1,234 results

Guidelines for the updated Harvest Strategy Policy

Project number: 2016-234
Project Status:
Completed
Budget expenditure: $665,000.00
Principal Investigator: James Larcombe
Organisation: Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry (DAFF) ABARES
Project start/end date: 30 Jun 2016 - 29 Jun 2017
Contact:
FRDC

Need

The Commonwealth first implemented a Fisheries Harvest Strategy Policy (the policy) in 2007. In 2012 the then Department of Agriculture conducted a review of the policy which found the policy to be effective. The review also concluded that additional policy direction was required in some areas. An updated Harvest Strategy Policy is currently being drafted that builds on the successes of the 2007 policy and addresses the needs identified. Like the 2007 policy, this updated policy will require guidelines for its effective implementation.

In collaboration with experts and a broad range of stakeholders, this project will facilitate the development and delivery of updated guidelines for the updated policy. Every effort will be made to ensure that these new guidelines are as practical as possible and provide genuine guidance for fisheries managers (and the various experts that support fisheries management processes) whose jobs it is to operationalize the directives contained within the updated policy.

See attachment for further detail.

Objectives

1. Delivery of clear, practical guidance for implementation of policy directives by fisheries managers.
2. Address key information needs for implementation of the updated Harvest Strategy Policy
3. See attachment for further detail.

Final report

ISBN: 978-1-76003-158-9
Author: Department of Agriculture and Water Resources 2018
Final Report • 2018-11-21 • 1.37 MB
2016-234-DLD.pdf

Summary

The Commonwealth Fisheries Harvest Strategy Policy (Harvest Strategy Policy) establishes the requirement for developing a harvest strategy in Commonwealth-managed fisheries. Objectives for fishery harvest strategies are prescribed by the Harvest Strategy  Policy, along with the need for assessment and evaluation of performance against those objectives.

These guidelines aim to provide practical assistance in the development of fishery-specific harvest strategies in Commonwealth-managed fisheries that meet  the intent of the Harvest Strategy Policy. The guidelines provide important contextual information to assist interpretation of the Harvest Strategy Policy and to support harvest strategy development and implementation. While the guidelines have made every attempt to cover the latest scientific and economic thinking, there will likely be technical and scientific advancement relevant to harvest strategies during the lifetime of these guidelines. Such advancements should be monitored for their utility in pursuing the objectives and requirements for harvest strategies in Commonwealth-managed fisheries. Throughout the document, examples are provided to illustrate key points or provide practical examples of how to address specific challenges associated with harvest strategy implementation.

Operating in parallel with the Harvest Strategy Policy is the Commonwealth Fisheries Bycatch Policy (the Bycatch Policy). The Australian Government has also developed Guidelines for the Implementation of the Commonwealth Fisheries Bycatch Policy. These two sets of guidelines are intended to be complementary and provide guidance across the full suite of stocks and species interacted with in Commonwealth-managed fisheries.

Chapter 2 of these guidelines elaborates on principles introduced or articulated in  the policy. These include principles of risk–cost–catch (RCC), the use of indicators, performance measures, reference points and harvest control rules (HCR) in harvest strategies, interpretation of the 90% risk criterion, spatial and temporal management, and application of the Harvest Strategy Policy to jointly managed, shared and international stocks.

Chapter 3 of these guidelines focuses on the key elements of categorisation including how to distinguish key commercial stocks from byproduct stocks.

Chapter 4 expands on the requirements for developing harvest strategies in Commonwealth-managed fisheries, including the legislation and policy requirements, the maximum economic yield (MEY) target, operationalising the MEY objective and maintaining risk equivalency across stocks.

Chapter 5 provides guidance on determining limit reference points, including the policy requirements, proxies and alternatives for limit reference points, indicators, ecological risk assessment (ERA), ecological risk management (ERM) and other controls to manage risk.

Chapter 6 discusses aspects of rebuilding overfished stocks, including selecting rebuilding time frames, performance monitoring, recommencing targeted fishing  and reviewing rebuilding strategies.

Chapter 7 explains concepts of variability, regime shift and climate change and applying these concepts to harvest strategy design.

Chapter 8 provides guidance on performance assessment and reporting, including technical evaluation of harvest strategies, collection and maintenance of records,  the role of fishery management strategies and reporting requirements.

