This project addresses directly a stated need in the QFRAC priorities "Determine safe levels of depletion for broadcast spawners such as sea cucumber, quantifying the effectiveness of the time limited rotational zoning fishing strategy that is currently in place." Currently, a Rotational Harvest Strategy (RHS) is a key harvest strategy to address a perceived risk of localised depletion for the EC beche-de-mer fishery. It was initiated and designed by Industry, but has never been tested. This fishery is a high profile fishery for GBRMPA and has the only fishery species closed in the GBR Marine Park (Black teatfish). Assessing the utility and optimal configuration of the RHS for mitigating localised depletion, reducing risks to overall sustainability and maximising efficiency and profits of this multispecies fishery is of interest to GBRMPA, Qld Fisheries management, other State (NT and WA) and Federal (Coral Sea, Torres Strait) fisheries, and Industry.
Final report
This project evaluated the benefits of a rotational harvest strategy (the Rotational Zoning Scheme - RZS) in the Queensland East Coast Sea Cucumber (Bêche-de-mer) Fishery and found that, in general, the current management arrangements result in a low risk to most fishery species and reduce the risk of localised depletion.
However, the project identified that there are still risks to some highly targeted species such as the Burrowing Blackfish (Actinopyga spinea). There are also important information gaps that should be filled.
Researchers recommended continuing with the current harvest strategy and further strengthening it. They suggested increasing rotational periodicity and a wider spread of fished zones as this is likely to reduce further the risk of localised depletion and improve the overall sustainability of the fishery.
They also recommended filling existing information gaps about species distribution and density and re-assessing these parameters regularly.
More information: Timothy Skewes timskewes@outlook.com
