Media Release

For immediate use

19 July 2001

GUIDE WILL BOOST ESD REPORTING FOR FISHERIES

Australia's ability to report on the ecological sustainability of its wild capture fisheries has received a major boost with the launch this week of a practical 'How to' guide to Ecologically Sustainable Development (ESD) reporting.

The Guide is part of a major project, funded by the Fisheries Research and Development Corporation to develop a national framework to assist Australian fisheries management agencies, individuals and the fishing industry report on how they are contributing to the objectives of ESD.

The 'How To' Guide provides step-by-step instructions to assist individuals, agencies and the industry complete reports on ESD for their fisheries.

Leader of the project, Dr Rick Fletcher from the Department of Fisheries, Western Australia, said the guide will help these groups meet increasing government and community expectations.

"The urgency to develop a comprehensive and practical reporting system has increased substantially in recent years with changes to legislation at both the Commonwealth and State levels along with increasing community expectations.

"Achieving ESD requires the integration of short and long-term economic, social and environmental effects in all decision making. This has been a difficult task to implement in a practical way.

"Implementing ESD in fisheries means that we not only need to consider the effects of the fishery on the target species, but also what effects there may be on the rest of the ecosystem. We also need to recognise the economic health of a fishery (such as the profits to commercial fishers or the satisfaction of other users of the resource) relies on maintaining essential ecological processes.

"The 'backbone' of the guide is a national reporting framework developed by a team of experts including representatives from the Bureau of Rural Sciences, CSIRO, University of Queensland and the Department of Fisheries, WA.

"The Framework divides ESD into eight major components (within the 3 main categories of Ecological Wellbeing, Human Wellbeing and Ability to Achieve) relevant to fisheries" said Dr Fletcher.

The four main elements in the process to complete an ESD report which include:
(1) identifying the issues relevant to the fishery across each of the 8 components;
(2) prioritising these issues using risk assessment techniques;
(3) completing suitably detailed reports on the performance of the fishery for each issue (dependent upon their priority and complexity); and
(4) the compilation of summary background material on the fishery being examined.

Dr Fletcher said the guide had been developed with the approval of all fisheries agencies and the strong support and involvement of stakeholder groups.

The 'How to' Guide can be downloaded in electronic format from the website: www.fisheries-esd.com.

Media Contact: Dr Rick Fletcher - 08 9246 8465