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Science Background
Taken from the application for funding to the FRDC.
Title: Integrating fishing industry knowledge of fishing grounds
with scientific data on seabed habitats for informed spatial management
and ESD evaluation in the SEF
There is a growing interest within the SEF fishing industry to
become more pro-active on conservation issues. This is due, in part,
to increasing community attention to the effect that fishing, particularly
bottom trawling, can have on complex marine ecosystems and benthic
habitats. This increased attention has resulted in a number of recent
conservation initiatives that are expected to have widespread impact
on the management and operation of fisheries. National initiatives
include Australia’s Oceans Policy, removal of the blanket exemption
given under Schedule 4 of the Wildlife Protection (Regulation of
Exports and Imports) Act to marine species caught and exported by
fisheries, and the Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Conservation
Act. At a more local level the management and sustainability of
fishing is currently being scrutinised under the Great Barrier Reef
Marine Park Act.
An immediate issue for the SEF relates to the changed use of the
Wildlife Protection Act. From 31 December 2001, export of marine
fish and their products will require a permit from Environment Australia,
and the assessment process for this permit involves demonstration
that the fishery is ecologically sustainable. Environment Australia
has distributed the guidelines that they will use to assess the
sustainability of fisheries. These are based on two Principles:
(1) avoiding overfishing of stocks and recovery of overfished stocks,
and (2) minimising impact on the structure, productivity, function
and biological diversity of the ecosystem. Objectives and sub-objectives
are given under each principle.
Against this background, it seems almost certain that the management
of fishing effort by time and spatial restriction will increase
in the SEF. The conservation agencies of the States of New South
Wales and Victoria have already mooted development of closed areas
within State waters, while spatial management of human activities
may be an important component of Regional Management Planning under
the Government’s Ocean’s Policy. The first Regional Management
Plan will be for southeastern Australia and is scheduled for the
end of 2001.
Despite the policy and management impetus to manage marine systems
in a spatial context, the data available to achieve this are unavailable,
except for isolated examples. What is needed are maps of marine
habitat and habitat use, similar to those that drive the spatial
management of terrestrial systems. Our proposal is to map the SEF
using fishing industry information, ‘ground truth’ it
with a field program of physical and photographic sampling, and
supplement it with existing survey data on seabed and water column
habitats.
The fishing industry have considerable knowledge and understanding
of seabed habitats and components of SEF fishery ecosystem which,
when combined with recent and ongoing research results, have the
potential to greatly inform both the environmental assessment of
the fishery, and public understanding about fishing and the fishing
industry. In a recent study of the SEF ecosystem (CSIRO/FRDC 94/040),
Bax and Williams (1999) mapped a section of the SEF continental
shelf seabed and defined seabed habitats in the context of their
role for productivity of the fishery. Fisher’s knowledge of
the seabed landscape and fishery ecology was successfully combined
with survey information to provide additional and unique interpretation
of ecosystem processes.
That study provided detailed maps of a section of continental shelf
seabed in the southeastern SEF. However, the study area of some
24,000 sq km (Wilson’s Promontory in eastern Victoria to Eden
in southern NSW) represents only 11% of the SEF continental shelf,
which is itself only a fraction of the fishery region.
Fishing effort in the SEF has been effectively managed with input
and output controls since the late 1980s, but there is currently
no control over the areas of seabed being fished. While the AFMA
stock assessment process provides information on the target species
(Principle 1 of the Wildlife Protection Act), there is no consolidated
information available to address Principle 2. A step towards mapping
effort has been made through an ARF funded mapping project by BRR
based on positions of trawl shots as reported in the SEF1 logbook.
These maps plot the entire SEF area on a square kilometer basis
assuming that trawls are straight lines between reported start and
end points. However, data cannot be shown where less than 5 vessels
tow through a given square kilometer, and the maps are not interpreted
with respect to habitats. Moreover, the technique may upwardly bias
the area of trawl ground in areas towed by many vessels and under
state trawled area in regions where only few vessels operate.
