TASMANIAN ROCK LOBSTER FISHERY REVIEW COMES TO UNSATISFACTORY END AND THIS IMPORTANT FISHERY CONTINUES ON ITS PATH TO DISASTER
The outcomes of the review of the Tasmanian rock lobster fishery have just been announced. Unfortunately it looks like a case of too little too late. No genuine solutions are being proposed for the serious problems facing this fishery. The Tasmanian Government appears to be overseeing the demise of this once iconic fishery. State Government inaction puts Commonwealth export accreditation and the whole export market at risk.
Fishery modelling has failed to take into account recruitment failure where not enough new juvenile rock lobsters grow to become available to the commercial and recreational fisheries.
“Rock lobster biomass had recovered to twice the size it was when quota was introduced, but in the last 4 years it has declined to such an extent we are back where we started from”, says TCT spokesperson Jon Bryan. “The writing has been on the wall for years, but industry has not been prepared to make catch reductions that would protect the gains that have been made since quota was introduced.”
Long-standing issues such as high inshore fishing pressure and localised overfishing, particularly on the east coast, have also been ignored. “There is nothing in the review outcomes recommendations that will actually fix these problems”, says the TCT spokesperson. “Small reductions in recreational bag limits or commercial catch are not going to stop overfishing in localised and inshore areas or deal with expanding urchin barrens. There needs to be a targeted reduction in fishing effort or even or rolling closures to allow recovery of the most overfished and damaged areas”.
Scientific evidence makes it clear that the rapidly expanding Centrostephanus urchin barrens that are turning productive reefs into empty wastes occur as a direct result of overfishing of rock lobsters. The removal of large rock lobster that are large enough to feed on these big sea urchins and control their numbers leads directly to an increase in urchin numbers and urchin barrens. Rocky reef converted to urchin barrens effectively excludes the abalone and rock lobster fisheries, as rock lobster and abalone do not remain on urchin barrens in any significant numbers.
“It is particularly disappointing to see that the Government has folded under industry pressure and failed to establish a maximum size limit to protect large rock lobster that are so important in controlling urchin numbers. While a maximum size limit alone will not be a complete solution, it is certainly a useful first step.”
The biggest disappointment with outcomes from the review is that it does not even introduce the basic tools that will be needed to solve this fishery’s problems.
“Unless you want to close the whole fishery down, or watch it collapse, there is no question that area management of the fishery will be needed to solve problems associated with localised overfishing, inshore fishing pressure and Centrostephanus urchin barrens. As a minimum, management of the commercial fleet must be able to direct effort away from inshore waters shallower than 30 metres and local overfished areas. The abalone fishery provides a mechanism for area based fishery management and directing fishing pressure if no better option can be devised by DPIPWE for the rock lobster fishery.”
Problems experienced by the Tasmanian rock lobster fishery exporting into China last year may just be the start of difficulties getting rock lobster into international markets. If nothing is done to stop the expanding urchin barrens and habitat destruction that is occurring as a result of overfishing of rock lobster, it is hard to see how this industry can get export approvals under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act.
The TCT believes that the opportunity provided by this fishery review has been wasted and unless Minister Bryan Green acts to protect Tasmania’s vital rock lobster fishery there is the real chance that the marine environment will be devastated, commercial and recreational inshore fisheries will collapse on the east coast and a valuable export market will be lost.
“Years of inaction have meant that problems associated with overfishing and urchin barrens have become critical. If we want to maintain the commercial and recreational rock lobster fisheries on the east coast and look after the marine environment upon which they depend, real action needs to be taken now”.
