There are numerous Australian jurisdictions that have faced and are currently facing management challenges with Snapper stocks in decline. It proposed that a national Snapper workshop is needed to bring together from each jurisdiction fisheries managers, scientists and key stakeholders from the commercial and recreational fishing sectors to:
(1) Communicate findings on Snapper research, gain an insight into the challenges, successes and learnings from management arrangements implemented in each jurisdiction.
(2) Identify a national approach to collaborate and manage a Snapper stock that crosses jurisdictional boundaries
(3) Develop a set of national R&D priorities for Snapper, in particular dealing with the issue of ‘hyperstability’.
(4) Develop a tool kit to support fisheries managers recover Snapper stocks.
The main aim of the workshop is for each jurisdiction to exchange information on Snapper and to ensure that Snapper R&D has a national co-ordinated approach that addresses the challenges being faced, makes the most efficient use of available resources and integrates key stakeholders such as the recreational and commercial fisheries, government and research providers.
Snapper and pearl perch are depleted in Queensland and further reduction in fishing pressure is needed to rebuild stocks back to target levels. The Queensland Government announced actions to improve stocks on 1 Sep 2019 , which followed the announcement that they would also introduce Fishing Aggregation Devices (FADs). Given previous regulatory approaches have been unsuccessful in improving stocks of both species, it is proposed that regulatory changes, complemented by the implementation of action mapping and social marketing, may be more effective.
Social marketing delivers innovative solutions that people value and that support desired outcomes. It draws on behavioural science and a psychology-based understanding of how and why people behave, what motivates them to change and what prevents behaviour change. Work in Australia has documented the use of behavioural incentives to encourage voluntary compliance of recreational fishers as well as testing social norms as a tool to encourage compliance within an experimental recreational fishery setting. This work sets a foundation to apply the approach to Queensland recreational fishing.
The Queensland Government’s announcement that it will invest $1 million in FADs offers an opportunity to change recreational harvesting behaviour. FADs can attract pelagic species increasing the diversity of fish species recreational anglers can target and therefore could shift fishing effort away from more vulnerable demersal species (e.g. snapper and pearl perch).
This project will use a social marketing approach that initially focuses on understanding if and how recreational fishers can be motivated and moved to use FADs as a strategy to reduce snapper and pearl perch fishing. This project will also consider a full range of strategies and behaviours and their relative potential to help reduce snapper and pearl perch recreational harvests.
A key challenge in addressing the issue is the numerous and diverse stakeholders with an interest in recreational fishing – many with conflicting agendas. Approaches that engage a broad cross-section of stakeholders together can identify priorities for action and generate solutions to achieve the outcomes sought.
