Identifying biological stocks of Silver Trevally and Ocean Jackets for assessment and management
Utilisation of boat ramp cameras to estimate recreational fishing catch and effort in key Victorian fisheries
There is no current information on total recreational fishing effort or landings for Victorian fisheries and therefore no continuous time series on these variables, as is the case in most jurisdictions. This represent a key knowledge gap, and hence risk, for fisheries sustainability in the state and has resulted in several fisheries (i.e. those with significant recreational catch) being assessed as ‘Undefined’ in the most recent SAFS round.
In addition to the above, the Victorian Government has brought out several bay and inlet fisheries over the last two decades, meaning recreational catch is the most significant harvest component for most species/stocks. This also means that there is no longer commercial logbook data being obtained on which to base assessment of these species/stocks. As such, having recreational catch and effort information will enable more sophisticated population dynamic stock assessment models to be used for assessment purposes. Victoria possesses such a model that is parameterised for the Western Victorian Snapper Stock (WVSS), complete with management strategy evaluation, that cannot be used to inform decision making at present because the landings from the largest fleet (i.e. boat based recreational fishers) are currently unknown.
Recreational catch and effort information will be used for ongoing stock assessment to inform management advice to inform the following immediate, direct priorities: 1) WVSS harvest strategy, 2) rebuilding of the Gippsland Lakes black bream stock, 3) Corner Inlet Management Plan, and 4) assessment of the eastern Victorian snapper stock.
Investing in our future: stock assessment and the next generation
Stock Assessment remains a key component of fisheries management. The pool of Australian scientists that practice in this field is well respected globally. However, this community is generally dispersed, both in terms of organisational structure and geography. Opportunities to share skills and common issues on a regular basis, including discussions on new developments in the field, are often lacking. Previous projects on stock assessors’ use of bespoke models versus packages have shown that lack of knowledge of available off-the-shelf packages and their specifications was a key roadblock to adoption of these methods. The new Stock Assessment Toolbox web-site (toolbox.frdc.com.au) goes some way to address this issue by providing a single repository for globally developed packages. Another barrier was knowledge on how to use these packages, which was partially addressed through subsequent courses on data-limited methods and the Stock Synthesis assessment framework. Although these incorporated advances in the field, there is still a large gap in terms of adoption – not only of packages but of new techniques, sharing our own advances with the world and vice versa. There is a need to understand the influencers (both human and in terms of scientific practices) in this field, both in Australia, and from the international world into Australia. This requires bringing past projects together and adding new skills to fisheries assessors to facilitate and further a strong sense of connection and a community of practice within the field, and with other related fields. This work is aimed at helping assessors gain and share skill and knowledge amongst each other through understanding their impediments and drivers. The project will create a roadmap for the next generation of assessors and methods.