Chapter 9 discusses implementation and review and Chapter 10 provides a number of examples that demonstrate how harvest strategies or elements of harvest strategies may be developed and implemented across different fisheries and stocks.

Environment
PROJECT NUMBER • 2008-064
PROJECT STATUS:
COMPLETED

Tactical Research Fund: Management Strategy Evaluation (MSE) of the harvest strategy for the Small Pelagic Fishery

In 2008, the Australian Fisheries Management Authority (AFMA) developed a harvest strategy for the Commonwealth’s Small Pelagic Fishery (SPF) (AFMA 2008) in accordance with the Commonwealth Fisheries Harvest Strategy Policy (DAFF 2007). Before its completion, an independent review was conducted...
ORGANISATION:
Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry (DAFF) ABARES

Tactical Research Fund: Developing a robust new empirically based harvest strategy for Gummy Shark

Project number: 2009-066
Project Status:
Completed
Budget expenditure: $46,250.00
Principal Investigator: Jeremy D. Prince
Organisation: Biospherics Pty Ltd
Project start/end date: 31 Jan 2010 - 29 Nov 2010
Contact:
FRDC

Need

The GVP of the gummy shark fishery is approximately $13 million comprising 15-20% of the SESSF. The fishery has a history of stable catches which successive analyses show is due to stable recruitment since the targeted fishery began in the early 1970s. Little research has been conducted on gummy sharks because its stability has made it difficult to justify. However, the fishery displays a number of unusual, and poorly understood dynamics which conflict with standard stock assessment assumptions making estimates of adult biomass highly uncertain. The adoption of the Commonwealth Harvest Strategy Policy (HSP) mandating managing to a default 48% of virgin biomass places the gummy shark fishery in a difficult position. Its quantitative assessment estimates adult biomass to be around 40% (albeit arbitrarily). So despite catch rates, effort and body size at 1970s levels, and all analyses showing stable virgin recruitment, applied literally to unreliable estimates of adult biomass, the HSP will necessitate a >30% reduction in the TAC and result in an unwarranted 5-7% loss of GVP to the SESSF. There is also growing public concern at the general unsustainability of most shark fisheries and it can be predicted that the gummy shark fishery will be subject to increasingly strident demands to prove its sustainability.

In this policy environment the existing stock assessment, with its acknowledged weaknesses is a liability. The need is to fundamentally redesign and redevelop the harvest strategy for gummy shark explicitly accounting for its unusual dynamics. This new approach needs to be based on empirical indicators of the fishery (catch, effort, cpue, size/age structure) which have allowed recruitment trends to be robustly estimated, rather than unreliably modeled trends in adult biomass. Importantly this new empirical approach needs to be justified with robust science so that this fishery can be distinguished from unsustainable shark fisheries.

Objectives

1. Develop a new harvest strategy for gummy shark fishery based on empirical indicators derived from simple data collected from the fishery.
2. Synthesize existing fisheries and biological data pertaining to the new harvest strategy and document the scientific rationale for the new harvest strategy.
3. Identify critical gaps in information needed to support the new approach and outline and scope the data collection systems, biological research and modelling studies needed to fill the critical gaps identified.

Final report

ISBN: 978-0-9804479-2-7
Author: Jeremy Prince
Environment
PROJECT NUMBER • 2013-028
PROJECT STATUS:
COMPLETED

Review and update harvest strategy settings for the Commonwealth small pelagic fishery

This study undertook ecosystem and population modelling to evaluate and provide advice on the reference points (e.g. biomass depletion levels) and settings (e.g. exploitation rates) for the four main target species in the harvest strategy of the Commonwealth Small Pelagic Fishery (SPF) – Jack...
ORGANISATION:
CSIRO Oceans and Atmosphere Hobart
Industry
Industry
Environment
Environment
PROJECT NUMBER • 2012-200
PROJECT STATUS:
COMPLETED

Evaluating rotational harvest strategies for sea cucumber fisheries

This project evaluated the benefits of a rotational harvest strategy (the Rotational Zoning Scheme - RZS) in the Queensland East Coast Sea Cucumber (Bêche-de-mer) Fishery and found that, in general, the current management arrangements result in a low risk to most fishery species and reduce the...
ORGANISATION:
CSIRO Oceans and Atmosphere Hobart
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