Australian fisheries are managed by governments to ensure that commercial fishing is undertaken in a sustainable and economically efficient manner. Fisheries management decisions influence the level of catch from a fishery, either directly through setting the total allowable catches that the industry may take or indirectly through restrictions on the number of operators and the equipment they may use. It is therefore important that the impacts of fisheries management decisions can be evaluated in the light of their impact on the fishing industry and on the public.

The relationships between the volume of fish landed and the prices that oper­ators receive are central to considerations of economic efficiency. The commercial value of fisheries is determined by the volume, the species and size composition of catches and the values placed on them at commercial markets. To establish the benefits and costs of fisheries management options, such as reducing the catch in a fishery or changing the composition of catches through introducing gear restrictions, it is desirable to know how industry revenue will be affected by the change.

The objective in the first part of this study is to establish the relationships between prices received by operators and the volume supplied to the market. The analysis is conducted for product landed from the south east fishery, which is a major source of fresh fish for domestic consumption. The fishery is managed under an individual tradable quota system, based on setting of total allowable catches to restrict the commercial harvest. The analysis covered the quota species of the south east fishery which were sold on the Sydney market.

If relationships exist between the quantity of fish produced from the fishery and the prices received by fishing operators, industry revenue will be affected by market factors. For example, if prices received by fishing operators are responsive to changes in volume sold then the impact on revenue of a reduc­tion in total catches will be partly offset by higher prices. Where prices are determined by the catch in the fishery then the economically optimal catch will be lower than the optimal catch where prices are determined indepen­dently, such as by overseas markets.