The Victorian Diver Observation System enables divers to use their mobile phone to report observations on stock abundance, catch rates and habitat changes. These observations are stored, analysed and reported back to authorised industry personnel in a manner suitable for stock assessment meetings. This project aims to customise and make available the Diver Observations System to participating jurisdictions. Extensive industry consultation, trials and investigation will lead to a final solution being recommended for a Diver Observation System beyond the life of this project.
Feedback from industry divers on stock levels, habitat and other factors that affect fishing activity are widely used to provide context to scientific data during stock assessment and management decision making. The predominate method for obtaining this feedback is through direct representation by divers at stock assessment workshops. There are several issues with this approach. Only divers present at the meeting have an opportunity to contribute, there may be disincentives to be honest with peers and employers also in the room, and recall may be inaccurate with time passed.
Fishery management departments and industry groups in other states are keen to utilize a diver observation survey on a cost- effective electronic data capture platform that provides greater opportunity for obtaining diver feedback.
In Victoria, diver observations are included in the multiple lines of evidence approach (e.g. catch per unit effort, independent surveys of abundance and size, industry-collected data) for setting the annual Total Allowable Commercial Catch (TACC) as detailed in the Victorian Wild Harvest Abalone Fishery Management Plan (DEDJTR 2015). The value of observation by divers cannot be underestimated for abalone management, as they witness the state of the resource at a fine scale and over time. Thus, there is a strong need to develop a tailored system for anonymous collection, analysis and reporting of abalone diver observations to better inform management decision making.
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