Bursaries to fund three South Australian Recreational Fishing community members to attend the National Recreational Fishing Conference 2019
Co-management is an arrangement whereby responsibilities and obligations for sustainable fisheries management are negotiated, shared and delegated at appropriate levels between government, recreational fishers, Aboriginal traditional fishers, the commercial fishing industry and other key stakeholders such as conservation groups (Neville 2008).
The Minister’s Recreational Fishing Advisory Council (MRFAC) was formed to improve dialogue and communication between recreational fishers and Government. The primary role of the MRFAC is to provide feedback and advice to government on recreational fishing development issues, initiatives and policies that impact the recreational fishing sector. The MRFAC strives to pursue opportunities to improve the co-management arrangements for the recreational fishery.
In 2010/11 an engagement project was undertaken by PIRSA to better understand what recreational fishing means to people and what future they want for their sector. Discussions generated consistent themes and issues of concern to recreational fishers, including sustainable fishing, ongoing access, funding and leadership, governance, education and promotion of the sector.
The outputs from this project identified opportunities for incorporating 'grass roots' input from the recreational sector into fisheries management processes in South Australia (Rowling et al. in prep) must include public consultation opportunities and participation in (1) technical working groups; (2) regional recreational committees; & (3) community forums.
This project aims to enhance these jurisdictional-based opportunities by increasing national-level capacity building opportunities for members of the South Australian community. In addition to the personal development aspect, the ability to create connections and links to the recreational community leaders from other states and territories will be invaluable to the future stewarding of the South Australian Recreational Fishing community.
Attendance at the Food and Agricultural Organisation of the United Nations, Tenure and User Rights Conference in Yeosu, Korea 10 to 14 September 2018
National Snapper Workshop - Rebuilding our iconic Snapper stocks
Improving early detection surveillance and emergency disease response to Pacific Oyster Mortality Syndrome (POMS) using a hydrodynamic model for dispersion of OsHV-1
Improving data on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander marine resource use to inform decision-making
Development of sector-specific biosecurity plan templates and guidance documents for the abalone and oyster aquaculture industries
Identifying opportunities for developing community supported fisheries in South Australia’s small scale, multi-species, multi-gear community based fisheries
The LCF and MSF have indicated that they want to reconnect consumers with local sources of seafood, for enhanced freshness, food safety and assurance of sustainable fishing methods, including creating new markets for independent fisher suppliers, while at the same time allowing consumers to invest in their community and nearby ecosystems. Overall the LCF and MSF want to convey the contribution they make to the local and regional economy, in particular supporting healthy communities and local fishers being environmental stewards of the resource. Having said this, the LCF and MSF have limited capacity, skills and tools to facilitate or build upon this reconnection. In addition to this, recently commissioned research by the Australian Government Department of Agriculture found the seafood industry is not front of mind for consumers.
Final report
PIRSA with the support of Dr Joshua Stoll held several workshops and meetings with commercial fishers in the South Australian Lakes and Coorong Fishery (LCF) and Marine Scalefish Fishery (MSF), members of Wildcatch Fisheries SA and fish markets to understand whether the concept of a Community Support Fishery (CSF) would be applicable in South Australia. These workshops and meetings provided insight into the challenges being faced by commercial fishers and the many opportunities that lay ahead.