A new report from the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences (ABARES) has found that fish stocks that are solely managed by federal government fisheries are not subject to overfishing.
The ABARES Fishery status reports provide an annual, independent assessment of the performance of these fisheries.
The Fishery status reports 2021 indicated Commonwealth fisheries continue to be well-managed, and subject to a range of management and monitoring measures to ensure their sustainability.
“Of the 100 fish stocks assessed, 66 were not overfished and not subject to overfishing,” ABARES acting executive director Dr Jared Greenville said.
“The reports reflect a generally stable trend of stock status, with only eight stocks changing status from last year. The major change this year is that southern bluefin tuna is now considered not overfished as the biomass of the stock has increased. This change is due to the implementation of global management arrangements that have allowed the stock to rebuild.”
While the news is positive, the domestic fisheries are still classified as overfished. The Australian Fisheries Management Authority is working with stakeholders to rebuild these stocks, Greenville said.
“The status reports also show increasing uncertainty for some stocks,” he said.
“Six other stocks in the Coral Sea Fishery and the Southern and Eastern Scalefish and Shark Fishery changed status from not subject to overfishing and/or not overfished to uncertain after reconsideration of available information.”
The reports also look at the economic performance of fisheries managed by the federal government. These fisheries generated $438 million in gross value of production (GVP) in 2019–20, representing 28 per cent of the $1.58 billion GVP of Australia’s total wild-caught fisheries.
For a copy of the report, click here.