Fisheries management is becoming increasingly complex with increasing numbers of recreational fishers targeting multiple species and switching targets in response to changes in abundance of stocks, and the need to sustain stocks within an ecosystem framework. For fisheries scientists, the changes require training in quantitative skills and the development of experience in computer modelling, while, for fishery managers, the issues of fisheries management are now extended to understanding the social and economic consequences of fishing regulations for recreational fisheries, the behavioural responses of recreational fishers to regulations, and the implications of the spatial distribution and movements of fish and fishers. In particular, RecFishWest has identified a need to communicate better to fishers the implications of recruitment variability, and to understand the effectiveness of alternative fisheries regulations that are proposed to ensure the sustainability of those stocks with high variability in inter-annual recruitment levels.

In common with other countries, fisheries agencies find it difficult to recruit scientists with strong quantitative skills, even from overseas. Development of quantitative skills during postgraduate or postdoctoral studies has been identified as one approach to improving the supply of quantitative scientists, which is a need that must be addressed if Australia is to provide the high-quality research advice that will be needed in the future. The need to develop a simulation tool that will aid communication with recreational fishers and allow exploration of the social and behavioural implications of fishing, recruitment variability and fishing regulations has been identified by RecFishWest. Agent-based models allow investigation of aspects of fisheries at the scale at which individual fishers operate, thereby providing analytical tools assisting in assessing the implications of fishers’ responses to new fishing regulations, a need that will increase as the share of the catch taken by recreational fishers continues to grow.