Trawling in waters west of the 200m isobath is managed by AFMA as part of the NWSTF. AFMA's draft Management Plan for the NWSTF does not encompass fishing for finfish, and this omission has been the main impediment to implementing the Plan to date. In order for the Plan to fully cover all fishery resources within the NWSTF area, knowledge of the distribution of demersal scalefish and their relative abundance is urgently needed.

In the waters east of 120oE, a fishery already exists which covers the slope for line and trap fishing, though no formal discussions have been held with the Commonwealth regarding trawling for the same fish resource in that area. Clearly the jurisdictional arrangements need to be reviewed. The capability of the State-managed and the Commonwealth-managed fishing methods to utilise the resources at different depths form part of the basis for this review.

There is a need for information on the type of resource available to fishers, the relative abundance of those species which have either commercial potential or current market acceptance in the Indo-Pacific and the relative catchability of each of the fishing methods (fish trawl vs. fish trap vs. line). Furthermore, there is a need for biological information (eg. longevity, natural mortality, reproductive biology) about the key species available to fishers in order to begin to understand the population dynamics of these species and hence to assess their vulnerability to fishing pressure. The information that will be provided by this project will form the basis for reviewing the current OCS arrangements between the State and the Commonwealth and will assist in developing management plans for the sustainable exploitation of the demersal fish resources of the North West slope.