Australian Sea Lions (ASL) have been known to interact with the gillnet sector of the Southern and Eastern Scalefish and Shark Fishery (SESSF) for some time but the nature and extent of these interactions have been poorly understood. On 30 June 2010 AFMA implemented the Australian Sea Lion Management Strategy. A component of this strategy requires that observer coverage in the fishery be increased from approx 2.6% to at least 11% in the South Australian gillnet sector of the SESSF. This increased level of monitoring is designed to detect interactions with Australian sea lions and provide an indication of accuracy of predicted level of interactions suggested in the report by Goldsworthy et al (2010). Given the rare nature of the interactions, significant increases in human observation at or above this level are unlikely to be economically sustainable in the longer term and digital monitoring including cameras have been proposed as a viable alternative. Onboard camera monitoring has the potential to improve fishery management outcomes cost effectively.
AFMA is currently undertaking e-monitoring trial featuring onboard cameras in the Eastern Tuna and Billfish Fishery and the Northern Prawn Fishery to assess the capacity of onboard cameras to collect data cost effectively. Early indications from these trials are positive. This project differs from the ETBF as it focuses on an investigation of the equipment to collect a significant proportion of the data currently collected as part of the Independent Scientific Monitoring Program (ISMP) including protected species. In addition the capacity of onboard cameras to capture interactions between fishing operations and Australian sea lions in the Shark gillnet fishery is unknown. The proposed project will be designed to enable a detailed cost benefit analysis of onboard camera monitoring in gillnet and fish trawl fisheries to test this hypothesis.