From April 15th, 2000, all NPF vessels will be required to use B&Ts in their nets. This constitutes a major change in fishing practice and it is unclear how the catching and economic performance of the fishery will be affected. An accurate assessment of B&T performance will be a vital step towards removing pressure on the fishery from legislation aimed at protecting species and the environment. The Endangered Species Protection Act 1992 and new Commonwealth environment legislation (the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999) will enable effective listings of key threatening processes, of which trawling may again be one. However, if the NPF can demonstrate adequate reductions in catches of vulnerable species due to the use of B&Ts, it may avoid any actions arising from such a listing.

There is an ongoing need for NPF fishers to optimise the performance of B&Ts. The NPF is a large and remote fishery and many fishers still have little or no experience with B&Ts. Hence, there is widespread concern by industry over a lack of preparedness as the 2000 season approaches. This project proposes to continue to develop B&Ts by using the skills and expertise of industry and the other project collaborators in the first and second years after the complusory introduction of B&Ts.

NORMAC has approved a suite of B&Ts for use in the NPF and regulations pertaining to their design and use. These regulations will also provide scope for fishers to develop new exclusion devices. However, an approval process or protocol is not yet defined. This project will design an appropriate assessment and approval process for new B&T designs.

The use of B&Ts may also have implications for fishing effort standardisation based on their potential to change a fisher’s ability to catch prawns. Therefore, it is necessary to accurately measure the change in catches so that adjustments in fleet effort can be made for stock assessments.

It is also important that fishers are convinced that the actual use of B&Ts, rather than just the appearance of use, may be in their economic interest. The purchase costs of B&Ts and any negative effects on the overall performance of the fishing gear or its handling must be viewed by fishers against any economic benefits arising from the use of the devices. This project proposes an economic assessment of the costs and benefits of the introduction of B&Ts.

The management plan for the Houtman Abrolhos; system (Anon. 1998, section 10) identified a number of objectives. In essence these relate to understanding human-use impacts on the marine environment of the Abrolhos Islands and the evaluation of the effectiveness of present and future management strategies to ensure ecologically sustainable multiple use of Western Australia's first Fish Habitat Protection Area. Also it is important to recognise the more general responsibilities that the state of Western Australia will likely have with respect to the Commonwealth under its Oceans Policy statement and to the ongoing environmental stewardship considerations that the conferring of accreditation by the Marine Stewardship Council on the western rock lobster fishery entails.

Specifically, within the context of the Abrolhos Islands management plan there is a need to quantify the physical impacts of current human activity on Abrolhos marine habitats and subsequently establish a monitoring programme central to the ecologically sustainable management of this unique area. However, in order to determine such impacts and monitoring schemes, a number of preliminary steps need to be taken.

1) There is a need to collate, from diverse sources, existing research information relating to the ecology of the Abrolhos Islands, the effects of natural perturbations and to gather information on the types and effects of previous human use on Abrolhos marine habitats where it is documented. This synthesis of information will perform two functions: the first will be a statement of the current status of environmental impact research at the Abrolhos and the second will be as a background document for use in current deliberations and decision making by the Abrolhos Islands Management Advisory Committee.

2) A small amount of survey (field) work is required to establish precisely the timing and locations where commercial (potting, trawling, handlining, aquaculture) and recreational fishing and diving occurs particularly in relation to environmentally sensitive areas of the Abrolhos This information is not available from existing reporting systems such as log books etc. In addition some survey work is necessary to determine and provide general descriptions/ground truth of the various habitat/community types. The results from this field work will facilitate discussion on the scope of the issues to be assessed and methods to be used in long term monitoring programmes.

3) A workshop of community representatives and technical experts (representatives from AIMS, the universities, etc.) is needed to allow the formulation of a dedicated research/monitoring programme that will take into account issues raised by all stakeholders, and the legislated requirements of state and federal governments in relation to ecologically sustainable management.