113 results

Integrating recreational fishing information into harvest strategies for multi-sector fisheries

Project number: 2019-021
Project Status:
Current
Budget expenditure: $444,676.00
Principal Investigator: Ashley Fowler
Organisation: Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development (NSW)
Project start/end date: 31 Oct 2019 - 31 Oct 2023
Contact:
FRDC
TAGS
Stock Assessment
Software
Resource Sharing
Resource Sharing
Recreational Fishing

Need

Integration of recreational fishing (RF) into harvest strategies (HS) is necessary for many fisheries in Australia, to account for catches that can equal or exceed commercial catch for some key species and to address biological and experiential objectives of the RF sector. Both the Productivity Commission’s report Marine Fisheries and Aquaculture (2016) and the ICES Report from the Working Group Recreational Fishing Surveys (2018) recommend formal integration of RF into stock assessments and harvest strategies. Failure to do so puts sustainable management goals and legislated state and Commonwealth fisheries requirements at risk.

Equitable and quantitative inclusion of RF in harvest strategies is rare. This stems from a traditional focus on the commercial sector and budgetary challenges involved with representatively sampling RF. It is therefore unclear: 1) what types of RF data and monitoring best service stock assessments, (2) which data also track indicators of recreational objectives (often related to the fishing experience), and (3) how to integrate harvest strategy components for multiple sectors. The need to address these knowledge gaps was highlighted by the FRDC priority research call in 2018 - “Integrating recreational fishery data into harvest strategies for multi-sector fisheries in New South Wales”. NSW provides an important test case for addressing issues around RF integration that are faced by most jurisdictions.

Harvest strategy development for multi-sector fisheries requires a transparent and defensible process due to complexities in addressing diverse objectives and apprehension among stakeholder groups. Structured workshops that use easily-understandable, interactive decision support tools and involve independent experts and stakeholder representatives are likely to provide best outcomes. ‘FishPath’ is a leading harvest strategy decision support tool and “bottom up” engagement philosophy that allows experts and stakeholders to interactively contribute to harvest strategy development in a transparent workshop setting. However, it requires additional development in recreational and multi-sector contexts.

Objectives

1. Obtain information on recreational fishing objectives and facilitate improved understanding among recreational fishers of the role of harvest strategies.
2. Identify types of recreational fishing data and monitoring that provide reliable measures of both the biological and experiential performance of fished populations.
3. Interrogate and extend the FishPath decision support software tool to better characterise and integrate recreational fishing information into harvest strategy development for multi-sector fisheries.
4. Develop guidelines and recommendations for the integration of recreational fishing information into harvest strategies for multi-sector fisheries.
5. Develop draft harvest strategies for key multi-sector fisheries using outcomes from Objectives 1-4.

Report

Authors: Fowler AM Chick RC Bolton P Folpp H Harnwell J Lowry M Lyle JM Lynch TP McIlgorm A Nichols R Ochwada-Doyle FA Pepperell J Dowling NA.
Report • 2021-12-15 • 990.17 KB
2019-021 NSW Recreational Fishing Workshops_FRDC interim report_final.pdf

Summary

This interim report provides an update on workshops with recreational fishers, scientists and managers to investigate recreational fishing objectives for three stocks of recreational importance in NSW – Mulloway, Yellowtail Kingfish, and Snapper. The study forms part of a broader research project investigating the integration of recreational fishing into harvest strategies for multi-sector fisheries.
Final Report • 2024-08-20 • 5.66 MB
2019-021-DLD.pdf
Environment
Environment
Adoption
PROJECT NUMBER • 2019-078
PROJECT STATUS:
COMPLETED

Fishing for change: A social marketing approach to reduce the recreational harvest of Snapper and Pearl Perch in Queensland

The ‘Fishing for Change’ project used a social marketing approach that engaged stakeholders to codesign, implement and evaluate solutions to voluntarily change people’s recreational fishing behaviour.
ORGANISATION:
Currie Communications
TAGS
Sustainability
Social Science
Social Science
Recreational Fishing
Rac Qld
SPECIES
Snapper
Pearl Perches
Environment
PROJECT NUMBER • 2017-047
PROJECT STATUS:
COMPLETED

Understanding environmental and fisheries factors causing fluctuations in mud crab and blue swimmer crab fisheries in northern Australia to inform harvest strategies

This project investigated relationships between environmental factors and harvests of crabs in the Gulf of Carpentaria (GoC), northern Australia. Desktop correlative analyses clearly indicated that recent fluctuations in the catches of Giant Mud Crabs in the GoC are most likely driven by...
ORGANISATION:
Department of Primary Industries (QLD)
TAGS
Reproduction
Rac Qld
Rac Nt
Population Dynamics
Oceanography
SPECIES
Blue Swimmer Crab
Mud Crabs
Industry
People
Blank
Environment

A market research-driven and co-management approach to developing an industry strategy for the SA Charter Boat Fishery

Project number: 2018-154
Project Status:
Completed
Budget expenditure: $32,840.00
Principal Investigator: Julian Morison
Organisation: BDO EconSearch
Project start/end date: 10 Jan 2019 - 29 Jun 2019
Contact:
FRDC
TAGS
Stock Assessment
Recreational Fishing
Rac Sa
Policy
Market Opportunities

Need

Industry has highlighted a need to address this declining trend through accessing new opportunities.

While the fishery is a commercial operation offering a recreational fishing platform, it is not explicitly accounted for in the process of assessing recreational or commercial fishery performance.

The need to better understand the needs and wants of the fishery’s client group (recreational fishers) and the capacity of the charter fleet to meet this demand is critical to addressing the continued decline in participation and fishery profitability.

Addressing the reasons for the ongoing decline is important if the industry is to improve its economic performance. The fishery has capacity within its resource shares for growth for a wide range of species including key species such as Snapper and King George whiting.

Notwithstanding this, there is also a need to explore and develop broader experiences for clients on charter operations other than fishing.

Evidence that the project has industry ownership and this application is strongly supported can be found in the attached letter of support from the Surveyed Charter Boat Owners & Operators Association of South Australia (SCBOOASA).

Objectives

1. Conduct a target analysis on clients who have taken a fishing charter in each area incorporating satisfaction levels, total expenditure levels and suggestions for improvements and new experiences.
2. Quantify the economic impact of the industry to different regions based on client expenditure levels
3. Identify client characteristics and attitudes to help enable the industry to understand what is important to their existing clients, boost satisfaction levels, reach more clients and expand the market
4. Assess the current capacity, willingness and desire of the charter boat fishery to meet existing and projected demand, both qualitative and quantitative.

Final report

ISBN: 978-0-646-81132-1
Author: Action Market Research Hudson Howells BDO EconSearch
Final Report • 2019-10-30 • 3.75 MB
2018-154-DLD.pdf

Summary

This project investigated the South Australian Charter Boat Fishery by conducting analyses to identify potential actions for growth to counter the declining level of activity and profitability in the industry.

The SA Charter industry has shown declining in trends in economic returns and participation, highlighted a need to address these declines through accessing new opportunities. To do this a targeted analysis was conducted on potential, current and lapsed Charter Boat clients incorporating satisfaction levels, total expenditure levels and suggestions for improvements and new experiences.

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