Recent media suggests that there has been a large increase in bycatch of threatened and protected species, including turtles and cetaceans, in the Eastern Tuna and Billfish Fishery (ETBF) since 2012. This misrepresentation of facts was related to the Australian government’s marine protected area (MPA) program but there is no evidence to support this claim. In fact, other AFMA managed fisheries that also have electronic monitoring (e-monitoring), video cameras on vessels, and operate in areas of the Australian Fishing Zone that already have MPAs show a similar increase in reported numbers of protected species interaction.
However, AFMA believes that increased reporting of protected species is mainly due to the introduction of e-monitoring in mid-2015, which has resulted in more accurate reporting of interactions. Few other fisheries globally have such an extensive monitoring program to acquire and use the knowledge about protected species interactions to improve fisheries management outcomes.
Science-based Ecological Risk Assessments (ERAs) improve understanding of the effects of fishing on the marine environment and this information is directly addressed in fishery management plans. A new ERA of the ETBF is currently in the process of being assessed and preliminary results indicate that no species are classified as high risk.
In other Commonwealth fisheries, spatial management, in terms of permanent or seasonal closed areas, have been used in response to ecological risk assessments and to reduce interactions with protected species.
Fisheries management decisions made by AFMA are made based on scientific and research based activities to effectively manage and ensure sustainability of Commonwealth fisheries. This includes both fish stocks and protected marine species.
AFMA strives for continual improvement of our fisheries management.
More information on how AFMA manages protected marine species can be found at afma.gov.au.