Publication Date

11-2014

Series Number

266

ISSN

0819-4327

Publisher

Department of Fisheries, Western Australia

City

Perth

Abstract

Bycatch is described as the part of the catch which is returned to the sea (usually referred to as non-retained or discarded) either because it has no commercial value or because legislative requirements preclude it being retained. Thus, this Bycatch Action Plan (BAP) includes unmarketable finfish and invertebrate species, along with endangered, threatened and protected (ETP) species, such as marine mammals, reptiles and some elasmobranchs.

It is Government policy to minimise bycatch in all commercial fisheries. This BAP details a program of actions to address bycatch issues in the Exmouth Gulf Prawn Managed Fishery (EGPMF), in accordance with the EGPMF Harvest Strategy 2014-2019. The focus of this BAP is on developing management responses to ecological risks associated with the fishery and developing management measures to minimise fishery interactions with species listed under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC Act, i.e. ETP species). This will be an ongoing process that will be reviewed at least every five years. Discarding of target species will be broadly approached through monitoring discarding rates.

The EGPMF is currently pursuing third party certification against the Marine Stewardship Council's (MSC) standards. In order to achieve these high standards, the fishery will need to demonstrate how it will address bycatch issues.

This BAP should be read in conjunction with the EGPMF Harvest Strategy 2014-2019. The aim of this plan is to:

* Develop and implement cost-effective strategies to pursue continual improvement in reducing bycatch;

* Review relative changes in bycatch due to bycatch mitigation and extend information on best practice to industry;

* Develop measures to further reduce interactions with, or impacts on, ETP species;

* Respond to adverse impact on Exmouth Gulf ecology from prawn fishing activity; and

* Develop measures to better utilize what would otherwise be discarded.

Number of Pages

24

Keywords

Bycatch, Fisheries, Bycatch action Plan (BAP), Exmouth, Western Australia, Exmouth Gulf, Prawn Fishery

Disciplines

Aquaculture and Fisheries | Biology | Environmental Monitoring | Environmental Policy | Genetics | Marine Biology | Natural Resources Management and Policy | Population Biology | Sustainability

Comments

This document utilises the Bycatch Working Plan (2012 - 2014) for the Commonwealth managed Northern Prawn Fishery as a template / model on which to base a Bycatch Action Plan for the Exmouth Gulf Prawn Managed Fishery in Western Australia. This approach is in recognition of the long-term consideration of bycatch issues by the Northern Prawn Fishery, as well as the need for efficiencies and consistency in fisheries management in Australia.

The work by contributors to the original (Northern Prawn Fishery) version of this document is duly acknowledged. Fisheries

Maps

Maps are not included as part of the complete document download. If this report contains a map, it will be available in the individual parts list below.

Download

This file is 14.1 MB. Files over 3MB may be slow to open. For best results, right-click and select "save as..."

Share

 
COinS