Shore-based recreational angling in the Rottnest Island Reserve, Western Australia: Spatial and temporal distribution of catch and fishing effort

Abstract

The Rottnest Island Reserve, located off southwestern Australia, is one of the most popular recreational fishing locations in Western Australia. In the reserve, standard Western Australian recreational fishing regulations apply and there are two small "no-take" conservation sanctuary areas. A roving creel survey of shore-based recreational angling in the reserve was conducted from January to December 2003. In total, 1 053 anglers were recorded which included individuals, families, school groups and angling club members. The total annual shore-based angling effort for Rottnest island was calculated to be 23 899 angler outings and the total catch estimated at 53 994 retained fish. Fishing effort was concentrated in the settlement area on the eastern side of the island and the highest levels of catch and effort were recorded in April, May and July. During the survey, 33 fish species were identified in the catch and the small, pelagic species Australian Herring dominated with 7.27 tonnes caught during the study. Shore-based anglers also caught and released a large number of non-target species. The survey has provided spatial and temporal data that can be used as a benchmark and to support decision making by the Rottnest Island Authority with respect to biodiversity conservation and the Department of Fisheries with regard to management of shore-based recreational angling in the Rottnest Island Reserve.

Bridging the temporal gap: Continuous and cost-effective monitoring of dynamic recreational fisheries by web cameras and creel surveys

“…Levels of recreational effort and harvesting are strongly influenced by diurnal, weekly, seasonal, and annual cycles (Bucher 2006;Smallwood et al, 2006;Stevenson and Millar, 2013). Higher levels of effort, and consequently catch, typically occur on weekends and public holidays (Smallwood et al, 2012;Bian and Hartill, 2015).…”

Short-term hooking mortality of three marine fish species (Sparidae) caught by recreational angling in the south Portugal

“…Since in many cases bag limits are set too high (e.g. McPhee et al, 2002;Smallwood et al, 2006;Veiga et al, 2010), the main outcome of these measures is generally high discard rates of immature or undersized fish.…”

“…These regulations include widely used measures to control catches such as daily bag limits, minimum size limits and seasonal closures (e.g. Bartholomew and Bohnsack, 2005;Smallwood et al, 2006;Lloret et al, 2008;Veiga et al, 2010), and their main purpose is to reduce angling mortality for part of the fish stock without directly reducing the fishing effort (Grixti et al, 2007). Since in many cases bag limits are set too high (e.g.…”

A small no-take marine sanctuary provides consistent protection for small-bodied by-catch species, but not for large-bodied, high-risk species

“…The Kingston Reef sanctuary zone has been the focus of the majority of published research from the region (Bellchambers et al, 2008;Cook and Vanderklift, 2011;Kleczkowski et al, 2008). Rottnest Island is a very popular location for recreational fishing within the Perth metropolitan region (Smallwood et al, 2006) and also includes three newly created notake areas (established in 2007, including the extension of Parker Point), that cover a greater range of depths (0-15 m) than any other existing no-take areas in the region (Table 1).…”