Australian Government and industry have many objectives of Australia’s natural resources. Amongst their highest priorities are the sustainable use of Australian resources. Reassuring the public that this is being achieved can be difficult, however, as many of Australia’s resources are poorly known – even 18% of reasonably well known species are of unknown stock status (Georgeson et al 2014). This means that new and developing sectors, attempting to exploit resources in a new way, or targeting species that have not previously been considered main target species can come under considerable stakeholder scrutiny and public debate (as seen in the Small Pelagic Fishery in the last few years). Such situations will not ease under climate change as ecosystem restructuring will mean the mix of target species will need to shift, making the most of new opportunities, if Australian fisheries are to remain sustainable (Fulton and Gorton 2014).

To this end schemes that support responsible fisheries management of developing fisheries or small-scale, data-constrained fisheries are an important new tool needed to achieve Australian objectives for sustainable fisheries. Such a scheme will require the development of management approaches that more effectively incorporate the diverse and potentially conflicting needs and effects across all sectors accessing Australian stocks. It is already understood that management will need to more explicitly acknowledge the role of ecosystem integrity in delivering sustainable stocks and that new multispecies harvesting regimes will be required (Zhou et al 2010, Garcia et al 2012). However, the true form of such harvesting remains uncertain and any approach will need to allow for adaptive learning. Consequently, there is a need to design multispecies harvesting schemes and self-learning adaptive management approaches.

In addition to new approaches a broader set of the management and fisheries science community needs to be at ease with ecosystem oriented tools, such as Ecopath with Ecosim. Training in the latest versions of the software by those most intimately associated with it is an important step in that direction for fisheries science professionals from all jurisdictions.

The proposed project responds to QFRAB Research Priority IV – Improve the relevance and quality of the data collected to underpin effective science based management of Queensland fisheries.

Traditionally fisheries data moved in a single direction, with fishers collecting data that are used by researchers and managers to manage fishers’ activities within sustainable long-term goals. Historically this was a sound system that informed the management of fisheries and enabled the development of suitable management objectives and tools (input and output controls).

A paradigm shift has occurred with contemporary fisheries data being utilised for multiple purposes other than QDAFF core business management and includes conservation objectives (EPBC Act), marine spatial planning, third party accreditation's, impact assessments and resource allocation. Not surprisingly, the quality and relevance of data collected is increasingly being questioned by all stakeholders. Given this notable shift in the interest and demands on fisheries data, it is timely that new and novel data and data collection methods are investigated, and existing systems are reviewed and improved to better meet contemporary needs. Further, increasing distrust of fisheries data by stakeholders is a significant hurdle in monitoring, assessing and managing fisheries. Concerns about the accuracy of commercial logbook data and catch estimates derived from recreational diary and phone surveys persist. Options for empowering all fishery stakeholders in the design of collection methods, data ownership and utility of data beyond core business requirements need to be explored to improve data quality and stewardship, and confidence in assessments/analyses that utilise these data.

Appropriate monitoring strategies and harvest control rules are needed to ensure sustainability and
maximum economic benefit from the coral trout stocks in the Queensland Coral Reef Fin fish Fishery
(CRFFF). This is not an easy accomplishment in a fishery that is as spatially complex as the CRFFF,
and so in order to determine whether monitoring programs and harvest control rules are worth
implementing, it is better to try several techniques on a virtual fishery before doing so in reality. This
can be done by testing alternative procedures in a Management Strategy Evaluation (MSE) framework.
The project will test in an MSE framework the effectiveness of:

1. several potential monitoring and sampling regimes of the coral trout stock, including the existing
Long Term Monitoring Program (LTMP) surveys,

2. different ways of analysing the data collected from a monitoring program, and

3. candidate harvest control rules that translate the perceived state of the fishery into a TAC.

Comparisons of alternative monitoring, analysis and harvest control rules will help DEEDI assess their
cost effectiveness. Lastly, since quota trading was introduced, industry has stressed the fact that the
economic conditions of the fishery have changed substantially, and so an update of economic data is
needed urgently for the evaluation of the above management strategies to be relevant and useful.

The report by McLeay et al. (2002) (“National strategy for the survival of line-caught fish: a review of research and fishery information”) summarises the need for this research as follows:

“The commercial and recreational line fisheries are the most highly participatory of all Australia’s fisheries. They are managed by a complex array of regulations, including size and catch limits, which create a high potential for captured fish to be released. The growing interest of recreational and charter fishers in catch-and-release practices has also increased release rates of line-caught fish. The susceptibility of line-caught fish to post-release mortality (PRM) is largely unknown, and is not taken into account in most current stock assessments”.

Perhaps half of the fish caught by line in Australia are released, for a variety of reasons including minimum legal sizes, bag limits, catch-release philosophy etc. However, we have little idea of how many of these die as a result of hook damage, inappropriate handling, barotrauma or capture stress, nor what effect this source of ‘cryptic’ mortality will have on the long-term sustainability of the various fisheries.

While there is good information on release rates in the recreational line fishing sector there is also a need to test the supposition that the commercial sector catches few undersized fish and also establish any differences between the general recreational community and the charter sector.

To more realistically appreciate the full effect of line fishing on the various species, the released catch needs to be described and quantified, and an attempt made to estimate post-release survival (PRS) rates. Alternative capture methods (hook designs) need to be tested, to determine whether a change in apparatus (via regulation or a Code of Practice) could reduce the catch of undersized fish. Pre-release handling and barotrauma relief procedures need to be evaluated to determine whether any changes may increase survival of fish returned to the water.