There is a need for industry to develop a mature relationship with
the National Ocean's Office and Environment Australia, to enable
near-term input to the Regional Marine Planning process and to permit
their seafood products to be exported under the Wildlife Protection
Act. As importantly, industry also holds strong beliefs about the
importance of particular seabed habitats for its continued profitability
(Prince, Baelde and Wright FRDC 71/114).
The process of gathering industry information will enable intensive
one-on-one dialogue about the industry-wide need to respond coherently
to the broader ESD issues that have been catalysed by the Wildlife
Protection Act. A key element of the project is to progress this
dialogue through a series of Industry Workshops. These aim to facilitate
industry policy towards spatial management in the SEF, and will
involve representatives for conservation issues from relevant NGOs.
The project will be involve a team of scientists with a strong
history of liaison with the SEF fishing industry and a history of
working on issues of resource sustainability working closely with
the SEF industry at both peak levels and its grass roots. The project
addresses a stated need of the SEF Research SubCommittee —
"Identification of fishery habitats in the SEF, including industry
information"
Need
The SEF fishing industry, particularly the trawl sector, has a
need to be pro-active in the face of growing community attention
to trawling based on its potential to modify benthic habitat and
threaten biodiversity values. This need is focussed by the timetable
for the regional marine planning process (the end of 2001 for the
SEF region), as well as to meet provisions under Schedule 4 of the
Wildlife Protection (Regulation of Exports and Imports) Act and
the Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act.
Without solid information or a developed industry position regarding
the spatial management of its fishing grounds, the fishing industry
will have minimal ability to engage in this process as active partners.
This project will enable the fishing industry, primarily through
SETFIA and SENTA, to drive a process by which options for spatial
management are developed for their fishery. The project will provide
the process and the context against which spatial management options
can be developed for the SEF and be evaluated scientifically.
The outcomes of this project will have direct relevance to:
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advancing AFMA's legislated aims of sustaining biological production
and economic efficiency
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seeking certification for inclusion on Schedule 4 of the Wildlife
protection Act
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attaining ESD accreditation in the longer term.
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responding to the near-term needs of participating in the process
of developing Environment Australia's South East Regional Marine
Plan
The finely detailed and annotated maps to be generated by this
project will provide a template on which the distribution of fishing
effort and catches can be plotted, and will form the basis of industry
proposals to introduce spatial management to their fishery. Without
these maps and the process supported by this project there is a
risk that uninformed spatial management of fishing effort would
contribute neither to conservation goals nor the fishing industry
and could be to the detriment of both. Moreover, inappropriate spatial
management would be counter-productive to ESD planning for the SEF.
Objectives
1. Proactively and cooperatively develop industry policy in response
to the requirements of the Wildlife Protection Act (especially Principle
2).
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Acquire, collate and map industry (trawl and non-trawl) information
on the spatial extent and use of fishing grounds in the SEF.
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Evaluate and summarise this information in relation to the
Wildlife Protection Act (especially Principle 2) guidelines.
2. Integrate fishing industry knowledge and scientific data to
give quality assured information on linkages between seabed habitats,
biodiversity and fishery production for informed sustainable management
of the SEF and to build broad public understanding.
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Develop deployment equipment to provide an ongoing capacity
to photographically monitor habitats from industry vessels.
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Validate and complement industry information gathered for Objective
1 by ground-truth sampling from industry vessels.
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Consolidate all the information from this project, together
with existing ecological and physical (geological, topographical
and hydrological) data, and provide a draft paper for industry
that addresses relevant elements (primarily Principle 2 of the
Wildlife Protection Act guidelines).
-
Support, through a series of workshops, the development by
industry of spatial management options to protect biodiversity
and fishery production in the SEF based on the information provided
through this project.
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Develop a Public Relations strategy for the project and its
outcomes, including media release kits/releases and supporting
video/ photographic images, collaboratively between SETFIA,
SENTA and the project team.
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