On behalf of the West Coast & Gascoyne Management Planning Panel, I am pleased to provide you with the reports from the panel: Proposed Management Arrangements for the West Coast Commercial Wetline Fishery and Proposed Management Arrangements for the Gascoyne Commercial Wetline Fishery.
FOREWORD
SUMMARY OF PROPOSALS
Boats operating under this arrangement should be prohibited from landing demersal species targeted in the Gascoyne bottom squid fishery. This figure should be identified separately from the commercial target catch set for the Gascoyne demersal scallop fishery.
REVIEW PROCESS
M AKING A S UBMISSION
M ANAGEMENT P LANNING P ANEL – T ERMS OF R EFERENCE
M ANAGEMENT P LANNING P ANEL ( THE P ANEL ) M EMBERSHIP
BACKGROUND
- W HAT IS ‘W ETLINING ’?
- T YPES OF ‘ WETLINING ’
- P ROFILE OF DEMERSAL LINE FISHING ACTIVITY IN THE G ASCOYNE
- K EY I SSUES FOR M ANAGEMENT
- Status of Demersal Scalefish Stocks
- Shark Bay Snapper Managed Fishery
The oceanic pink snapper stock in the Gascoyne region is currently considered overexploited. Wetliners operate both in the inner shelf areas of the fishery and, more recently, in the deeper water targeting goldband snapper.
PROPOSED GASCOYNE DEMERSAL WETLINE FISHERY
O BJECTIVES FOR M ANAGEMENT
M ANAGEMENT OPTIONS
While this scheme has introduced adequate management for shellfish within the snapper managed fishery area, it does not address the problem of pink snapper mortality outside SBSMF boundaries. Introducing an outer boundary to the existing snapper fishery to separate the management of the pink snapper fishery from the outer shelf goldband snapper fishery. The panel felt that this option did not adequately address the sustainability issues surrounding the pink snapper stocks.
Pink snapper is found in waters deeper than 150m and in fact this option significantly reduces the area of management of the stock. Pink snapper deaths will be from outside the existing SBSMF boundaries and deep water areas.
B OUNDARIES OF THE G ASCOYNE BIOREGION
Z ONES
F ISHING C ONTROLS
The Panel believed that an ITE system alone could not afford the level of protection required to rebuild pink snapper stocks. Whichever expires first, the pink snapper quota or the total number of days will trigger the end of the fishery. The Panel considered that in the longer term, once pink snapper stocks have recovered, further consideration should be given to incorporating pink snapper into the ITE system and abolishing the pink snapper quota system.
The panel believed that a key requirement of the new plan should be that all operators in the Gascoyne Demersal Shellfish Fishery have quotas for pink snappers so that all caught pink snappers are cleared of the TACC. The panel believed that this scheme should be extended to the entire Gascoyne region and that no operator should be allowed to fish in the Gascoyne Demersal Scalefish fishery unless it has an inexhaustible quota for pink snappers.
S ETTING THE TACC FOR P INK S NAPPER
The Minister has already implemented this requirement within the waters of the SBSMF (ie no wetland angling in the waters of the SBSMF unless you are holding a minimum unit catch of pink snapper quota).
I NITIAL CALCULATION OF EFFORT UNITS ( BOAT FISHING DAYS )
For example, catch rates for snapper MFL holders are highest during the peak pink snapper season in June and July when the pink snapper congregate. Wetliners that do not target pink snapper catch an average of 140 kg of scalefish per day in the inner shelf zone. For example, the Research Division has calculated that it takes an average of 2300 outer peak boat fishing days to take 400 tonnes of pink snapper from the inner shelf zone (400 tonnes of pink snapper is representative of the sustainable level of catch for the region once the share recovers from its current lower level has).
Alternatively, if all fishermen chose to operate in the off-peak pink snapper period, they would be taking more than the sustainable yield of the 'other' species. Anglers targeting golden snapper offshore also catch a mix of pink snapper and other species (Figure 3).
O NGOING REVIEW OF EFFORT DAYS
The Panel therefore believed that the management of the outer zone should be based on effort days calculated on the basis of the number of days it takes to catch 100 tonnes of goldband snapper. The capture of 'other' demersal species caught incidentally would be accounted for within the effort allocation of the goldband snapper.
N OMINATION TO FISH
M INIMUM UNIT HOLDINGS
The panel noted that application fees charged by the department not only pay for licensing services, but also for any policy, legal, regional or financial services required to process the application and maintain the registry and departmental records. The Panel finds that the costs associated with applications are reasonable in terms of covering the Department's costs should the resulting criteria for access to and allocation of units in the fishery be overly burdensome to operators in terms of transfer fees (ie catch criteria are not set) , then the ministry should revise its licensing policy. A minimum stock of pink snapper units (in accordance with the level set at the time of implementation) is required to be eligible to operate in the Gascoyne demersal shellfish fishery.
V ESSEL M ONITORING S YSTEM
Currently, the cost of sending position reports to the fisheries monitoring station and receiving messages is covered by the Department of Fisheries. Costs arising from communication with other parties are borne by the vessel operator. All costs of technical repair of the unit are borne by the operator of the vessel.
