ASFB Home > 2007 > The value of fishery dependent data for fine scale spatial management: Tasmanian examples

Fine scale spatial management has always been needed for patchily distributed species, for example, abalone and scallops. However, successful fine scale management requires a lot of information. Fishery independent data for this purpose is expensive, and especially so for large scale spatially distributed fisheries.

One solution to the problem is to use the fishing industry to gather information as they go about their business. Modern technology has overcome most of the problems associated with ensuring that such data is credible and in minimizing the cost and effort to the fishery.

We use examples from fisheries in Tasmania to illustrate the success and possibilities of this approach. For scallops a combination of industry based survey is used to identify potential scallop beds in a rotational “paddock fishing” harvest strategy. Electronic measuring boards are used to simplify and improve the quality of size distribution data. In the rock lobster and giant crab fisheries we are using electronic calipers to provide size frequency information from around the state to improve spatially explicit stock assessment modeling. Lastly, the potential of a combination of GPS and data loggers is being used to understand the fine scale spatial distribution of effort. Combining these with detailed habitat mapping we are able to better understand the risk of serial depletion and to characterize productivity around the coast.