1. Demand for baitworms presently exceeds supply.
2. The number of worm gathering licences is currently frozen. However potential wormers can set themselves up to earn an apparently good income with only a relatively small capital investment. In combination 2. will probably lead to substantial future pressure for allocation of new worm gathering licences. Without any real knowledge of what might be a sustainable harvest, such allocations should be resisted.
3. No estimates of the recreational beachworm fishery have been made. Anecdotal evidence indicates that this fishery is very substantial and is largely unregulated. No good management protocols can be set in place unless valid estimates of professional and recreational fishing effort have been made and related to the worm populations and their ability to sustain harvesting.
Project number:
1998-132
Project Status:
Completed
Budget expenditure:
$70,469.96
Principal Investigator:
Greg A. Skilleter
Organisation:
University of Queensland (UQ)
Project start/end date:
28 Jun 1998
-
6 Aug 2004
Contact:
FRDC
1. To determine where and why beachworms are located on QLD/N.S.W. surf beaches
2. To determine how the various onuphid species that make up the beachworm fishery are distributed relative to each other and in time
3. To determine if levels of commercial and recreational fishing effort relate to the yield and sustainability of the fishery
4. To make recommendations for management of the fishery based on an evaluation of catch and effort data and research of the biology of the worms
ISBN:
0-646-43638-4
Author:
Dr D. Fielder
Final Report
•
2004-07-16
•
999.90 KB
1998-132-DLD.pdf
To date, very little research has been done on Australian beachworms (Family: Onuphidae), yet recreational fishing is a very popular activity in Australia and a variety of invertebrates, including beachworms, is used for bait. Exploitation of these animals for use as bait may remove considerable numbers of beachworms, especially from the accessible intertidal zone. A semi-regulated professional fishery exists for beachworms in Queensland and New South Wales. However, so far only the New South Wales fishery has been described, so the research reported here was done in order to describe the nature of the fishery for beachworms in Queensland.
