Description

Key points: 2024 stock assessment outcomes

  • The Cockburn Sound blue swimmer crab resource spans the waters of Cockburn Sound and Owen Anchorage north to the port of Fremantle.  The Cockburn Sound crab stock is assessed periodically by the Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development (DPIRD) via weight of evidence stock assessments.
  • Despite most of Cockburn Sound remaining closed to blue swimmer crab fishing since 2014, crab abundance levels have shown little increase.
  • Current modelling suggests that Cockburn Sound now supports a notably lower crab population than in the early 2000s and can sustain a significantly reduced annual catch.
  • This change is understood to be environmentally driven, as measures implemented to reduce the nutrient load entering Cockburn Sound have reduced primary productivity and thus food for crabs.

Publication Date

10-2024

Publisher

Government of Western Australia

City

Perth

Number of Pages

4

Keywords

Cockburn Sound, science update, crab, crabbing, science, sustainability, blue swimmer crab, resource, stock assessment, dpird, wa

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