An industry incentive program has been developed to encourage vessels in the Commonwealth Northern Prawn Fishery (NPF) to trial new and innovative ways to reduce bycatch.
Launched last year, the NPF Industry Pty Ltd (NPFI) is offering $20 000 in prize money for skippers, owners or crew who can develop strategies to help reduce bycatch in the NPF by 30 per cent within three years.
The industry incentive program is part of the NPF Bycatch Strategy 2015-18, which was initiated by NPFI in 2015. The strategy was developed by NPFI in consultation with the Australian Fisheries Management Authority (AFMA) and focuses on improvements in gear design and bycatch reduction device performance.
Bycatch reduction device tude (Image courtesy of NPFI)
NPFI Chief Executive Officer, Annie Jarrett, said that it isn’t too late to get involved with this program and come up with new, innovative solutions to reduce bycatch.
“We hope offering a generous cash prize will provide an added incentive for the fishing industry to take on and support this important program,” Ms Jarrett said.
“Reducing bycatch by 30 per cent in the NPF within three years is an achievable goal, particularly with the support of vessels in the fishery.”
AFMA’s Northern Fisheries Senior Manager, Steve Bolton, agreed that continually developing solutions to improve bycatch reduction is an important part of fisheries management.
Modified fish eye (Image courtesy of NPFI)
“Reducing bycatch is critical for the fishery and AFMA encourages operators to use their skills and knowledge to help meet this challenge,” Mr Bolton said.
“Industry has worked hard in the NPF to meet management standards and improve their operations and has been recognised as a leader in addressing sustainability issues for many years.
“I encourage operators to continue to be leaders and develop new innovative solutions to address environmental impacts of fishing.”
To be eligible to win prize money the performance of any new innovations will be measured and tested against a set of criteria. This will include having the performance validated by scientific trials in accordance with NPF turtle excluder devices (TED) and bycatch reduction device (BRD) testing protocols.
Winners will be announced in March 2017. The NPF is committed to implement measures which achieve the 30 per cent bycatch reduction target by 1 August 2018.
For more information about the incentive program contact NPFI’s Project Officer Adrianne Laird on 0409 237 024 or email adrianne@npfindustry.com.au