Management
measures for the recreational, charter and commercial sectors
Following extensive community and industry consultation new
management changes have been introduced to boost the recovery of demersal
scalefish stocks.
The previous two-month demersal closure has been extended to a total of six months for recreational fishers in the West Coast Bioregion from Kalbarri to Augusta.
The closure period
has been significantly reduced from the initial eight or nine-month proposal,
following consultation with recreational fishers.
The open seasons
have been timed to allow people to catch these prized fish during all school
holiday periods.
Catching demersal scalefish will
be prohibited* from:
- 1
February to 31 March (inclusive);
- 1
August to the beginning of the September/October school holidays; and
- end of the September/October school holidays to 15 December (inclusive).
*Note - this does not apply to charter or land-based recreational line fishers who can now fish all year round.
Recreational fishers can continue to catch non-demersal scalefish species during the closures.
The commercial sector has had its available fishing hours
in the West Coast Demersal Scalefish Fishery (line fishery) reduced to achieve
a 50 per cent cut in total allowable catch.
Commercial fishing will remain closed across the Perth metropolitan coast, from Lancelin to south of Mandurah.
For charter operators, a quota system (tags) will be
introduced with specific limits on the number of demersal scalefish that can be
kept each year.
Recovery will be supported by a range of new measures,
including a boat limit of four demersal scalefish per vessel for recreational
fishers, expanded spawning protections and gear limits.
New rules came into effect for recreational
fishers from 1 February 2023.
Changes for commercial and charter fishers will align with licence
renewal periods. Changes for the commercial sector came into effect on 1
January 2023 and for the charter sector will come in on 1 July 2023.
FAQ
Management changes summary
29 March media release
Investment in recovery
The McGowan Government is further boosting sustainability by investing
$10 million across a host of supporting measures. Key initiatives include:
- a targeted, voluntary buyback of commercial
fishing licenses;
- enhanced
monitoring and research including digital catch reporting;
- expanding the
juvenile pink snapper restocking program;
- expanding the
State-wide Fish Aggregating Device (FAD) program;
- a support
package for charter operators to diversify tourism experiences; and
- an expanded education and awareness program.
Next steps
Management changes for recreational fishers came into effect from 1 February 2023.
The implementation of management changes for the
commercial sector and charter fishery will align with licence renewal periods.
Changes for the commercial sector came into effect on 1 January 2023 and
for the charter sector will come into effect on 1 July 2023.
The McGowan Government is undertaking an
extensive education campaign to inform fishers and the wider community of the
rule changes and how they are being introduced.
The Department of
Primary Industries and Regional Development will monitor the impact of the new
management changes on stock recovery including continuing to monitoring fishing
mortality for all sectors annually and finalising another stock assessment at
the end of 2023.
A 20-year recovery plan for the West Coast Demersal Scalefish Resource from Kalbarri to Augusta has been in place since 2010, after a period of overfishing in the early 2000s, to ensure there are stocks of these iconic fish for the future.
While previous management arrangements protected demersal scalefish stocks from declining any further, new measures were needed to boost the recovery effort and enable stocks of these important fish to recover to sustainable levels by 2030.
The need for these measures followed the release of the 2021 scientific stock assessment of pink snapper and dhufish, two key demersal indicator species, and recovery milestones set in the West Coast Demersal Scalefish Resource Harvest Strategy.
The stock assessment showed the rate of recovery was not fast enough to meet 2030 targets, and there continued to be a lack of older dhufish and pink snapper in the population, which is important as these are the breeding fish, needed to replenish stocks.
It is vitally important that we recover the resource by 2030 as a prolonged recovery timeframe increases the risk of further decline in stocks, particularly if we experience prolonged periods of low breeding success.
For more West Coast Demersal information:
FAQs, which explain the harvest strategy, how it was developed, its milestones, how we monitor and measure the fish stock, current and future management are also available.
Other resources:
Catch care guide
Understanding the science
Shark depredation science update