The Western Rock Octopus fishery has become Australia’s fastest growing fishery, with a 5-year average growth of 50% per annum between 2017 and 2022. Despite this expansion, there are still significant gaps in knowledge and practice that do not allow this fishery to grow and develop in an optimum sustainable and socio-economic manner. This project will fill the information gaps and develop pro-active management and economic policy settings that facilitate a comprehensive development of the fishery to its natural capacity. It meets FRDCs two main outcomes of the 2020-2025 R&D plan; growth for enduring prosperity, best practices and production systems, and also meets Enabling Strategy IV: Building capacity and capability.

A program to direct WRL BBE research over the next four years will increase the strategic focus of research and increase the efficiency of the application and granting process, thus leading to a more rapid implementation of outcomes into the management of the fishery.
Quantitative methods used by DPRID to assess WRL stock and predict recruitment are based on the historical research, and have served the industry well, with current stock levels being extremely healthy and the fishery targeting maximum economic yield. Recently, perceived anomalies in observations and predictions have led to concerns by some within industry that the understanding of the BBE of WRL is not as robust as once thought, and that gaps within our knowledge exist. Members of industry, including investors, fishers, processors and government, all have different views on what research is important, what we currently have a good understanding of, and what information is potentially missing from our current suite of knowledge, in addition to what may be important in the future. Some knowledge gaps may be perceived rather than actual with prior research existing, but has not been disseminated wide-enough, while other gaps will be novel and unknown. There is an expansive back catalogue of research on WRL that currently is unknown to many within the WRL industry and re-iterating this research to industry would aid many in increasing their understanding of the current sustainability of the stock and the value for future investment. There also exists a number of knowledge gaps identified by industry and prioritising these is required. Thus, there is a need to review and collate historical research on WRL and disseminate this in a report for the WRL stakeholders.
There is also a need to strategically align current and future research with contemporary requirements such as addressing information requirements to maintain MSC certification, ecosystem-based fisheries management, the effects of adjacent marine activities (e.g. seismic) and marine parks, and the constantly changing seascape through climate change and extreme events.