Recent genetic research carried out as part of the present project has shown there are two regions of genetically different snapper off the Australian east coast, where it was previously believed all snapper were part of a single genetic stock. This article shows new information indicates there is one broad region of genetic similarity from the top of the species’ range in north Queensland extending into southern New South Wales (now referred to as the ‘northern’ genetic stock – coloured blue) and a second, genetically different region is found from southern New South Wales south to Victoria and Tasmania (‘southern’ genetic stock).

Summary of data available for the inter-jurisdictional snapper project. Abbreviations - Comm (Commercial), Rec (Recreational), Chart (Charter), BRUVS (Baited Remote Underwater Video Sampling) ANSA (Australian National Sportfishing Association), FIS (Fishery Independent surveys) “+” after years signifies ongoing program of data collection with no set end date.

Increasing fishing power is a feature of virtually all fisheries around the world.  It is caused by improvements in fishing technologies making it easier to catch fish nowadays compared with earlier times (if stock biomass had not changed over time).  It is common scientific practise for stock assessments to take into account the effect that these changes have had over time.

This report presents the results of the first joint fishery modelling of the east coast snapper stock: informing inter-jurisdictional snapper management in eastern Australia. The project was funded by the Fisheries Research and Development Corporation (FRDC) project 2015-216 for the period 1 July 2015 to 30 June 2018. Research involved the collaboration of fisheries scientists, biologists, managers and stakeholders from New South Wales, Queensland and Victoria. The latest microsatellite genetic techniques explored the stock structure of snapper along Australia’s east coast, showing a two-stock genetic structure, a northern and a southern stock. The project also collated new data on historical snapper catches in both Queensland and New South Wales. Existing data from all jurisdictions were harmonised and used in a snapper simulation model to inform cross-jurisdictional east coast snapper management on the northern stock. Challenges in the work included harmonising data from different jurisdictions and fitting the model to multiple data sets with different trends. Hypothetical management strategies on changes to minimum legal size and total allowable harvest for all fishing sectors and waters were explored as advised by the project steering committee