East Coast Inshore Large Mesh Net Fishery Level 2 Ecological Risk Assessment [Species of Conservation Concern]

Abstract

The Queensland Ecological Risk Assessment Guideline (the Guideline) was released in March 2018 as part of the Queensland Sustainable Fisheries Strategy 2017–2027. This Guideline provides an overview of strategy being employed to develop Ecological Risk Assessments (ERAs) for Queensland’s fisheries. The Guideline describes a four-stage framework consisting of a Scoping Study; a Level 1, whole of fishery qualitative assessment; a Level 2, species-specific semi-quantitative or low-data quantitative assessment and; a Level 3 quantitative assessment (if applicable).
A Scoping Study and Level 1 ERA for the East Coast Inshore Fishery was released in May 2019 (Jacobsen et al. 2019). The Level 1 assessment identified ecological components at higher risk from net fishing activities, and these were progressed to a Level 2 assessment. Level 2 ERAs are focused at the species level with risk evaluations based on a Productivity & Susceptibility Analysis (PSA). The PSA evaluates risk for each species through an assessment of seven biological attributes and four fisheries-specific attributes.
Based on the outputs of the Level 1 ERA and following a species prioritisation process, the Large Mesh Net Fishery Level 2 ERA assessed risk for 32 Species of Conservation Concern (SOCC), including six marine turtles, seven dolphins, dugongs, five sharks and 13 batoids. All species were found to be at medium to high risk from tunnel net fishing activities. The risk profiles for SOCC were heavily influenced by the biological attributes (productivity); particularly those relating to their longevity and reproductive outputs.
The Level 2 ERA made a list of recommendations to assist in the management and mitigation of risk in the Large Mesh Net Fishery. A number of these measures are already being discussed and considered as part of the Queensland Sustainable Fisheries Strategy 2017–2027 and will be progressed through the East Coast Inshore Fishery Working Group.