9,431 results
Environment
PROJECT NUMBER • 2012-046
PROJECT STATUS:
COMPLETED

Informing the review of the Commonwealth Policy on Fisheries Bycatch through assessing trends in bycatch of key Commonwealth fisheries

The purpose of this report is to inform the review of the Commonwealth Policy on Fisheries Bycatch. In March 2012, the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, announced the review of the Commonwealth Policy on Fisheries Bycatch, with the aim of improving the management of bycatch in...
ORGANISATION:
CSIRO Oceans and Atmosphere Hobart
TAGS
Wild Catch
Fishing Gear
Bycatch
Environment
PROJECT NUMBER • 2018-114
PROJECT STATUS:
COMPLETED

Completing Australia’s First National Bycatch Report

Bycatch (non-targeted organisms that are unintentionally caught when fishing for particular species or sizes of species) remains an important issue concerning the world’s fisheries. Discards are considered the most important component of bycatch because they represent a perceived wastage of...
ORGANISATION:
IC Independent Consulting Pty Ltd
TAGS
Stock Assessment
Recreational Fishing
Modelling
Fishing Gear
Fisheries Management
Environment

Developing a National Bycatch Reporting System

Project number: 2015-208
Project Status:
Completed
Budget expenditure: $300,000.00
Principal Investigator: Steve J. Kennelly
Organisation: IC Independent Consulting Pty Ltd
Project start/end date: 30 Jun 2015 - 29 Jun 2017
Contact:
FRDC
TAGS
Threatened Endangered Protected Species
Stakeholder
Fishing Effort
Fisheries Management
Electronic Monitoring

Need

The only national estimate of bycatch and discarding for Australia’s fisheries suggests that our fisheries discard more than they retain (ie. 55.3% is discarded - FAO, 2005). This figure may surprise many people including environmental groups, those concerned with "sea"-food security and protein-poor countries. This figure also has the potential to adversely affect Australia’s well-earned brand as a responsible fisheries management nation. However - this figure is probably very wrong and much too high. This project aims to correct this.

In 2012, Australia completed its first national report describing the status of Australia’s fish stocks (“Status of Key Australian Fish Stocks Reports”). An issue that arose during its preparation (from AFMF, DAFF, DoE and others) was that there exists no national system for reporting on bycatches or discards. That is, there exists no mechanism by which the public, governments, NGOs, ecolabels, other stakeholders or international agencies can assess Australia’s performance in dealing with bycatch, discards, TEPs interactions, etc.

A recent study (extension to FRDC 2013/233) summarized the recently completed US National Bycatch Report and other similar international reports (FAO’s 1994 and 2005 global reports), investigated future FAO initiatives in this area (FAO are currently planning a decadal repeat of the global report), benchmarked the current Australian situation against these, and recommended a pathway towards an appropriate national bycatch reporting system. That pathway recommended a comprehensive synthesis of available bycatch information available in Australia and the development of a repeatable reporting system, running as an adjunct to the current SAFS system, against which Australia’s record in bycatch management can be assessed against agreed best-practice benchmarks. This project aims to deliver such a system.

Objectives

1. Using 4 jurisdictions as case studies, compile and synthesize all available reports/papers/datasets on fisheries bycatches, discards and TEPs interactions for each
2. Assess the quality of the data gathered using appropriate metrics
3. Develop templates and reporting processes, and identify programs, fisheries and/or species (including any surrogates/indicators), that together will form a national framework for bycatch reporting
4. Compile the above into a framework for future periodic bycatch reporting that dove-tails into the current SAFS system
5. Provide discard inputs (as available) for the Fisheries Health Check system being developed under FRDC 2014/008

Report

ISBN: 978-0-9924930-5-9
Author: Steven J Kennelly
Report • 2018-03-01 • 1.48 MB
2015-208-DLD.pdf

