Full Title
Effectiveness and social acceptability of fishery management strategies for sustaining target species with different reproductive strategies
Student
Sylvia Zulowski
Supervisors
Robyn Watts and Allan Curtis (Charles Sturt University)
Funding Body
Charles Sturt University
Duration
May 2007 - May 2010
Outcomes
PhD
Summary
Fisheries management decisions should be based on sound information including fish biology and ecology, fishing activity and catches, and the social and economic values of recreational fishing. In Australia, angling regulations currently aim to ensure ‘healthy and sustainable fisheries for future generations’. They generally include minimum size limits to allow individuals to reach their breeding cycle; maximum size limits to protect the cohorts that contribute most to population breeding success; bag limits, to ensure the species is not over fished; and season closures, to protect reproductive females.
However, with numbers of native freshwater species still declining, there is still much debate between managers, fishers and scientists as to the ‘effectiveness’ of the current fishing regulations and how much ecological, biological and local knowledge or political ‘correctness’ actually underpins them. Questions are also posed regarding how well the current regulations are suited to the reproductive strategies of individual species and to changing environmental conditions such as drought and climate change.
This project will examine the ecological relevance and effectiveness of protective measures, and their social and management acceptability. It will link available management strategies with species ecology to assess which approach is optimal for maintaining the spawner biomass to maintain recruitment at adequate levels. It will also examine adapting regulations to changing environmental conditions such as drought and climate change. The project will have the added concept of social acceptability of these strategies from the fishing community as well as the objectives and political sensitivities from a fishery management perspective.
This will be achieved through gathering and modelling data from ecological, social and management systems to provide an optimal knowledge base for fisheries management decisions. The application to fishery management will be the development and application of fishing regulations based on the biology and ecology of the species, population models, associated monitoring, management objectives, local knowledge, environmental conditions, Flora and Fauna Guarantee Act 1988 and the Fisheries Regulations, to determine sustainable levels of recreational fishing and ensure that angling poses no significant threat to Murray Crayfish populations across their geographic ranges. The acceptance of the regulations by the angling community will also be investigated.
