Exploring changes in recreational fishing participation and catch due to COVID-19 – A WA case study

Project number: 2022-001
Project Status:
Current
Budget expenditure: $360,000.00
Principal Investigator: Karina Ryan
Organisation: Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development (DPIRD) Hillarys
Project start/end date: 30 Jun 2022 - 29 Jun 2024
Contact:
FRDC
TAGS
Recreational Fishing
Rac Wa

Need

Robust data is critical to ensure sustainability and demonstrate the social and economic benefits of recreational fisheries. Traditional data collection methods can be cost-prohibitive, especially for fisheries operating across large scales, or those requiring real time information. Challenges associated with data collection have been highlighted during COVID-19, where travel restrictions have changed the dynamics of regional tourism and associated recreational fishing. Increased domestic travel is delivering economic benefits to many regional locations, however, there have been concerns about increased effort and the longer-term impact of increased catches on stock sustainability.

Federal and State Governments have implemented a range of policy responses during COVID-19, with support measures and stimulus packages for businesses, including tourism. Many jurisdictions have implemented measures to assist commercial and recreational fishing sectors, while few jurisdictions have implemented changes to recreational fishing regulations. In Western Australia, recreational fishing rules were revised to address sustainability concerns for valuable stocks of demersal finfish. This policy shift was supported by evidence from ongoing monitoring and stakeholder engagement. Further reviews will be conducted following the current state-wide survey (September 2020–August 2021), which will provide estimates of participation, effort, catch and expenditure in regional Western Australia attributed to local and non-local residents and to recreational fishing.

While intensive survey methods are repeated periodically, the adoption of indicators between these intervals can inform ongoing assessments. Social and economic indicators, such as those obtained from administrative data or record of sales, have the potential to provide rapid assessment of changes in participation, fisher demographics and catches. While benchmarking these data against traditional surveys may be required, there is a need to investigate a range of data sources that could measure change and inform rapid assessments.

Objectives

1. Investigate community indicators that could inform sustainability and policy objectives and a performance assessment framework for recreational fisheries in Western Australia.
2. Assess attitudes among stakeholders regarding perceived confidence in social and economic indicators for recreational fisheries based on case study.
3. Assess the impacts on recreational fishing associated with COVID-19 using the agreed performance assessment framework (and case study).
4. Provide recommendations for future collection of social and economic indicators to inform sustainability and policy objectives for recreational fisheries in Western Australia.

Brochure

Brochure • 2024-02-01 • 890.23 KB
2022-001-booklet.pdf

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Climate resilient wild catch fisheries

Project number: 2021-089
Project Status:
Completed
Budget expenditure: $292,985.00
Principal Investigator: Veronica Papacosta
Organisation: Seafood Industry Australia (SIA)
Project start/end date: 30 Jan 2022 - 29 Sep 2022
Contact:
FRDC
TAGS
Climate Resilience
Climate Mitigation

Need

The need for this project is to activate and engage industry in viable options towards climate resilience by 2030. This includes the need to demonstrate that immediate options exist and are viable and meaningful, while also gaining support for a clear plan to transform the industry and supply chain with support both internally and beyond the sector. The key needs are:

01 | Industry awareness of the problems and solutions around climate change and resilience is below where it needs to be to activate broad transformation. There is little action towards climate resilience (1 player) in comparison to other agricultural sectors.

02 | There will be increasing competition within the protein market to validate and promote sustainable practices and positive contributions to the environment/climate.

03 | Leaders and innovators in the industry are attempting to act in isolation with few resources to support industry and supply chain coordination and acceleration.

04 | Change around the edges that can be achieved by some stakeholders operating alone will not deliver the transformation at a scale or pace that is required to meet growing and broadly felt consumer expectations that indicate demonstrable action on climate change.

05 | There is a surplus of tools, resources and research around climate change and resilience, but to this point, little of that work has been translated into forms fishers find usable and valuable.

06 | There is a need to identify early adopters and innovators in the space to lead new ways operating into the future.

07 | There is an FRDC funded project to undertake a Lifecycle Assessment being concluded early November. This work has been preliminarily identified fuel, transport, and refrigeration as key challenges requiring new solutions/opportunities for industry.

08 | Propulsion and fuel have been identified as key challenges in wild catch fisheries achieving climate resilience and reducing carbon emissions, and will be the focus of this project.

Objectives

1. To understand challenges facing the commercial wild-harvest sector relating to a changing climate
2. To determine opportunities to respond to those challenges, and validate solutions
3. To engage with industry leaders and innovators to explore and validate viable, feasible and scalable options towards climate resilience
4. To demonstrate rapid and practical progress towards climate resilience and elements of SIA’s Our Pledge
5. To build partnerships and relationships with global leaders to enable advancement of prioritised solutions that will enable improved climate resilience

Final report

Authors: Veronica Papacosta Clayton Nelson Tom Cosentino Allen Haroutonian Angus McDonald
Final Report • 2023-12-12 • 8.11 MB
2021-089-DLD.pdf

Summary

This report outlines the impending need for the fishing industry to reduce GHG emissions by 2030. Over 8 months, the project evaluated alternative fuels' potential to cut emissions, recognising challenges in regulatory stimulus and incomplete research. Among numerous options, certain solutions emerged, while others like ammonia and liquid hydrogen faced constraints. The analysis prioritised solutions based on maturity and industry suitability. Economic assessments underscored the significance of fuel prices in shaping viability. The report introduces the "energy transition paradox," emphasising incremental positive steps toward change. Scenarios and roadmaps were crafted, identifying renewable diesel and battery/electric outboards as short-term solutions, while green methanol and emissions capture show promise for the medium term.