5 results

Tactical Research Fund: an innovative approach to co-management in the Cockburn Sound Blue Swimmer Crab (Portunus armatus) fishery

Project number: 2009-050
Project Status:
Completed
Budget expenditure: $73,000.00
Principal Investigator: Neil O. MacGuffie
Organisation: Western Australian Fishing Industry Council Inc (WAFIC)
Project start/end date: 14 Dec 2009 - 29 Apr 2011
Contact:
FRDC

Need

Crab is the largest single species recreational fishery in Western Australia, providing a quality recreational experience.
Commercially, Blue Swimmer Crabs are a readily available resource that can be sold in existing markets.
Previous recruitment overfishing coupled with a downturn in recruitment caused by changes in environmental conditions resulted in the closure of the fishery in 2007. As the fishery is due to reopen in December 2009 there is a need to discuss alternative management arrangements to prevent further closures, via management plans underpinned by elasticity and the ability to adapt to climatic perturbations.
From an industry perspective this project will emphasize the benefits of allowing fishermen flexibility in harvesting crabs to suit market conditions. The advent of new management arrangements would remove the inherent ‘rush to fish’, a shift towards a quota by numbers system will ultimately encourage fishers to retain larger heavier crabs, increasing the value of the catch by increasing the dollar value per kg, thus, maximising the economic yield of the fishery. Promoting the take of more mature crabs will allow a greater number of individuals to remain in the system and add to the standing and breeding stock of the fishery.
The proposed initiative will encourage the sustainable development of recreational and commercial fishing through fair allocation of resources between users to achieve optimum economic, ecological and social benefits from the use of those resources, sustainability through a triple bottom line approach.

Objectives

1. To produce an economic and ecological sustainable harvest of crabs from Cockburn Sound whilst maintaining social benefits
People
PROJECT NUMBER • 2002-321
PROJECT STATUS:
COMPLETED

Pilot project for a national database on fisheries R&D capacity

The objective of the project, to produce a comprehensive database of research providers in Western Australia, was achieved. Each of the major research institutions has entries, complete with Units within those institutions and the people that make up those Units. This system parallels the FRDC...
ORGANISATION:
Western Australian Fishing Industry Council Inc (WAFIC)
Industry
PROJECT NUMBER • 2012-700
PROJECT STATUS:
COMPLETED

Seafood CRC: Professional Fishing Certificate - A CRC legacy - phase 1 - industry demand

Three hundred fishermen across the majority of West Australian fisheries surveyed to help identify the core competencies considered appropriate for a Professional Fisherman’s Certificate. Fishermen were interviewed in the field and then completed an online survey. Respondents were asked to...
ORGANISATION:
Western Australian Fishing Industry Council Inc (WAFIC)
People
PROJECT NUMBER • 2000-234
PROJECT STATUS:
COMPLETED

National commercial fishing industry response to changes to the USL code

In the drafting of the new national safety standards, ASIC considered it an imperative that the industry's interests should be acknowledged and not dominated by other and perhaps more vocal sectors of the broader maritime industry. ASIC sought therefore to instigate a process that would result in a...
ORGANISATION:
Western Australian Fishing Industry Council Inc (WAFIC)
People
PROJECT NUMBER • 2005-228
PROJECT STATUS:
COMPLETED

A pilot project conducted in the western rock lobster industry, to create a software audit tool for assessing occupational health and safety compliance with industry best practice on board a commercial fishing vessel

The Western Australian Fishing Industry Council has had a comprehensive health and safety code for use in the wild catch fishing industry in place since 1992. The OSH Code (hereafter referred to as the Code) was developed as a result of an increasing fatality and serious incident rate within the...
ORGANISATION:
Western Australian Fishing Industry Council Inc (WAFIC)
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