With an estimated 740,000 people enjoying recreational fishing in Western Australia every year the recreational fishing industry in WA is extremely important social and economic contributor to Western Australia.

The World Recreational Fishing Conference is being held in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada from July 16-20 2017. The conference unites the global recreational fishing community providing an essential forum to discuss current research. Held every three years, this is the only international conference focused solely on recreational fisheries.

The conference theme this year is : Balancing Values - The Future of Recreational Fishing around the World and key issues that will be addressed include:

1. Use and challenges of catch & release fisheries
2. Understanding angler behavior through human dimensions and economics research
3. Fishers driving fish habitat outcomes
4. Genetic and genomic applications towards improved management practices
5. Management strategies, policy development and governance
6. Integrating social-ecological systems for sustaining fisheries
7. Monitoring and assessment of fisheries
8. Social and economic values of fisheries
9. Citizen science
10. Adaptive environmental management of fisheries
11. Reconciling stocking, management and conservation
12. Engagement of fishers in the management process
13. Recreational fisheries as complex adaptive systems
14. The role of recreation in global fisheries
15. Managing wild stock fisheries under uncertainty
16. Expanding fisheries in economies in transition
17. Allocation issues in fisheries: recreational, commercial, aboriginal, subsistence, artisanal

Western Australia faces many of these issues and learning's from the conference will be directly transferable to Western Australia. This project supports the People Development Drivers, Challenges and opportunities outlined in section 2.2 of the WA Research Advisory Committee RD&E Plan. The objectives of this project also address every one of the FRDC's People Development Program priorities.

more information about the conference can be found at http://www. http:/wrfc8.com/