EBFM requires performance indicators for a wide range of species that interact with fisheries, and systems to monitor those performance indicators. However, there is no routine monitoring of the status of the many commercially important byproduct and bycatch species. The assessment of these non-target species remains important in terms of the Commonwealth Harvest Strategy Policy and AFMA have expressed a need for a solution to how to assess the relative status of these species. Such monitoring is required for strategic assessment under the EPBC Act (1997).

Most of non-target species are not under quota and while not directly targeted they can still experience significant fishing mortality and add value to the landed catch. Currently, if they are assessed at all, the assessments merely apply the same strategies as adopted for target species. There is often a perception that CPUE should be disregarded “because the species was not targeted”. There is a need to determine whether alternative methods should be applied to such species that take into account the fact that their catch is incidental to the main activities of the fishers and hence the fishery dependent data for the non-target species will have different qualities. By definition these fisheries are multi-species in nature and this too can complicate their assessment. Technically this is not a trivial problem and more clarity is needed concerning the scope of the issue and how to deal with it. Rather than launch immediately into a relatively long term attempt at finding a solution, a more efficient approach is proposed that involves expert examination and rapid review to map the road ahead. Hence there is a need to conduct workshops aimed at clarifying the management requirements and the most cost effective approach to solving these management issues, which apply to all multi-species data poor fisheries.