Completing Australia’s First National Bycatch Report
Developing a National Bycatch Reporting System
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.
Report
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
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.