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.

The spawning dynamics and early life history are largely unknown for BSC and GMC in NSW, as are spawning areas, sources and sinks, important juvenile nurseries, and the effect of environmental variability on both spawning and recruitment. While this has led to some limitations to management and uncertainty in the past, NSW have recently launched two major management initiatives for the species for which this information is essential: 1) management of commercial BSC and GMC harvest through share-linked catch quota; and 2) fisheries enhancement for BSC and GMC.

In 2017, the Commercial Fisheries Adjustment Program has seen the NSW Government subsidise the investments of many fishing businesses to access catch quota for BSC and GMC. Quota allocation depends on scientifically-based assessment of Total Allowable Catch (TAC). At present the only source of information on which to base TAC is historic catch and effort, but these are highly variable and the mechanistic factors underlying this variation are unclear. The recent NSW Marine Stocking Fishery Management Strategy outlines the development of release programs for both BSC and GMC. Effective implementation of this strategy relies on a thorough knowledge of the requirements of young crabs and the factors affecting their recruitment such that recruitment limitation can be identified and releases targeted to address it (see Taylor, 2017). Through a review of existing work on these species in other states, and consultation with managers and industry, we have identified targeted research questions that will directly enhance the capacity of NSW DPI-Fisheries to design and implement effective harvest management, fishery enhancement and restoration programs for BSC and GMC. The need for this information is especially evident in the attached letters of support from commercial and recreational stakeholders, and the contribution of $250K cash from the NSW Recreational Fishing Saltwater Trust.