Western Australia has maintained its global leadership in sustainable fisheries management with 96 per cent of stocks assessed as not being at risk or vulnerable to fishing and more than 90 per cent of the state’s fishery value is from certified fisheries.
The latest State of the Fisheries report for 2022-23 shows Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) certified fisheries including Western Rock Lobster, West Coast Deep Sea Crab, West and South Coast Abalone, Shark Bay Prawn, Exmouth Gulf Prawn, Peel-Harvey Sea Mullet and Blue Swimmer Crab, Pearl Oyster, Octopus and Sea Cucumber continue to support WA’s strong economy and regional communities.
Greenlip Abalone in the Abalone Managed Fishery is the only resource classified as inadequate due to exploitation, and management actions are already in place to assist the
recovery of that stock.
The report also acknowledges the West Coast Demersal Scalefish Resource is operating under a 20-year recovery plan, which is supported by a $10 million State Government package of new measures to help fast track the recovery.
Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development (DPIRD) Chief Fisheries Scientist Dan Gaughan said the lack of a consistent approach to build in the knowledge of
Traditional Owners remained a gap in longer-term fisheries science in WA. “DPIRD’s Aquatic Science and Assessment section now has a dedicated Aboriginal Engagement Science Team to ensure we are open to engaging with Aboriginal people across Western Australia,” Mr Gaughan said.
“I am pleased to announce that in this year’s State of the Fisheries edition we include a section on Aboriginal engagement in aquatic science for the first time.
“We are continually working with all our stakeholders and the broader community to be adaptive, responsive, and innovative to derive updated scientific advice.
“Climate change and climate variability continues to impact fish stocks. We are aiming to explore innovative techniques within the burgeoning field of molecular genetics to better understand how the regional distribution of key fish resources may be impacted, and the resilience of key species to climate change.
“Aligned with this is the need to better evaluate how environmental change impacts the carrying capacity of the various habitat-types across our diverse array of regions.”
The latest annual Status Reports of the Fisheries and Aquatic Resources includes the most recent assessments for each of the aquatic resources within WA’s six bioregions using DPIRD’s Ecosystem Based Fisheries Management approach.
It’s available in DPIRD’s digital library at: https://library.dpird.wa.gov.au/an_sofar/16/