s inshore fisheries in the form of a new ECIFF Management Plan, potential regional-based management (e.g. area closures), and a management plan for mud crab. Relevant fisheries stakeholders (QSIA and Sunfish) and managers (DPI&F) have expressed the need to collect baseline data prior to management change and to develop and implement methodologies that will allow monitoring of socio-economic changes following the implementation of these management initiatives. Such a methodology will involve selecting appropriate indicators of the socio-economic environment and the collection of baseline data outlining the current socio-economic trends for the recreational, charter and commercial inshore fisheries and seafood consumers. In addition, efficient methodology with which to undertake long-term monitoring of the appropriate socio-economic indicators needs to be determined. This research is also needed if appropriate and useful socio-economic indicators are to be included in a PMS for the inshore fishery. The proposed project will fulfil these needs, allowing the effects of changes in inshore fisheries management to be assessed in the future. Provision of baseline data will also assist in the implementation of any future management change, such as regional-based management and management plans for the mud crab fishery (which is not included in the ECIFF Management Plan).

South Australia contains 80% of the endemic Australian sea lion (ASL) population, where substantial fishing effort in the gillnet sector SESSF (~20,000 km net-lifts/year) and SA RLF (~1.5 million pot-lifts/year) increase the risk of fatal interactions.

A recent risk assessment (FRDC 2005/077) identified that subpopulations of ASL are highly vulnerable to even low-level bycatch from fisheries, with >40% of subpopulations at risk of extinction from as little as 1-2 additional female deaths/year over a 20-25 year period. The risk assessment identified that the current high proportion of depleted subpopulations of the species may be entirely due to sustained low-level bycatch by commercial fisheries.

ASL are listed as a threatened species under the Commonwealth EPBC Act, and a recovery plan has identified bycatch from bottom-set gillnet and rock lobster fisheries as the most significant anthropogenic contributor to the species’ lack of recovery. As such the development of measures to mitigate interactions with sea lions forms the most pressing ESD issues for these fisheries.

ESD assessments of both the gillnet sector of the SESSF and SARLF fisheries have identified interactions with seals as a significant issue. These assessments make at least seven recommendations to address protected species interactions (including seals), but little if any progress has been made to address these to date.

In order to have southern rock lobster taken from South Australian waters placed on the list of exempt native specimens for export under Part 13 and 13(A) of the EPBC Act, there is an imperative to address these ESD recommendations, as failure to do so may jeopardise current and future export exemptions.

The Australian Government's directive and AFMA's response, indicate there is an urgent need to further reduce bycatch in trawl catches in the SESSF. The economic ramifications could be considerable if industry are forced to retain smaller sized quota species. It is unlikey the price obtained for the smaller fish would adequately compensate the costs in retaining it.

Anecdotally, it appears the Network TN net has been able to reduce bycatch and has received strong endorsement from a range of fishers who are currently using the net (Appendix 1). Most have noted a substantial reduction in their bycatch especially in smaller fish. However to add credence in convincing other fishers of the advantages of this net there needs to be a qualified scientific study and sea trials conducted, to test whether catches towing with the NetworkTN net are siginificantly different from catches towed with a the current nets used by industry.