Calamari limit cut from 10 to 5 per day proposed, but commercial fishers continue over-fishing

The commercial sector heavily targets spawning aggregations of calamari, whilst the recreational sector DOES NOT, however recreational fishers are expected to take more cutbacks because the resource is listed as depleting.. This is a common theme in fishery management where it seems the recreational sector must be penalised even though they have not contributed to overfishing. Ed

Are you prepared to take more cuts to recreational bag limits?

This is a must read on Southern Calamari!

Submission by TARFish

The southern calamari fishery is now rated as “depleting.” This is sad and frustrating and right now, the Tasmanian Department of Primary Industries, Parks, Water, and Environment (the DPIPWE) are proposing to ‘fix it’ by halving the recreational bag limit from 10 to 5 and introducing a new boat limit.

TARFish does not support the proposed changes to southern calamari that will see more cuts and restrictions to recreational fishers and we remain firmly committed to ensuring recreational fishing access is fair and protected.

More than that, we want the fishery to be returned to a sustainable level by dealing with the problem at its root cause.

Too often, we see simplistic solutions to complex issues and we are certainly seeing that here.

It is our view that the sustainability issue is largely being driven by commercial over-catch of spawning populations on the North Coast of Tasmania.

The commercial sector has been targeting spawning populations in the north and exceeding the maximum sustainable yield by 40% state-wide and up to 100% on the northwest coast for the last three years. We didn’t make these numbers up, they are publicly available in the scalefish fishery assessments.

Given the rapid decline in the fishery from its sustainable status in 2016/17, we believe commercial management controls MUST be able to constrain the commercial catch below this level to protect spawning populations.

When you look at the recreational catch you can see that just 17% of all calamari taken (i.e. not caught and released) by recreational fishers comes from the north coast of Tasmania.

Importantly, recreational fishers are not taking significant numbers of calamari when they are spawning (i.e. the issue that needs fixing!). We estimate that 2%, that’s right, 2% of all recreational taken calamari happens between August and November on the North Coast. That means that fishers are not taking from the spawning populations in any significant way.

It begs the question then, if the issue to be managed is protection of the northern spawning populations, why are fishers on the east coast and in the south bearing the brunt of the proposed management changes that will have little or no effect on protecting the spawning populations?

Any cuts targeting recreational fishers would be limited in their ability to protect the fishery, because recreational fishers target calamari post-spawning.

TARFish believes the current bag/possession limits for recreational fishers should not be reduced. The daily bag limits for VIC [10], WA [15], NSW [20] and SA fish.

[15] are already equal or higher than Tasmania’s bag limit, so any further reductions would be out of step with other states.

TARFish believes a boat limit is not an acceptable outcome. It would disproportionately affect a specific group of recreational fishers who fish in groups via boat. We do not support boat limits as they supersede individual bag/possession limits with no evidence to support a view that recreational boat fishing has a greater impact on the fishery than other methods. Boat limits also decrease the ability of recreational fishers to fish with their family and friends, and could increase unsafe fishing by incentivising operating a vessel single-handedly. Finally, the boat limit may unfairly prevent people from being able to catch calamari at all, with mobility impaired fishers more likely to be impacted.

The question that must be answered by the DPIPWE and indeed the Minister, Guy Barnett, is why are regional spawning closures not even on the table for discussion?

That is the conversation we should be having right now.

These proposed changes are laughable but there is nothing funny about it.

You can read the full TARFish proposal here: https://www.tarfish.org/news/tarfishsubmission-calamari-management www.tarfish.org.au

If you’re a recreational fisher and you want a different outcome that what is currently being proposed – join your peak body TARFish today. Your membership will increase the strength of our advocacy on your behalf.

There are a number of relevant papers also available at: www.tasfish.com

Extract from the minutes of Scalefish Fishery Advisory Committee (SFAC) where it shows the commercial sector ‘hammering’ the fishery, which is acknowledged as ‘depleting’ by the fisheries department. Some of these fishers entered the calamari fishery after a Ministerial warning in 2018 that catch after that date would not qulaify them for a proposed calamari licence.

SFAC 74 Meeting minutes

Date: 02 June 2021

‘The FAC noted the following:

• Another industry member noted that while would like to see this done properly but is seeing the fishery getting absolutely hammered with new entrants—active after the investment warning of 23 August 2018—who believe that if they spend the most time on the water and catch the most they can’t not give us a licence.

• Need to maximise the chances of success to introduce new licences— hence the two state consultation process— and possibly reaffirm to commercial fishers that catch history passed 23 August 2018 will not qualify for a licence. Need to progress management action as quickly as possible to honour the investment warning date.

• Need a simple overarching message around the status of the calamari stocks for both commercial and recreational fishers—i.e., emphasise that calamari have been assessed as depleting, stocks potentially on a knife edge on the north coast and it’s time for management action. Do not want to see the fishery collapse due to inaction.’

The full document and minutes are available at www. tasfish.com