The western rock lobster fishery is to be one of the first of Western Australia’s fisheries to move to an integrated fisheries management (IFM) approach. Fundamental to this approach is the allocation of catch shares to the commercial and recreational fishing sectors and the implementation of appropriate controls to ensure that these catch shares are not exceeded. Although the commercial fishery has been the subject of much study, no dynamic models of the impact on the rock lobster fishery of recreational fishing effort have been developed. The only models that exist are empirical, statistical models that describe the catch and effort that are likely to be experienced following the specific levels of puerulus settlement that were recorded. To ensure that integrated fisheries management of the western rock lobster fishery is successful, there is an urgent need to develop a conventional fisheries model to describe the relationships between recreational and commercial catches and recreational fishing effort, particularly in the nearshore region where recreational fishing effort is concentrated. Knowledge of such relationships is essential if the response of catch shares to controls on recreational effort is to be predicted. The proposed study is intended as a pilot study to develop a basic model of the nearshore commercial and recreational fishery in several specific locations for use in the development of an IFM approach for the western rock lobster fishery and to identify more clearly the framework of a more detailed model of the fishery that will be required in the future to support IFM.

For FRDC to further investment into the fisheries data space, it must first understand industry needs as well as concerns. It is hoped that this workshop will devlop a way forward for FRDC in the data-space, informing a plan that enables both industry and commercial entities to benefit.