Protecting and Sharing Western Australia's Coastal Fish Resources
Executive Summary
The Department of Fisheries believes that the time has come to work towards integrated management of the State's precious coastal and estuarine fish stocks, and consider the broader issue of how these resources can be best managed and shared between competing users.
The principal objective of our charter - that we conserve, develop and share the fish resources of the State for the benefit of present and future generations - demands that we act now to develop a clear fisheries management framework to lead Western Australia into the 21st Century.
WA's rich and diverse marine fish stocks are still in good condition by world standards, but that fortunate situation will change over time if we fail to establish an effective basis for management which can meet the challenges of the next few decades.
The fisheries management framework of the 21st Century must not only be able to manage the level of exploitation by commercial and recreational fisheries, but also provide an agreed basis and process for changes in the way fish and aquatic resources are used and shared by this community.
There is a clear need to counter inevitable pressure on stocks from the impact of a growing population, increasing coastal development and the demands of various key user groups.
Unless we are proactive in dealing with the growing exploitation of fisheries along our State's vast 12,000km coastline, it will be difficult to sustain them for the future.
Future fisheries management must enable a big variety of interest groups - commercial, recreational, conservationist, Aboriginal and the wider community - to plan for the future.
How to protect and share fish stocks and other aquatic resources at the same time is a complex balancing act, with stakeholders demanding to be better informed and more involved in management.
There are also key questions which revolve around the extent to which government intervenes on behalf of the public, and the extent to which the public takes responsibilities for its own activities.
When intervention has been necessary, successive governments have done so with the primary objective of ensuring the sustainability of fisheries in the interests of the whole community, rather than particular groups or sectors.
The direction we take must lead to a fair and equitable allocation of the resource to all major users, and the best way to achieve this could well be to integrate management of the State's coastal fish stocks within one agreed framework.
It would be central to such a strategy to establish target catch shares for the commercial and recreational fishing sectors, and integrate the management of all interest groups.
The Department of Fisheries aims to lead the way towards this resource sharing and management goal, and recognises that it will not be a short journey.
At this early stage our prime concern is to involve the public who, after all, must have a pivotal say in issues of such magnitude, given that our fish stocks are a common property resource. No individual owns them, everybody has a right to feel proprietary about their welfare and use, and the State looks after them on behalf of the community.
So public opinion and debate must be paramount in any new management approach, and Fisheries WA has undertaken this major review to encourage community discussion on a wide range of important proposals and strategies.
This discussion paper - Protecting and Sharing Western Australia's Coastal Fish Resources - the Path to Integrated Management - is bound to attract wide interest from all sectors involved in the use of our marine and estuarine fish stocks.
The discussion paper is intended to provide the historical, social and legal context in which any debate about the allocation of fish resources must occur, and also puts forward a range of proposals on the key issues associated with resource sharing that must be considered in the debate.
Catch sharing and resource allocation issues are examined in detail, and a series of important proposals are flagged along the way. These include managing fish stocks on the basis of six major biogeographic regions - four marine and two inland - covering the State; and establishing a peak Fish Resources Council to set long-term management direction and decide on catch shares and access entitlements.
Funding, too, is a key topic for discussion. Management changes of such dimension cannot be funded from within existing structures, and fresh ideas on alternative financial strategies and new funding sources will be welcome.
Our review puts WA's commercial and recreational fisheries under the microscope and examines how and where they operate. It charts their growth and contribution to the State's economy, and puts in perspective their increasing value and importance, as well as their impact on fish stocks.
The discussion paper also looks at issues such as the effects of population growth; the impact of fishing technology; marine planning and the expansion of marine reserves; fish stocks at risk; and important new marine activities such as aquaculture and charter fishing.
It is crucial for the public to realise that our coastal fish stocks will diminish and the fishing community - both commercial and recreational - will be the big losers if we do not tread the path to a new, integrated style of management.
Without management of the total catch by all sectors, and adequate provision for the conservation of breeding stocks, conflict between user groups over resource shares and access will escalate as the productivity of WA's fisheries decreases.
This discussion paper is presented for public comment and provides an important opportunity for community involvement in the future management and use of our valuable coastal fish resources.
| < Previous | Top |
