Characterisation of the recreational fishery for southern rock lobster,<i>Jasus edwardsii,</i>in Tasmania, Australia: Implications for management

Accurate information on total catch and effort is essential for successful fisheries management. Officially reported landings, however, may be underestimates of total catch in many fisheries. We investigated the fishery for the nationally red-listed European lobster (Homarus gammarus) in south-eastern Norway. Probability-based strip transect surveys were used to count buoys in the study area in combination with catch per unit effort data obtained independently from volunteer catch diaries, phone interviews, and questionnaires. We estimate that recreational catch accounts for 65% of total catch in the study area. Moreover, our results indicate that only a small proportion (24%) of lobsters landed commercially were sold through the legal market and documented. Total estimated lobster catch was nearly 14 times higher than reported officially. Our study highlights the need for adequate catch monitoring and data collection efforts in coastal areas, presents a clear warning to resource managers that illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fisheries in coastal areas should not be ignored, and shows the potential impact of recreational fisheries.

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“…Significant effort and catch by recreational lobster fishers is also observed in Australia [28], the US [29] and South Africa [30].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Total Catch of a Red-Listed Marine Species Is an Order of Magnitude Higher than Official Data

2012

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“…In Tasmania, the number of licences has more than doubled since the introduction of the recreational licensing system in 1995 to over 21 487 in 2010 (Lyle and Tracey, 2010). Rock lobster pots are the main method of recreational capture (Lyle et al, 2005). The conflict between commercial and recreational sectors within the southern rock lobster fisheries is not uncommon.…”

Section: Fishery Descriptionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Setting objectives for evaluating management adaptation actions to address climate change impacts in south‐eastern Australian fisheries

Jennings

Pascoe

Hall-Aspland

et al. 2016

Fisheries Oceanography

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Under likely climate change scenarios, changes to fisheries assessment, monitoring, management and governance, intended to reduce negative impacts and seize opportunities to improve performance, will form an important part of climate change adaptation responses for fisheries. Comprehensively and consistently assessing possible management adaptation options requires a clear definition of a multi-criteria evaluation framework incorporating information about the relative importance of often competing criteria or objectives. Such a framework is often missing from climate change adaptation evaluation, with adaptation priorities and plans often developed without direct reference to the key objectives of management. We used the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) to develop a weighted hierarchy of objectives in four south-eastern Australian fisheries. The developed hierarchy included fisheries management objectives routinely articulated in policy and management documents, those that may underpin effective adaptation and adaptation planning, and objectives likely to contribute to ongoing adaptive capacity and resilience of fisheries and associated communities. Results of an interactive survey of managers, researchers and commercial and recreational fishers yielded average weightings of objectives that were quite consistent across the four fisheries, with a very strong preference for ensuring that adaptations support environmental and ecological values, particularly through sustaining the harvested population. However, differences between stakeholder groups were more marked, with economic objectives considered more important by commercial fishers, and social objectives by recreational fishers, than by other groups. This suggests the possibility of conflicts between groups when determining appropriate adaptation strategies, as alternative strategies will have different economic and social outcomes even if achieving comparable environmental outcomes.

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“…Cooke and Cowx (2004) argue that a failure to recognize the potential effects of recreational fisheries could put ecologically and economically important resources at risk. A multitude of methods have been used worldwide to investigate effort and catch in recreational lobster fisheries, such as observation of changes in abundance, creel surveys, mail surveys, telephone surveys, diary surveys, and telephone diary surveys (Lyle et al 2005). Strip transect surveys conducted using scuba gear, aircraft, and boats are widely used to estimate the abundance and biodiversity of wildlife (Thomas et al 2002).…”

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confidence: 99%

“…Recreational fisheries for lobsters have been investigated in South Africa (Cockcroft and Mackenzie 1997), Australia (Lyle et al 2005), and USA (Muller et al 2000), and show that recreational fishing for lobster can be a significant part of the total landings. These studies were able to take advantage of license requirements in the respective lobster fisheries.…”

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confidence: 99%

“…Since official catch statistics do not include recreational catches and is based on legally traded lobsters from the commercial sector, the total removals of lobster are likely to be underestimated. Estimates of effort are more challenging than in a fishery with license requirements for recreational fishers and quotas for commercial fishers, as, for example, southern rock lobster in Tasmania, Australia (Lyle et al 2005). Since lobster can only be caught legally using one type of gear (traps), during a short season where the regulations are the same for commercial and recreational fishers, it is feasible to quantify a total effort in the legal fishery.…”

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confidence: 99%

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Estimating Recreational and Commercial Fishing Effort for European LobsterHomarus gammarusby Strip Transect Sampling

2011

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Recreational fishing effort for coastal marine species can be significant but is often challenging to estimate. Here we present a case study where a probability‐based strip transect survey is used to estimate effort in the Norwegian fishery for European lobster Homarus gammarus. This fishery is conducted by both recreational and commercial fishers, but reliable information on total fishing effort and total catch is lacking. In 2008, we conducted a strip transect sampling survey throughout the lobster fishing season in southern Norway to estimate the number of deployed lobster traps over time. Surface buoys marking lobster traps were counted along strip transects placed representatively in the survey area in five different weeks throughout the lobstering season. Calibration studies were conducted to standardize transect width and to estimate and adjust for detection rates of buoys along transect strips. Mean number of lobster traps per square kilometer and associated variance was estimated by a ratio estimator using bootstrapping, with transects as the primary sampling units. Poststratification of the counts by depth (by 10‐m depth intervals) combined with geographical information systems mapping improved the precision of the estimated density of lobster traps and increased the effective sample size of transects by 22–44% per week. Estimated daily effort for the first week was 48.95 (SE = 3.11) traps/km2, decreasing steadily to 5.96 (SE = 0.79) in the eighth (and last) week of the lobster season. Our study shows that lobster traps deployed by recreational fishers outnumber the ones deployed by commercial fishers, contributing to 65% of the total effort (number of traps) in the fishery. We show that strip transects are a suitable way to estimate effort in the Norwegian lobster fishery. We conclude that improved management efforts need to target recreational as well as commercial fishing activities in order to achieve effective management of the red‐listed species. Received August 5, 2010; accepted July 5, 2011

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Characterisation of the recreational fishery for southern rock lobster,Jasus edwardsii,in Tasmania, Australia: Implications for management

Cited by 18 publications

References 7 publications

Total Catch of a Red-Listed Marine Species Is an Order of Magnitude Higher than Official Data

Total Catch of a Red-Listed Marine Species Is an Order of Magnitude Higher than Official Data

Setting objectives for evaluating management adaptation actions to address climate change impacts in south‐eastern Australian fisheries

Estimating Recreational and Commercial Fishing Effort for European LobsterHomarus gammarusby Strip Transect Sampling

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