Kimberley Offshore Finfish Sustainability

Full description

The Northern Demersal Scalefish Fishery (NDSF) in the Kimberley region of Western Australia (120 ° E longitude east to the Northern Territory border) operates mainly on the mid-continental shelf and represents a major component of Western Australia's commercial finfish production, contributing over 504 tonnes in 2001 with a catch value of $ 2.76 million.

The catch consists primarily of species of the Lutjanidae (snappers), Lethrinidae (emperors) and Serranidae (cods/gropers). The fishery has the potential to expand further into outer-slope waters deeper than 200 metres. Demersal fishes such as the snappers (Lutjanidae) and groupers or cods (Serranidae) are particularly sensitive to exploitation pressure because they are, in general, long-lived, grow slowly, mature late and have low rates of natural mortality. If these species are being overfished, the recovery rates of their populations are likely to be slow.

This project previously had the specific task of determining the status of the stocks of the key commercial species in the Kimberley region, such as red emperor and goldband snapper but now has the core responsibility for sustainability of the finfish (all sectors) in the Kimberley part of the North Coast Bioregion.

Although the commercially fishery is already managed and the project only focuses on the commercial sector at the moment, the region will eventually be included in Integrated Fisheries Management process and estimates of the actual and sustainable catches for each sector will be needed.

This project will:

* Compile an annual status report on the Northern Demersal Scalefish Fishery.
* Maintain a detailed database of information on the demersal scalefish fishery resources of the Kimberley region.
* Undertake biological research on finfish in the Kimberley region.
* Undertake stock assessments of the major tropical demersal finfish species exploited by fishers in the Kimberley region.
* Provide quality scientific information and advice on the status of Kimberley finfish stocks to fishery managers, stakeholders and the public.

Time: Ongoing

Lineage

Maintenance and Update Frequency: unknown

Statement: Original record compiled for the Western Australian Marine Science Institution (WAMSI), Project 3.8, 2008. Originally sourced from WA Fisheries website (May, 2008). Spatial extent assumed to be whole of WA.

Notes

Credit
S. Newman