Summary

Bycatch from fishing (the unintended, non-targeted organisms caught when targeting particular species or sizes of species) remains one of the most important issues concerning the world’s fisheries. And discards are considered the most important component of bycatch because they represent a perceived wastage of seafood resources, may include Threatened, Endangered and Protects (TEP) species, and attract significant controversy and interest for many stakeholders including other fisheries, conservation groups, eco-labelling organizations, stock assessment scientists and the general public (who own this part of the catch).
Whilst fisheries jurisdictions have recognised the need to report to the public and other stakeholders regarding the status of exploited stocks, there is growing acceptance and international, regional and national agreements that encourage (or require) governments to also report on the status of bycatches and discards. There have been several efforts to do such reporting including FAO’s decadal global reports and the United States’ very comprehensive National Bycatch Reporting process. But Australia currently does not have a process for reporting on bycatch, and this current project is aimed at developing such a methodology for commercial fisheries. We do this by examining how one could most effectively report on bycatches in 4 of Australia’s 8 fisheries jurisdictions, selected to represent the diversity and size of commercial fisheries in Australia: New South Wales, Tasmania, Queensland and the Northern Territory.

Proposed Standards and Guidelines for Bycatch Management in Commonwealth Fisheries

Project number: 2010-046
Project Status:
Completed
Budget expenditure: $179,551.00
Principal Investigator: Peter Ward
Organisation: Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry (DAFF) ABARES
Project start/end date: 31 Jul 2010 - 14 Dec 2011
Contact:
FRDC
TAGS
Sustainability
Modelling
Migration
Fisheries Management
Bycatch

Need

Through its policy on fisheries bycatch, the Commonwealth acknowledges that ecological sustainable development must be based on a strategic approach to addressing bycatch interactions. There is a need to mitigate fishery interactions with non-target species, particularly threatened, endangered and protected (TEP) species, consistent with AFMA’s aim of promoting the sustainable use of fisheries resources by conserving marine ecosystems and biodiversity. Industry, AFMA and researchers have previously collaborated to address bycatch issues in Commonwealth fisheries, with outputs including the implementation of mitigation devices in specific fisheries, the development of bycatch action plans, bycatch workplans and the ecological risk management (ERM) process. In many cases, however, industry cannot readily demonstrate the benefits of these activities, which is critical for differentiating Australian seafood products from those of less environmentally-friendly competitors.

There is a need for an overarching approach to bycatch mitigation to ensure consistent standards across fisheries and transparent indicators of performance. Bycatch issues are often fisheries specific, but the development of mitigation strategies in individual fisheries needs to address the same core elements, e.g. stakeholder consultation, performance testing, monitoring and compliance. Standards are required to ensure that each of these core elements are adequately addressed in response to the emergence of a bycatch issue.

Standards will also assist the fishing industry in fostering positive public perception and meeting legislative requirements, e.g. strategic assessments under the EPBC Act . Standards are particularly important to fisheries seeking to move to co-management where there is a need for greater transparency and accountability.

Objectives

1. Develop standards for mitigating bycatch in Commonwealth fisheries, including an accompanying set of guidelines for establishing technical criteria for assessing the performance, ongoing monitoring and review of bycatch mitigation measures.
2. Test the proposed standards and guidelines on a bycatch issue in a key Commonwealth fishery.

Final report

Final Report • 2013-05-01 • 1.72 MB
2010-046-DLD.pdf
Industry
Adoption
Environment
Environment
PROJECT NUMBER • 2015-200
PROJECT STATUS:
COMPLETED

Guidelines on a tiered, risk-based approach to bycatch management

The 2018 Commonwealth Fisheries Bycatch Policy (Bycatch Policy) establishes the requirement for bycatch management in Commonwealth-managed fisheries. The Guidelines for the Implementation of the Commonwealth Fisheries Bycatch Policy aim to provide assistance to Australian Government entities...
ORGANISATION:
Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry (DAFF) ABARES
TAGS
Sustainability
Rac Cmwth
Policy
Fisheries Management
Bycatch
Environment
PROJECT NUMBER • 2015-014
PROJECT STATUS:
COMPLETED

Estimating the impacts of management changes on bycatch reduction and sustainability of high-risk bycatch species in the Queensland East Coast Otter Trawl Fishery

Keywords: Discards, elasmobranchs, post-trawl survival, Aptychotrema rostrata, Trygonoptera testacea, turtle excluder device, bycatch reduction device, TEDs, BRDs, ecological risk assessment, ERA Executive Summary: Researchers from the Queensland Government’s Department of...
ORGANISATION:
Department of Primary Industries (QLD)
TAGS
Rac Qld
Post Harvest
Mortality
Modelling
Fishing Gear
SPECIES
Shovelnose Rays
Rays
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