Science meets fishing into six separate units for management purposes. While genetically close, three biologically distinct stocks are recognised in Shark Bay: the Eastern Gulf, Denham Sound and Freycinet Estuary stocks. Snapper in open coastal waters are seen as a single “semi-continuous stock”, with biological characteristics varying gradually with latitude, from offshore of Shark Bay to WA’s south coast. For management and assessed purposes, they are treated as separate ‘stocks’: the Shark Bay Oceanic, West Coast and South Coast “management units”. Shark Bay Inshore stocks On current indications, the Eastern Gulf, Denham Sound and Freycinet Estuary snapper stocks
are each regarded as “sustainable”. Under conservative arrangements in place since 2003, combined commercial and recreational catches have been held within ‘target ranges’ and are not considered to threaten spawning success and recruitment to the stocks. In the Eastern Gulf, the commercial catch was nil in 2019 and the 2018/19 recreational catch was about two tonnes, all well within the estimated maximum sustainable yield of 12 tonnes. In Denham Sound, the 2019 commercial catch was below one tonne, and the 2018/19 recreational catch was six tonnes, together well within the maximum sustainable yield of almost 13 tonnes.
FIG.1 Current daily recreational catch limits for snapper around Australia State Queensland NSW Victoria Tasmania SA – SE region only WA West Coast Bioregion – S of 31oS, and inner gulfs of Shark Bay Western Australia – other
Size limit 35 cm 30 cm 28 cm 30 cm 38 cm
Daily bag limit 4 incl. 1>70cm 5 10 incl. up to 4>40 cm 5 1
50 cm 41 cm
2 2
Note: additional fishing restrictions also apply in some states. In the Freycinet Estuary, the 2019 commercial catch was nil. While the 2018/19 recreational catch of 13 tonnes exceeded the ‘target’ limit of four tonnes for this sector, it was “around” the maximum sustainable yield and was not of concern in terms of its effect on stock
Victoria’s more liberal size and bag limits cater for dedicated year-round pinky fishing.
recruitment. Shark Bay Oceanic stock The Shark Bay Oceanic snapper are classified as “depleted”. The most recent (2017) assessment found that the spawning stock was around 20% of the unfished level, and classified as “recruitment impaired”. As a result, the Total Allowable Catch was reduced to 51 tonnes and measures were introduced to protect spawning aggregations. These measures are expected to aid recovery in spawning success and stock size. West Coast stock The west coast section of WA’s open coastal snapper stock is treated as the West Coast management unit for practical purposes, and is classified as “recovering”. It extends from the Kalbarri coast south of Shark Bay, to the southern tip off Augusta and includes the coastal waters most accessible to Perth anglers. A series of assessments up to 2017 led to tightened catch limits on commercial and recreational fishing, and has tracked the recent signs of recovery. The evidence points towards fishing pressure being reduced to where recruitment will improve
to, “…a level that should allow the stock to recover”. South Coast stock The South Coast snapper are classified as “sustainable”, with fishing mortality and spawning potential within acceptable levels. The 2019 commercial catch was 38 tonnes, and the 2017/18 recreational catch was about 10 tonnes. With overall catches within historic levels, recruitment to the stock is not a concern. HOW SEPARATE ARE STOCKS? In recent years, genetic studies have confirmed what tagging studies have shown for many years: there are no absolute, knife-edge boundaries between snapper stocks. First, while our understanding of these ‘boundaries’ is poor, it appears that they can shift over time. For example, genetic studies of snapper off eastern Australia suggest that the “genetic break” between the East Coast stock and the stock off eastern Victoria shifted from near Sydney in 1995, to Eden in 2016. Second, while both tagging and genetic studies suggest that the majority of fish of each stock stay within identifiable ranges,
there are transition or mixing zones around the boundaries, where fish of adjacent stocks may mingle. Furthermore, small numbers of fish cross well into the range of adjoining stocks. For example, two Victorian western stock snapper, tagged in Port Phillip, have been recaptured off East Gippsland, while another was recaptures off southern WA. As a more detailed example, Fig.1 shows how genetic ‘markers’ from snapper sampled from north of Eden, up to Rockhampton, are almost exclusively of the East Coast stock. Those from the Eden ‘transition’ zone show a more even mixture of the traits of East Coast and eastern Victorian stocks. Those sampled off Lakes Entrance show a lesser degree of mixed stock characteristics, and a strong similarity with Western stock snapper from Geelong. NATIONAL REPORTING The Status of Australian Fish Stock Reports are a series of assessments of the biological sustainability of a broad range of wildcaught fish stocks against a nationally agreed reporting framework. The two-yearly reports examine whether the abundance of fish and the level of harvest from the stock are sustainable. Definitions of “sustainability” and quoted passages in this article are taken from the SAFS 2020 Reports. More details about the status of Australian fish stocks are available at – www.fish.gov.au/reports.
THE SHEIK OF THE CREEK
The way of the world BRISBANE
The Sheik of the Creek
My preferred gender is male and my preferred position is a long way away from the other genders, male or female, preferably in a boat or on a fourwheeler or bike with a fishing rod in my hand. That’s not to say that I can’t learn interesting and sometimes useful things from other people of whatever other genders there are out there. For example, the Dudds have taught me lots of male gender things that are important to my survival and my enjoyment of life… like how to put things through my skin and get them out again, how to drink lots
of liquids and get them out again, and importantly how to break lots of stuff and try to fix it with zip ties. These are all good male things to do. From my wife and other female gender persons I have learnt other things of great diversity. These include how to argue even when in the wrong, and how to say everything without saying anything but in a confusing way without committing so that you can deny saying anything at any later date. But a recent lesson has taught me a very important life skill regarding shopping. This happened when I bought three items at old mate’s place and they were all reduced from their original price. In my past clumsy male gender life, I would have ignored the obvious benefits of
recounting how much coin I saved when discussing this financial transaction with the other Dudds. So it would have gone like this: “Yeah, got a good bit back, good price ‘ay.” But with my newfound knowledge I can now discuss my shopping with my daughter, Big Al, like this: “Well, it depends how you look at it, but the lures were 5 bucks each down from 20 bucks, and the rod was 60 down from 110. So I should have paid 150 but I ended up paying 70. So I either got a 110 buck rod for 30 bucks, or you could say I got paid 50 bucks to take these lures out of the shop.” Or as Big Al says, if you’re really of the female gender person, you could say both. SEPTEMBER 2021
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