There is a growing need to establish fishing industries as environmentally sustainable within Australia and internationally. The needs stems from both an economic marketing aspect and a growing community expectation. It is also important for fishing industries to understand that they contribute to marine impacts on a broader ecological scale. Whilst the principles of Ecosystem Based Fishery Management (EBFM) have been established for over a decade, it is only in recent years that EBFM frameworks have begun to be developed and applied by Government agencies (e.g. Fletcher et al 2010, West Coast Bioregion of Western Australia).

The environmental impacts of benthic trawl fisheries require greater attention than most other fishing methodologies, primarily due to their impact on the benthic environment, by-catch species and associated communities. As a critical impactor on marine bioregions, it is important that future ecological research for benthic trawl fisheries is prioritised and conducted in a manner that fits within a broader EBFM framework.

Concomitantly, there is an increasing interest from fishing industries to seek third-party certification of environmental sustainability for eco-labelling of their products and subsequent market advantage. These Program's require fisheries to meet standards that are often higher than the levels required by the Commonwealth Government to meet conditions of the EPBC Act. Although such accreditations are accompanied by substantial documentation of management practices, it is difficult for non-accrediated fisheries to benchmark themselves against accredited "best practice" industries.

This project aims to develop a reporting framework for environmental assessment of prawn trawl fisheries in Australia. By using the Marine Stewardship Certification accredited Spencer Gulf Prawn Trawl Fishery as a case study, the report will provide other Australian prawn trawl fisheries 1) a benchmark of third party accredited environmental management, and 2) a tool for prioritising and conducting their own ecological research within an EBFM framework.

This proposal will address the FRDC Recfishing Research priority area "Assessing the impact of recreational fishing methods on conservation values of aquatic habitats" as announced in the 2012 Annual Competitive Round Call for Expressions Of Interest. After making inquiries with seabird rescue organisations, it has become apparent that seabird entanglements in discarded fishing tackle is of major concern. Australia Zoo Wildlife Hospital report that their rescue unit responded to approximately 300 calls for bird entanglements in discarded fishing tackle in 2011 (to August 1). Further, the Rescue Hotline of Pelican and Seabird Rescue Inc. have received approximately 400 calls in 2011 (to the time of writing - 10/9/2011). These figures are unacceptable and measures need to be taken to decrease the incidence of seabird interactions with discarded recreational fishing tackle. The injuries that result from these interactions are often catastrophic, with a high proportion of entangled animals being euthanised. Healthy Waterways has produced a provocative poster, attached, depicting a pair of budgerigars surrounded by fishing line and hooks. Such negative stereotypes need to be addressed and, as such, there is a need to educate recreational fishers as to the consequences of the careless discarding of fishing tackle. This subject was recently highlighted in a Queensland recreational fishing publication, Queensland Fishing Monthly (see attachment). Both recreational fishing representative groups, Sunfish and Ecofishers, have expressed concern regarding this issue. A fifteen minute search at a secluded recreational fishing location in the northern suburbs of Brisbane by two people resulted in the collection of the fishing tackle pictured in the attachment (13/09/2011 - Tingalpa Creek). Although this could be construed as an environmental problem and beyond the purview of FRDC, it certainly reflects poorly on recreational fishers and, as such, an extension/educational project would help alleviate the problems highlighted in this proposal.

Abalone stock enhancement remains one of the few viable alternatives for increasing the profitability and biomass of a fishery without compromising the current fishery in terms of access or allowable catches. Economically viable stock enhancement could provide the fishery with stock numbers towards virgin levels, thus increasing catch rates and ultimately economic efficiency and profitability. However, there is a need for a project to develop the R&D that will create a commercially viable stock enhancement industry. This is the subject of a current Seafood CRC project (2010/784 - Commercialisation of abalone stock enhancement).

Prior to the commercialisation the industry wants to understand the biosecurity risks of the larger scale stock enhancement project; in other words to weigh up the potential economic gains against biosecurity risks. The recent AVG outbreak in Tasmania highlighted the requirement for industry to be vigilant regarding potential disease vectors.

In order to protect the valuable abalone industry from potential biosecurity threats, there is a need to undertake a risk assessment to quantify raw and residual risks associated with commercialization of abalone stock enhancement. Although being carried out in WA, this risk assessment has national significance to the abalone industry.