Publication Date

9-2006

Series Number

158

Publisher

Department of Fisheries, Western Australia

City

Perth

ISBN

1 877098 82 5

ISSN

1035 - 4549

Abstract

The study was undertaken to provide detailed information on blue swimmer crabs in Geographe Bay so that the recreational and commercial fishery issues could be addressed using more accurate data than was previously available. A ministerial decision that banned commercial fishing for blue swimmer crabs in Geographe Bay was made in January 2005 while this study was underway. The intention of this report was to provide a summary of information on crab stocks in the region, not to alter the current management arrangements. This report describes experimental sampling, commercial catch statistics, commercial catch monitoring and surveys of recreational fishers to describe blue swimmer crab stocks in Geographe Bay and their use by the commercial and recreational sectors.

Until January 2005, the Geographe Bay region was the southern most commercial blue swimmer crab fishery in the state. Commercial catches increased from < 2 tonnes annually during 1989 – 1993 to a peak of 17 tonnes in 1997 and remained between 7 – 15 tonnes annually between 1998 and 2002. In 2002, recreational fishers caught 10.24 tonnes of blue swimmer crabs in Geographe Bay and this figure decreased to 7.5 tonnes in 2003. Commercial – recreational catch sharing arrangements implemented in 1999 and again in 2002, including differential size limits for recreational versus commercial fishers, commercial effort restrictions and areas closed to commercial fishing, have been successful in increasing the share of catches taken by the recreational sector from 51% in 1996/97 to 64 – 66% in 2002/03. The fishery is unique in that it is predominantly a winter fishery and is also unusual because sex ratios favor females. It is likely that the fishery is driven by females migrating southward out of the Leschenault Estuary and Koombana Bay. Spawning in Geographe Bay appears to occur mainly in late spring

Number of Pages

40

Keywords

Blue swimmer crab, Geographe Bay, South-west Western Australia, Commercial fishery, Recreational fishing

Disciplines

Aquaculture and Fisheries | Marine Biology | Natural Resources and Conservation | Natural Resources Management and Policy

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