Fisheries Natural Resources

Australia's exclusive economic zone, which extends 200 nautical miles from the baseline of our continent and our island territories, is the third-largest in the world, covering about 11 million square kilometres: one-and-a-half times the area of Australia's land mass.

It contains a diverse range of aquatic species — about 4500 known species of finfish (in addition to perhaps tens of thousands of invertebrate species) — most of which occur in relatively small volumes. About 600 marine and freshwater seafood species are caught and sold in Australia (under about 300 marketing names) for local and overseas consumption. Most known species are at or near full exploitation; several have been over-exploited.

Although Australian waters are particularly rich in invertebrate species, including Crustacea, the nutrients and plankton produced in Australian ocean waters do not support high-tonnage finfish catches. Consequently, Australia's commercial catch ranks 52nd in the world, representing only 0.2 per cent of world tonnage.

One fishery — the South East Fishery — consistently has relatively high tonnages. However, it is very small by world standards. In 2002-03, it produced about 30 500 tonnes, including
8 815 tonnes from blue grenadier. By contrast, the New Zealand catch of the same species (called hoki) was 245 000 tonnes.

The low production capabilities of Australia's wild fisheries give little opportunity to increase tonnages, yet local and international demand for seafood is set to grow substantially — particularly as larger overseas fisheries are over-exploited and supply is reduced. This situation underlies the strategic directions for Australia's fishing industry, and the commercial sector in particular.

Significance of ecologically sustainable development

The Australian community has become increasingly aware of the need to protect marine, estuary and river ecosystems, and to maintain biological diversity in ecosystems that support fisheries. There is growing awareness of the influences of the various uses of fisheries, and of the need for ecologically sustainable development (ESD) — in essence, development that aims to meet the needs of Australians today while conserving ecosystems for the benefit of future generations. To do this, the environmental resources that form the basis of our economy need to be used in a way that maintains — and where possible improves — their range, variety and quality. At the same time, those resources need to be used to develop an economy that constantly seeks to improve its efficiency and productivity. ESD is therefore not simply concerned with optimal resource management but with the full spectrum of factors involved in sustainable economic, environmental and social development.

ESD presents one of the greatest challenges to Australia's governments, industries, businesses and the community. In particular, an effective level of progress towards ESD requires a strong economy and a vigorous, profitable commercial sector. Businesses that are struggling for economic survival have limited ability to implement continuous improvement of their environmental performance.

Setting sustainable levels of fishing has been central to fisheries management and science for a long time. The concept of ESD, however, is far broader than the traditional focus on yields derived from target species. This complexity poses difficulties for fisheries managers, partly because of the poor under®standing of how fisheries ecosystems work and how they are affected by use or other disturbance or economic activity.