Commercial Fishing in Australia's Marine Reserves
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COMMERCIAL FISHING IN AUSTRALIA’S MARINE R ESERVES: RESPONSE TO THE COMMONWEALTH MARINE RESERVES REVIEW AND RECOMMENDATIONS FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF MANAG EMENT PLANS FOR AUSTRALIA’S MARINE RESERVES Version 1.0, October 2016 Report prepared by Daniel Beaver and Joel Turner This report is an independent research paper commissioned by the Save Our Marine Life Alliance. Centre for Conservation Geography: Version 1.0, October 2016 Page 1 Commercial fishing in Australia’s Marine Reserves ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ABOUT THE AUTHOR CENTRE FOR CONSERVATION GEOGRAPHY The Centre for Conservation Geography is a research group established in June 2011 to provide expert technical support and advice to government and non-government decision-makers and stakeholders. The centre applies world's best practice in decision support to biodiversity conservation planning. Based in Australia, our goal is to build a multi-disciplinary team capable of providing support to conservation decisions being made across the world's ecoregions. The Centre for Conservation Geography currently has projects in Australia and in the Southern Ocean. Our areas of expertise are in marine and terrestrial protected area planning, including protected area performance assessment, cost-efficient conservation priority setting and planning for multiple objectives (e.g. carbon sequestration and biodiversity protection). http://www.conservationgeography.org/ BRIEF BIOGRAPHY: DANIEL BEAVER Daniel is the director of the Centre for Conservation Geography, a visiting scholar at San Francisco State University’s Marine & Coastal Conservation and Spatial Planning Lab, and an adjunct research fellow at the Centre for Biodiversity and Conservation Science at the University of Queensland. He has over 15 years of experience in the theory and practice of systematic conservation planning both on land and in the ocean, and has been engaged in planning for marine protected areas and marine sanctuaries in Australia since 2004. BRIEF BIOGRAPHY: JOEL TURNER Joel completed a Bachelor of Science (environmental) with honours in 2006 and a Masters in Conservation Biology in 2013 and has been engaged in research with the Centre for Conservation Geography since 2008. In that time his major areas of research have been the review and analysis of Australia’s National Representative System of Marine Protected Areas (NRSMPA) and the classification of benthic marine environments in the Southern Ocean. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The Marine & Coastal Conservation and Spatial Planning Lab, San Francisco State University, and the Centre for Biodiversity and Conservation Science, The University of Queensland, provided invaluable assistance and support in completing this research. Centre for Conservation Geography: Version 1.0, October 2016 Page 2 Commercial fishing in Australia’s Marine Reserves ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________ About the Author................................................................CONTENTS.............................................................................................. 2 Centre for Conservation Geography .................................................................................................................... 2 Brief Biography: Daniel Beaver.............................................................................................................................. 2 Brief Biography: Joel Turner................................................................................................................................... 2 Acknowledgements..................................................................................................................................................... 2 Executive Summary......................................................................................................................................................... 4 Introduction........................................................................................................................................................................ 6 Coral Sea Marine Reserve .......................................................................................................................................... 10 Pelagic Longline......................................................................................................................................................... 11 Mid-Water Trawl ...................................................................................................................................................... 15 Demersal Trawl......................................................................................................................................................... 16 Demersal Longline ................................................................................................................................................... 17 Purse Seine.................................................................................................................................................................. 18 Fish Trap ...................................................................................................................................................................... 19 South-west Region ........................................................................................................................................................ 20 Demersal Trawl......................................................................................................................................................... 21 Demersal Gillnet and Longline............................................................................................................................ 23 Pelagic Longline......................................................................................................................................................... 27 North-West Region ....................................................................................................................................................... 30 Demersal Trawl......................................................................................................................................................... 31 Pelagic Gillnet............................................................................................................................................................. 32 Pelagic Longline......................................................................................................................................................... 33 Fish Trap ...................................................................................................................................................................... 34 Temperate East Region............................................................................................................................................... 36 Pelagic Longline......................................................................................................................................................... 37 Mid-water Trawl....................................................................................................................................................... 39 Demersal Trawl......................................................................................................................................................... 40 Demersal Longline ................................................................................................................................................... 41 Purse Seine.................................................................................................................................................................. 42 Fish Trap ...................................................................................................................................................................... 43 Danish Seine................................................................................................................................................................ 44 North Region ................................................................................................................................................................... 45 Demersal Trawl......................................................................................................................................................... 46 Pelagic and Demersal Gillnet ............................................................................................................................... 51 Footnotes .......................................................................................................................................................................... 53 Appendix 1: Data Used ................................................................................................................................................ 57 Centre for Conservation Geography: Version 1.0, October 2016 Page 3 Commercial fishing in Australia’s Marine Reserves ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________ The Review into the CommonwealthEXECUTIVE Marine Reserve SUMMARY Network (CMRN) reinforces the value of a network of marine reserves across