Community & People

Australians are increasingly realising the economic and social benefits of the fishing industry, especially to rural communities. It is evident that commercial wild-catch fishing is a major social resource in many small coastal communities. Such activity often involves several generations of family members; it fosters a unique blend of self-reliance and teamwork; it provides a core for related activities; and it engenders strong levels of “ownership” of the industry by the local community. Commercial wild-catch fishing and aquaculture activities carry high cultural values that add to the richness and robustness of their community.

People in the fishing industry who support wildcatch and aquaculture activities — such as transporters, wholesalers, retailers (including restaurant operators), and suppliers of commercial and recreational gear — also add to Australia’s social fabric.

In addition recreational fishing is an important activity for about 3.4 million Australians who fish each year and were estimated to spend $1.8 billion per year on fishing related items. Using expenditure multiplier estimates and basic data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics it is estimated employment from national recreational fishing expenditure was between 27,000 and 54,000 jobs nationally.

Therefore increasing the current state of knowledge of the social importance of fisheries to the Australian community will be important to fisheries management, which needs to encompass the social impacts of implementing management strategies, particularly those that reduce fishing effort for reasons of sustainability.

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