Recreational Fisheries: A National Perspective Research by the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences Andy Moore

A national recreational survey National survey in 2000-01 Intermittent state-wide surveys Policy for a more competitive and sustainable fisheries sector – 2013 Conduct regular national recreational fishing surveys No national picture of rec fishing since the NRIFS Some attempts since then have been unsuccessful, and have noted that the lack of progress relates to the complexity of meeting the information needs of different stakeholders over different scales and for different purposes Government’s policy for a more competitive and sustainable fisheries sector contained an objective to undertake regular national surveys that collect catch and fishing effort, social and economic information that can be aggregated to show a national picture of recreational fishing ABARES received funding during 2014-15 to undertake a project to develop a framework for these regular surveys. Important to note the ‘currency’ of the project – engagement and consultation. ABARES Andy Moore National surveys 2

Characteristics of a national survey Repeatable Comparable Cost-effective Trusted by stakeholders Statistically robust Representative ABARES Andy Moore National surveys 3

Previous work How to repeat the NRIFS Consultation with stakeholders Social & economic workshops Determine output specifications Three options Time align jurisdictional surveys Conduct a national survey independently of the jurisdictions Conduct a national social and economic survey ABARES Andy Moore Recfishing Research 4

National survey objectives Determine participation rate Assess expenditure Assess fishers’ attitudes and awareness National and jurisdictional outputs A large success of the project was reaching agreement on national survey objectives. This was done with key stakeholders – jurisdictional fishery managers, rec fishing industry and key experts ABARES Andy Moore National surveys 5

Current project Agree on final survey type Use existing data to determine sample size and coverage Develop output specifications Ready for implementation in 2018 ABARES Andy Moore National surveys 6

Southern bluefin tuna survey Popular recreational species Recreational fishery growing over the last 10 years Important commercial species Listed as conservation dependant Managed through Commission for the Conservation of Southern Bluefin Tuna (CCSBT) ABARES Andy Moore National surveys 7

Need to understand harvest International obligations Account for all forms of mortality Important for resource sharing ABARES Andy Moore National surveys 8

National SBT survey Commencing December 2018 – 1 year On-site and off-site approaches South Australia, Victoria, Tasmania, New South Wales To determine catch and effort Harvest Release ABARES Andy Moore National surveys 9

National outlook World class fisheries science & management Largely open access Very few limitations With great power comes great responsibility ABARES Andy Moore National surveys 10