Seafood CRC: Improved understanding of economics in fisheries harvest strategies
Successful adoption of fisheries harvest strategies is benefited by a good understanding of the underlying concepts. Generally, the concept of "sustainability" is well understood by all stakeholders and has been implemented in all state and Commonwealth harvest strategies around Australia. The concept of "Maximum Economic Yield" (MEY) in fisheries harvest strategies, on the other hand, is far less well understood and (as a result?) is much more poorly implemented.
Despite improvements in the assessment and harvest strategy process over the last decade, there
remains a great deal of industry frustration and misunderstanding about how this translates into
management decisions. Having spoken to many industry members during this time, we know that
much (but not all) of this frustration is a direct result of lack of knowledge about assessment
techniques and assumptions, and how these interplay with the harvest strategy. Once they have
acquired this knowledge, Industry members, with their extensive experience on the water, become extremely valuable members of RAGs and MACs and can help improve the assessment and management process and the understanding of other members.
A better understanding of the MEY concept, particularly by the commercial fishing industry is urgently required so there is better support for and implementation of MEY-based harvest strategies.
Final report
Increased understanding amongst the commercial fishing industry of economic considerations in the management of fisheries was considered a high priority by the CRC, who identified a need to get better support for and implementation of harvest strategies based on Maximum Economic Yield. Experience has shown that video is an effective medium for educating the fishing industry, providing the required technical information is at a level that suits the target audience, with imagery of commercial fishing operations to hold the audience’s focus.
This project has produced an educational video, brochure and Power Point presentation that will be distributed widely prior to submission of the Final Report to fishery peak bodies, government departments, educational institutions and environmental NGOs to improve their understanding of fisheries economics. The video is hosted on the YouTube channel developed for FRDC Project 2010-306 “Empowering Industry through Improved Understanding of Stock Assessments and Harvest Strategies“, and the brochure and Power Point are attached as appendices.
