Aquafin CRC: feed technology for temperate fish species
BCA - Ecologically sustainable development of the fishery for Patagonian toothfish (Dissostichus eleginoides) around Macquarie Island: population parameters, population assessment and ecological interactions
The Patagonian toothfish fishery is expanding worldwide and it may play a pivotal role in the development of an Australian fishing industry in the Southern Ocean. The recommended TAC for toothfish in other Southern Ocean regions was revised upwards by the 1996 CCAMLR scientific committee. For example, in the CCAMLR area 58.5.2 (primarily the AFZ around Heard and McDonald Islands) a TAC of 3800 metric tonnes of toothfish was set. As a result considerable national and international interest in the fishery is expected.
Given the conservation value of Macquarie Island it is expected that operation of the fishery will be closely scrutinised -- the scrutiny is already clear at the national ( MACSAG, AFMA, DPIE and conservation groups) level. Development of the Macquarie Island fishery provides a great opportunity as a demonstration project to illustrate that fishery development can be achieved while protecting conservation values -- a demonstration of Ecologically Sustainable Development in action. Furthermore, much of what will be learnt will also be relevant to the emerging Heard Island toothfish fishery.
To date little research has been done to establish the basic biological parameters of the toothfish necessary to develop sound management policies. As recognised by both the Macquarie Island Fish Stock Assessment Group and the Sub-Antarctic Ecosystem Assessment Group there is a real need to develop a comprehensive program of research which not only addresses basic biological parameters such as age and stock structure, but also examines the distribution and abundance of this species so that effective management of the fishery can proceed. As the Macquarie Island area is likely to be sensitive to possible ecosystem changes brought about by a developing fishery, there is also a need to understand where toothfish 'fit into' the broader offshore Macquarie Island ecosystem, and likely ecosystem effects.
Final report
Indigenous Fishing Subprogram: Improving access for Indigenous Australians to and involvement in the use and management of Australia's fisheries resource
The need for this project comes from the continuing assertion by ICF that their ongoing relationship (use, management and spiritual associations) with fisheries resources is yet to be sufficiently addressed by various Australian fisheries jurisdictions. While this relationship is recognised in various international instruments and agreements including the FAO Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries Section 7.6.6, the United Nations Declaration on rights of Indigenous Peoples and the UN Convention on Biological Diversity, this recognition hasn't converted to an 'on ground' full realisation in any fisheries jurisdiction. Indigenous participants at the Cairns workshops in 2012 identified a need for further work to be done to address these deficiencies, see FRDC Project 2010/401. Similarly, project 2009/038 documented the concerns of ICF in NSW with the impacts of commercial and recreational fishing on their cultural fishing practices.
There is a need for consistent approaches to the recognition and protection of ICF in fisheries management and governance at various levels of government. Consequently, there is a need to evaluate the current status of fisheries management approaches taken in each jurisdiction to address Indigenous fisheries interests in order to; (i) identify achievements and gaps, (ii) build on recent achievements made in this area (e.g. existent indigenous fisheries strategies, establishment of the IRG and recent FRDC funded research initiatives), (iii) benchmark management approaches in each jurisdiction with national and international best practice.
There is a need to complete the work on developing an Indigenous GCT described by Fletcher et al (2000) using different approaches to collect the relevant data for the GCT so that a risk assessment methodologies can be applied in assessing risks and impacts of nIF on the ICF as part of achieving ESD in Australia.
Final report
This report provides details of the FRDC Project 2014-233 Improving access for Indigenous Australians to and involvement in the use and management of Australia’s fisheries resources. The project was undertaken because Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people continue to assert that their rightful place in the use and management of fisheries resources is yet to reach a level that would enable them to meet their cultural, social and economic needs.
Some key issues underpinning this perception were identified by Indigenous fishers at a national workshop supported by the Fisheries Research and Development Corporation (FRDC) held in Cairns 2011. Two specific issues identified in Cairns were the basis for this project, they included the need to identify barriers and opportunities for Indigenous fisheries within legislation and policy and the need to address non-indigenous impacts on Indigenous fisheries. This project comprised two phases addressing two objectives based on these two issues.
Phase 1 of the project centred on the first objective, to audit as many fisheries related documents (legislation, policy, management strategies and plans) so as to develop a picture of how Indigenous fisheries are addressed within these documents. Phase 2 of the project focussed on the second objective which was to trial a methodology for conducting a risk assessment of the potential impacts of non-indigenous fisheries on Indigenous cultural fishing.
It will take time for the outcomes to have an impact on end users such as fisheries managers. However, there has already been some uptake of information from the project into fisheries decision making spaces. This has been achieved through information from the
audit being provided to a number of governmental reviews and inquiries over the past 3 years. For Indigenous end users’ findings from this section of the project will be communicated through a recently commenced FRDC project 2017-069 in the form of educational content and key messages developed through a new project the FRDC Indigenous Reference Group (IRG) is supporting to commence in 2019 (‘Identify and synthesizing key messages from IRG projects’).From Phase 1 of the project the research team recommends the development of a more comprehensive set of national Indigenous fishing principles to further guide the development, implementation and monitoring of Indigenous fisheries policy across all jurisdictions. The team also recommends the inclusion in all fisheries acts, across all jurisdictions, of an objective that specifically addresses Indigenous cultural fishing, provisions for the establishment of Indigenous fisheries advisory committees, the inclusion of provisions to identify, measure and address impacts of non-indigenous fisheries on Indigenous fisheries and provisions to protect and enhance Traditional Fishing Knowledge (TFK). The research team also recommends a review of the Commonwealth’s ESD guidelines to include a requirement for the assessment of the impacts of non-Indigenous fisheries on Indigenous cultural fishing.
The aim of Phase 2 of this project was to run a series of case study workshops for Indigenous fishing communities to test a methodology for making risk assessments of fisheries that was developed by Fletcher et al 2002. This methodology was used to assess
the potential risks posed by non-indigenous fisheries on Indigenous cultural fisheries.