Mud cockles have been an important resource to the seafood industry, recreational fishers and ecosystem of SA. These species are subject to episodic recruitment that is strongly influenced by the environment. For example, the combination of fishing and adverse environmental conditions at the Section Bank has resulted in PIRSA closing this area to fishing from 2011. As these difficulties could arise in any mud cockle fishery, e.g. a severe mud cockle mortality event occurred during December 2013 in Streaky Bay, there is a strong need to develop the capacity to recover the depleted stocks through reseeding. Section Bank is an ideal location for a case study because it has been closed to commercial and recreational fishing for more than three years.

While marine stock enhancement/restoration programs are variable in success, the approach seems well suited to cockle species, which in many countries are farmed by planting spat into the sandy substrate and harvesting them when they have reached market size. Stock enhancement/restoration also continues to advance with improved policies (e.g. PIRSA F&A Draft Policy for the Release of Aquatic Resources) and the “responsible approach” advocated by Lorenzen et al (2010) and Hart et al (2013) where methodologies are used to ensure that the genetic heterogeneity of natural populations is maintained and that hatchery stock is disease free before release.

Benefit cost analyses have shown very encouraging potential for stock enhancement in pipi and greenlip abalone. For example, a benefit cost ratio of 3.34:1 and a two year investment return were anticipated for pipi reseeding in NSW (Phelps et al 2008). Similar or greater levels of benefit can be predicted for mud cockle stock enhancement in SA by substituting the information for pipi with that for K. rhytiphora based on our findings in FRDC 2009/208 project.