Rapid assessment to sustainability for ecological risk of sharks and other chondrichthyan bycatch species taken in southern and eastern scale fish and shark fishery

WALKER T. STEVENS D., BRACCINI M, DALEY R., HUVENEERS C., IRVINE S., BELL J., TOVAR-ÁVILA J., TRINNIE F., PHILLIPS D., TRELOAR M., AWRUCH C., GASON A., SALINI J., AND HAMLETT W.

2002-01-01/2008-07-01

1-354

Biológica

Otros campos

The present report provides a comprehensive collation of results relevant to rapid assessment of sustainability for ecological risk of sharks, rays and holocephalans in southern Australia. The present study complements a similar study titled ?Northern Australian sharks and rays: the sustainability of target and bycatch species, Phase 2? (FRDC 2002/064) (Salini et al. 2007). The present collation includes results from the present project and results from ?Shark and other chondrichthyan byproduct and bycatch estimation in the Southern and eastern Scalefish and Shark Fishery? (FRDC Project 2001/007) (Walker and Gason 2007) and several other FRDC projects. The results are presented in a framework that builds on the approach developed as part of the CSIRO‐run project titled ?Ecological risk assessment for Australian Commonwealth fisheries? (AFMA R01/0934 and AFMA R04/1072). The results have been presented variously in unpublished internal reports and oral presentations to AFMA, industry, SharkRAG, DAG, GHATMAC, SETMAC, CSIRO, and various scientific forums. The results provide key data inputs to development of Management Plans and extensive legislation on the SESSF for quota baskets, trip limits, trigger limits, closed areas, and depth exclusions, implemented in response to the Ministerial Direction to AFMA of December 2005 to manage the broader environmental impacts of fishing. The results will continue to contribute to documentation requirements for several important ongoing processes prescribed in legislation and national policies. (a) Strategic assessment of fisheries prescribed under the Australian Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999. AFMA has previously used other data sets for this purpose, but the present report and associated outputs will serve to update and refine the documentation. (b) Bycatch Action Plans prescribed under the Australian Fisheries Act 1991. The present report and associated outputs will serve to update and refine the documentation. (c) Australia?s National Plan of Action for the Conservation and Management of Sharks launched 26 May 2004. The present report provides required information to the Shark Plan Implementation Committee for updating the Shark Assessment Report, submitted periodically to the FAO Committee of Fisheries. The new approaches to rapid assessment of sustainability for ecological risk developed or applied through the present project have been presented at various forums in Australia, New Zealand, USA, Brazil, Chile, Ecuador, Mexico, Taiwan, Philippines, Palau, and Marshall Islands where they have been extremely well received. Both FAO and IUCN have shown great interest in the approach. A major outcome is that, from the present project and related projects, there is now a firm body of data on chondrichthyan species from throughout Australia. These data are readily accessible and can be applied to address issues related to the management of chondrichthyan fauna as they arise. These projects provide a legacy of a large group of trained young scientists in Australia with specialist skills in chondrichthyan biology and collaborative partnerships that continue to address issues related to fisheries management