Tasmanian Commercial Fishing Industry Workforce Indicators

Full description

1. Workforce

Tasmania’s commercial fishing industry workforce is defined as those people engaged in economic activity (work) within the sector across or at a given time, either in paid employment or self-employment. For fisheries this includes skippers and crew employed as sub-contractors and paid on a share of catch arrangement. It can include people engaged in unpaid work undertaken as part of these activities, although this has not been included in this assessment.

Monitoring workforce changes is important because these changes indicate changes in social and economic benefits at a statewide and regional community level. Factors which affect workforce size include the extent to which a policy of maximizing technical efficiency is pursued through management, which typically reduces the fleet size and therefore the number of people employed. Other factors include the level of stock availability and access, the cost of entry into the fishery, and the financial profitability of fishing. Because of these factors, many fishers are engaged in employment in multiple fisheries or other marine sectors in order to supplement fishing incomes and pursue full-time employment.

1.1. Abalone
The commercial harvesters catching abalone species operate within the Tasmanian Abalone Fishery. Assessment of workforce indicators is undertaken at fishery level. The data provided for this fishery is for the Tasmanian Abalone Fishery as a whole, which includes harvesting activity for this species as well as all other species caught in this fishery.

1.2. Commercial Dive species
The commercial harvesters catching these species operate within the Tasmanian Commercial Dive Fishery. Assessment of workforce indicators is undertaken at fishery level. The data provided here is for the Tasmanian Commercial Dive species as well as all other species caught in this fishery.

1.3. Giant crab species
The commercial harvesters catching giant crab operate within the Tasmanian Giant Crab Fishery. Assessment of workforce indicators is undertaken at fishery level.

1.4. Scalefish species
The commercial harvesters catching this scalefish species operate within the Tasmanian Scalefish Fishery. Assessment of workforce indicators is undertaken at fishery level. The data provided here is for the Tasmanian Scalefish Fishery as a whole, which includes harvesting activity for this species as well as all other species caught in this fishery.

1.5. Scallop species
The commercial harvesters catching species of scallop operate within the Tasmanian Scallop Fishery. Assessment of workforce indicators is undertaken at fishery level.

1.6. Southern rock lobster
The commercial harvesters catching southern rock lobster operate within the Tasmanian Rock Lobster Fishery. Assessment of workforce indicators is undertaken at fishery level.

2. Workforce Indicators

2.1. Persons
Workforce size (the total number of people directly employed) includes both skippers and crew, and those employed full time and part time.

2.2. Employment FTE
The number of Full Time Equivalent (FTE) positions in each fishery is also estimated. This indicator shows that while a higher number of people may be employed in a fishery, some of these jobs may be part-time. Therefore, the number of FTEs is typically lower than the number of people in the workforce. In this iteration of the dataset, this value is unavailable for the abalone fishery in 2016, 2017, and 2019, and does not apply to the scallop fishery in any of the years available (2016-2020).

2.3. Active Supers
The number of supervisors (skippers) employed in the fishery.

2.4. Harvest Units (TAS HP)
The number of harvest units (combination of licensed vessel and fishing entitlement) active in a fleet and the number of people who actively harvest fish as supervisors (skippers) in a commercial fishery are directly linked to the size of the workforce in each fishery. In many cases, multiple supervisors may be linked to the same harvest unit, so the number of supervisors is often higher.

Lineage

Maintenance and Update Frequency: biennially

Statement: 1. Measuring the workforce Indicators 1.1. Persons Workforce size (the total number of people directly employed) is measured by adjusting the number of active harvest units (for example, fishing vessels) by the average number of people (skippers and crew) employed per harvest unit in that fishery. This information is obtained from social and economic industry surveys undertaken by IMAS. 1.2. Employment FTE The number of Full Time Equivalent (FTE) positions in each fishery is an estimate also based on information from social and economic industry surveys undertaken by IMAS, as well as effort data collected by NRE Tas and other independent sources to determine the average number of days/hours fished per harvest unit. This was compared to a standard 37.5 hour working week. 1.3. Active Supers and Harvest Units (TAS HP) The number of harvest units active in a fleet and the number of people engaged as supervisors (skippers) in a fishery is based on data IMAS extracts from the Department of Natural Resources and Environment (NRE Tas) Fisheries Licensing records. 2. Note on ABS data Workforce data is collected every five years by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) through its Census of Population and Housing. However, the classification used for industry of occupation (ANZSIC 2006) generates data that is insufficiently fine-scale for the Tasmanian fishing industry, hence Census data is not reported in this assessment. For more detail, see the latest IMAS Economic and Social Assessment of Tasmanian Fisheries and Aquaculture.

Notes

Credit
Sustainable Marine Research Collaboration Agreement (SMRCA): Agreement between the Tasmanian Government and the University of Tasmania - this work was created under this agreement.