Status of the Cockburn Sound Crab Fishery

Authors

Danielle Johnston
David Harris
Nick Caputi
Simon de Lestang
Adrian Thomson

Publication Date

10-2011

Series Number

Fisheries Research Report No. 219

Publisher

Government of Western Australia Department of Fisheries

ISBN

978-1-921845-19-2

ISSN

1035 - 4549

Abstract

Blue swimmer crabs (Portunus armatus) (formerly Portunus pelagicus; Lai et al., 2010) in Cockburn Sound, Western Australia, are the basis of an important commercial and recreational fishery close to the Perth metropolitan area with the commercial fishery achieving a peak catch of 362 t in 1997/98 and a recreational catch of about 18 t. Commercial blue swimmer crab catches declined significantly since 2000 due to low stock abundance, resulting in the closure of the fishery in December 2006.

Number of Pages

104

Keywords

West Coast Bioregion - Fisheries - Western Australia; Crab fisheries; Portunus armatus; Portunidae; Fishery management; Fishery biology; Fishery statistics; Catch statistics; Catch and effort; Stock assessment; Recruitment; Environmental effects; Cockburn Sound - Western Australia; Warnbro Sound - Western Australia ; Swan River - Western Australia; Western Australia

Disciplines

Aquaculture and Fisheries

Recommended Citation

Johnston, D., Harris, D., Caputi, N., de Lestang, S. and Thomson, A. 2011. Status of the Cockburn Sound Crab Fishery. Fisheries Research Report No. 219. Department of Fisheries, Western Australia. 104pp.