The cross-Government LNFSWG has been working with stakeholders since 2015 to address ongoing industry and community concerns over the economic impacts of fur seals on the LCF, including depredation of catches and damage to fishing gear. Despite recent mitigation initiatives, reports from industry suggest that the seal-fisher conflict and associated economic impacts have intensified in recent years. In an effort to reduce financial pressure on licence holders, the SA Government (PIRSA Fisheries and Aquaculture) has waived cost-recovered licence fees for the net sector of the fishery, as well as implemented other more flexible management arrangements, for the 2015/16, 2016/17, 2017/18 and 2018/19 fishing seasons. Although these measures have been welcomed by industry, it is not clear whether the current level of support for fishers is adequate or how to evaluate the costs and benefits of alternative mitigation options or management interventions.

There has also been industry and community concerns about the potential impact that seals are having on waterbirds, fish populations, and on the broader Lakes and Coorong ecosystem, with some sectors advocating for seal numbers to be managed to mitigate these perceived impacts.

There is a need for reliable, quantitative information on the nature and extent of the economic and ecological impacts of seals in Lakes and Coorong region, and the factors that attract seals to the region and drive the seasonal increase in fur seal numbers. This information will support processes to identify, prioritise and develop practicable and cost-effective long-term policy/management strategies to manage long-nosed fur seal numbers and mitigate their impacts in the Lakes and Coorong region, during and after the project.

The SA State Government has made a commitment to reform the Marine Scalefish Fishery (MSF) that aims to provide long-term sustainability of key stocks for both recreational and commercial fisheries, and unlock the industries economic potential. The key reforms include a voluntary buy-back scheme targeting the removal of at least 30% of commercial licences and the introduction of new zoning and quota management regulations. The timeframe for the reforms will be determined in consultation with the industry. Details on the implementation strategy have yet to be developed, but will need to be underpinned by extensive stakeholder consultation and backed by research that provides confidence that among the approaches considered, those chosen will best deliver the intent of the reforms.

This project aims to develop an SA Gulfs and Coastal ecosystem model to provide a Management Strategy Evaluation (MSE) tool to assess and optimise a range of reform scenarios. The project will link in closely with FRDC 2017/014 (Informing structural reform in the MSF), utilising many of its key outputs, including time series of spatial distribution of catch and effort, social-economic performance, and reform implementation scenarios. This project also will extend the investigation by integrating environmental time-series data to evaluate changes in productivity over time, identified as a potential factor in declining fisheries catches in the GSV ecosystem (FRDC 2013/031). Identifying the causes of productivity loss and its impact on fish production are important to resolve, especially in the context of the MSF reforms. Ultimately, the project aims to provide decision support tools to assess and evaluate the performance of diverse fisheries management strategies, and how these may perform under varying production regimes. Such an approach will provide a platform to evaluate and optimise the effectiveness of management strategies, and help ensure the fishery reforms achieve their key objectives.