There is a need for a consolidated national report on the status of key wild catch Australian fish stocks, focusing on commercial and recreational target species. One pitfall of guides like the Australia’s Sustainable Seafood Guide is their focus on entire species, without considering differences among stocks within each species. Consequently, a poor status determination for one stock can result in a poor status determination for all stocks of that species regardless of whether or not the other stocks are healthy. Government can avoid this pitfall by clearly articulating the status of individual fish stocks. Australia’s different jurisdictions have demonstrated their capacity to work constructively together to achieve common goals (e.g. joint stock assessments for shared stocks). However, the current differences in scope, depth, terminology and benchmarking in jurisdictionally based Fishery Status Reports make it difficult to readily compare the status of stocks across jurisdictions and build a coherent national status of key species.

The National Fishery Status Reports would not be promoted as an eco-labelling guide but rather as a government produced instrument designed to simplify comparison of the status of key wild capture fish stocks around Australia both within and among jurisdictions. This information would be available for the general public, policy makers and industry to make informed decisions in relation to the actual health of various stocks. The reports would also provide an important and accurate information source for international organisations (e.g. FAO). The process of producing these reports will improve communication between the jurisdictions, leading to a better understanding of the status determinations made by each jurisdiction and how these compare. One of the main outcomes already achieved from the recent jurisdictional planning workshops is the convergence on a common system of benchmarking and terminology for use across jurisdictions.

The Commonwealth HSP requires that stocks be maintained, on average, at a biomass level that produces maximum economic yield (BMEY). In multispecies fisheries, this has been interpreted to be the combination of species biomasses that maximise economic profits for the fishery overall, which may differ substantially from what may be derived in a single species assessment. The HSP requires a set of target reference points for each species consistent with the principle of maximising economic returns from the fishery as a whole to be established. The existence of non-target by-product species affects the optimal yield of the target species (and vice versa), and subsequently their appropriate reference points. There is currently no standard framework to determine target reference points for individual stocks within a multispecies fishery to generate MEY for the fishery as a whole. Simple single species indicators such as the 1.2 BMSY proxy for BMEY may not always be accurate. Similarly, use of reference CPUE rates in cases where data on species are poor is also inappropriate, and is proving problematic. For example, in the SESSF, problems have recently arisen regarding the proposed quotas for Ocean Perch (a by-product species) being incompatible with those for their associated target species (Pink Ling).

The aim of this project is to develop and demonstrate a framework that will assist managers in developing target reference points consistent with the HSP in multispecies fisheries. The project will address both target species and non-target species simultaneously, and will consider indicators for both data rich and data poor species.