The VMS is currently used in the northern demersal fishery, the Pilbara trap fishery, the Pilbara trawl fishery, the Shark Bay shrimp fishery, the Shark Bay scallop fishery, the Exmouth Bay shrimp fishery, the Kimberley shrimp fishery and the islands Abrolhos and in the Midwest trawl fishery. Those fishermen who must use it also consider it an important business management tool.
P ERMITTED FISHING METHODS
The panel believed that only the type and quantity of fishing gear should be explicitly addressed in the management arrangements, and that area closures and seasonal controls should be an option for the Chief Executive, as in other Western Australian fisheries, should the need arise. to prevent local depletion of stocks or to support key sustainability controls. In 2001, 77% of the catch of wetline scale in the Gascoyne was taken by handline and 11% by dropline. It was also suggested that for economic viability a minimum of 3 handlines and 3 droplines would be required, but provision should also be made for additional spare equipment to cover breaks/losses.
In practice, however, the council recognized that large numbers of hooks are generally only used in deep water, where the target species may be at different heights in the water column. A hand line is a fishing line attached to a boat, weighted at one end and having no more than the prescribed number of hooks attached.
T HE TAKE OF SHARKS
A dropline is a fishing line with a maximum prescribed number of hooks attached and, when used for fishing, is anchored by a weight attached to. The maximum number of hooks (or groups of hooks) allowed on any hand line or line. Recently, there has been a shift in the fishery from taking newborns to adults, which has raised serious concerns about sustainability.
While these issues will be addressed through specific shark fishery management processes, given these sustainability concerns, the Panel does not believe it is appropriate to allow the targeting of sharks in the league fishery. This can be easily addressed by not allowing the use of metal tracks on fishing lines.
P INK S NAPPER S IZE L IMIT
P ROCESSING AT SEA
GASCOYNE INSHORE NET FISHERY
- P ROFILE OF G ASCOYNE INSHORE FISHING ACTIVITY
- S TATUS OF I NSHORE STOCKS
- M ANAGEMENT O PTIONS
- P ROPOSED MANAGEMENT FRAMEWORK
In addition, the Council recommended that the Commercial Access Council (CAP) consider generous access criteria for entry into the coastal seine fishery, recognizing that participation and catch rates have historically been low. The Expert Panel considers that the simplest and most cost-effective management arrangement for the Gascoyne inshore fishery is a limited entry system with gear steering. Given that the number of boats participating in this fishery has been fairly low and constant for many years, the Committee believes that entry criteria for the fishery should take into account any significant past uses.
The Panel considered an outer limit for the inshore net fishery, but did not deem it necessary because defining the fishery as a gear-based fishery would automatically distinguish it from inshore and other fisheries. The Panel considered the need for a limit on the size of boats in the inshore fishery, but concluded that even this would be an unnecessary restriction, at this stage, if there were gear limits.
SCALEFISH TAKE BY COMMERCIAL FISHERS WITHOUT ACCESS
- S ETTING AN INDIVIDUAL LIMIT FOR THE NON - COMMERCIAL CATCH
- Considerations
- S ETTING A TARGET CATCH FOR NON - COMMERCIAL USE
- C ATCH R EPORTING
- F
The Panel adopted the term 'non-commercial' catch to describe any fishing for personal use by commercial fishermen operating outside the managed Gascoyne ground squid fishery. The Panel recognized that such 'non-commercial' catch is currently caught by the commercial sector (whether for personal use or for small-scale sales). After considerable discussion, the Panel proposed that the non-commercial limit should initially be set at a level equivalent to the current recreational limits.
For example, it is not clear how much of the 'non-commercial' catch is reported on catch returns. It is therefore proposed that both pectoral fins should be removed from all fish taken as non-commercial catch.
APPENDICES
G LOSSARY
D ETAILS OF KEY ‘ INSHORE ’ AND ‘ OFFSHORE ’ SPECIES AS REPRESENTED IN F IGURES 2, 3
C ONSULTATION PROCESS
A letter dated 26 September 2003 to all peak industry associations, including professional fishing associations, explaining the review and inviting initial written comments on matters they feel the panel should consider as part of the review. In early October 2003, posters about the review were put up in all regional and district offices of the Department, as well as at major wetfish processing companies, using the same text as in the newspaper advertisements. Also, the same posters will be displayed at meetings of the annual rock lobster coastal tour the week of Oct. 13.
On 8 October 2003, the same letter as in the letter of 26 September to industry bodies was sent to all FBL holders. In February 2004, the Commercial Access Panel provided an opportunity for interested associations and individuals to provide the Panel with their views on issues such as access and allocation.
I NITIAL SUBMISSIONS
Attached is a summary of the key issues raised relevant to the West Coast & Gascoyne Management Planning Panel. 50% of the wet line access given to the rock lobster fleet should be distributed evenly among the entire fleet, with the remaining 50% weighted to those with a history. 12 Report of the Rock Lobster Industry Advisory Committee to the Honorable Minister of Fisheries, 24 September 1987.
59 Proceedings of the charter boat management workshop (held as part of the 1st National Fisheries Managers' Conference). 82 The impact of the new management package on smaller operators in the western rock lobster fishery R. 103 Future management of the aquatic charter industry in Western Australia by the tour operators fishing working group (September 1997).
A discussion paper prepared by Kevin Donohue on behalf of the Rock Lobster Industry Advisory Committee.
