History of Australia's South East Fishery: a scientist's perspective

Abstract

The South East Fishery is one of Australia’s oldest fisheries. Early research on this trawl fishery centred on tiger flathead, the major target species. In the 1970s, the Federal Government actively encouraged fishery development and funded several trawl surveys. Profitable catch rates and optimistic assessments of resource size caused a rapid expansion of the trawl fleet. Separate jurisdictions hampered strategic approaches to SEF-wide research until 1978. Most SEF research in the mid 1960s to mid 1980s was conducted by State fisheries agencies, but federal involvement increased thereafter. A management shift in 1992 to Individual Transferable Quotas saw stock assessment become the major research priority. Industry involvement in the stock assessment process has increased markedly over the past decade and communication between scientists, managers and industry has improved. Predictive models are still limited by poor biological data for most quota species. Stock assessment uncertainty necessitates the increasing use of risk assessments and management strategy evaluation. Assessment scientists are frustrated by limited resources for research and the perceived reluctance of managers to adopt more precautionary approaches to uncertainty. Since ITQ management, fishing effort has risen significantly and concerns have been expressed about the stock status of several SEF species. Recent federal environmental legislation is now directing more attention towards effects of fishing and resource sustainability issues.