Description

The West Coast Demersal Scalefish Resource (WCDSR) is halfway into a 20-year recovery plan following a period of overfishing in the 1990s and 2000s.

This latest assessment provides an important “health check” on the recovery status.

The recovery plan is based on maintaining recreational (including charter) and commercial sector’s total fishing mortality below catch limits and protecting key spawning aggregations to recover the WCDSR by 2030.

The Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development (DPIRD) tracks recovery progress by undertaking weight of evidence stock assessments of WCDSR indicator species dhufish and pink snapper every 3-5 years.

The latest science shows that further management action is required to allow the WCDSR to recover by 2030.

The current management arrangements have successfully halted the decline in spawning biomass of indicator species dhufish and pink snapper but there has been limited recovery of these species.

Fishing pressure is still too high as there continues to be a lack of older dhufish and pink snapper in the population.

This science update follows on from the previous WCDSR research update in December 2019. Detailed information on the latest stock assessment is available in Fisheries Research Report No.316.

Publication Date

10-2021

Publisher

Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development, Western Australia

City

Perth

Number of Pages

6

Keywords

West Coast Demersal Scalefish, WCDSR, management arrangements, stock assessments, commercial fisheries, recreational fisheries

Disciplines

Aquaculture and Fisheries | Environmental Indicators and Impact Assessment | Environmental Monitoring | Natural Resources Management and Policy | Sustainability

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