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ESD Risk Assessment Report 2009 for the Abalone Fishery

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ECOLOGICALLY SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT (ESD) RISK ASSESSMENT OF THE COMMERCIAL ABALONE FISHERY IN SOUTH AUSTRALIA JUNE 2009 1 TABLE OF CONTENTS 1. INTRODUCTION ..................................................................... 6 1.1. Fishery Management Plans and ESD Reporting ........................... 7 1.2. The ESD Risk Assessment and Reporting Process ..................... 9 2. BACKGROUND .................................................................... 11 2.1. Description of the South Australian Abalone Fishery ................ 11 2.1.1 Location of the fishery .............................................................. 11 2.1.2. Access to the fishery ................................................................ 13 2.1.3. Fishing methods ....................................................................... 13 2.1.4. Retained species ...................................................................... 13 2.1.5. Non-retained species ................................................................ 14 2.1.6. Traditional involvement in the fishery ....................................... 14 2.2. Management Arrangements and Objectives ............................... 14 2.2.1. Management History of the Fishery .......................................... 14 2.2.2. Legislation ................................................................................ 15 2.2.3. Current Management Arrangements ........................................ 16 2.2.4. Catch and Effort Reporting ....................................................... 18 2.3. Biology of Species......................................................................... 19 2.3.1. Biology of target species .......................................................... 20 2.3.2. Current biological status ........................................................... 22 2.4. Socio-economic environment ...................................................... 24 2.5. Research ........................................................................................ 27 2.5.1. Recent/Current Research ......................................................... 27 2.5.2. Proposed/Future Research ...................................................... 27 3. METHODOLOGY .................................................................. 28 3.1. Scope .............................................................................................. 28 3.2. Overview ......................................................................................... 29 3.3. Issue Identification (component trees) ........................................ 30 3.4. Risk Assessment and Prioritisation of Issues ............................ 31 3.5. Performance Reports for Higher Risk Issues ............................. 34 3.6. Overview Table .............................................................................. 35 4. PERFORMANCE REPORTS ................................................ 38 4.1. Retained Species ........................................................................... 38 4.1.1. Primary Species ....................................................................... 38 4.1.2. Secondary Species ................................................................... 43 4.1.3. By-catch ................................................................................... 43 4.2. Non-Retained Species ................................................................... 45 4.2.1. Direct Interaction but No Capture ............................................. 45 4.3. General Ecosystem ....................................................................... 46 4.3.1. Impacts on Trophic Structure ................................................... 46 4.3.2. Habitat Disturbance .................................................................. 48 4.3.3. Broader Environment ................................................................ 48 4.3.4. Diseases ................................................................................... 49 4.4. Community Wellbeing ................................................................... 50 4.4.1. Fishing Industry ........................................................................ 50 2 DRAFT 4.4.2. Dependent Communities .......................................................... 52 4.4.3. Non-dependent Communities ................................................... 55 4.5. Aboriginal Community .................................................................. 58 4.6. Governance .................................................................................... 59 4.6.1. Government .............................................................................. 59 4.7. External Impacts Affecting Performance of the Fishery ............ 65 4.7.1. Ecological Impacts on the Fishery ............................................ 65 4.7.2. Human Induced Changes ......................................................... 69 4.7.3. Impacts of Other Drivers ........................................................... 70 4.7.4. Access ...................................................................................... 73 5. REFERENCES ...................................................................... 74 6. APPENDICES ....................................................................... 77 6.1. Appendix 1: Likelihood and Consequence Tables ..................... 77 3 DRAFT LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1 Process for preparing a Fishery Management Plan ....................... 8 Figure 2 The Southern, Central and Western Zones of the South Australian Abalone Fishery (the numbered boxes are data collection map codes). ......................................................................................... 12 Figure 3 An abalone diver collecting abalone using a self-propelled cage (source www.streakybayseafood.com.au). ................................... 13 Figure 4 A greenlip abalone (Haliotis laevigata) in its natural environment. ..................................................................................................... 21 Figure 5 A blacklip abalone (Haliotis rubra). ............................................... 22 Figure 6 A) Total catch in shell weight, fishing effort and B) catch per unit effort of the South Australian Abalone Fishery from 1969 to 2008. ..................................................................................................... 23 Figure 7 A range of abalone products sold by Dover fisheries (source: www.doverfisheries.com.au). ....................................................... 24 Figure 8 Summary of the ESD reporting framework processes (Source: ESD Reporting How To Guide; Fletcher et al. 2002). ................... 30 Figure 9 South Australian Abalone Fishery Component Tree Structure ..... 31 Figure 10 Component tree for the retained species in the South Australian Abalone Fishery ........................................................................... 38 Figure 11 Annual shell weight catch of greenlip abalone in the Southern, Central and Western Zones from 1969 to 2008. Data up to 1978 are not validated and those of July-December 2008 are provisional. The red, blue and pink arrow indicates implementation of TACCs in the Western, Southern and Central Zones, respectively. ................................................................................. 40 Figure 12 Annual catch levels and catch rates of blacklip abalone in the Southern, Central and Western Zones from 1967 to 2008. Data up to 1978 are not validated and those of July-December 2008 are provisional. The red, blue and pink arrow indicates implementation of TACCs in the Western, Southern and Central Zones, respectively. ................................................................................. 42 Figure 13 Component tree for the non- retained species in the South Australian Abalone Fishery. ......................................................... 45 Figure 14 Component tree for the General Ecosystem Effects of the South Australian Abalone Fishery .......................................................... 46 Figure 15 Component tree for the contribution of the South Australian Abalone Fishery to Community/Regional Socio-Economic Wellbeing. .................................................................................... 50 Figure 16 Component tree for the Indigenous community of the South Australian Abalone Fishery .......................................................... 58 Figure 17 Component tree for the governance of the South Australian Abalone Fishery ........................................................................... 59 Figure 18 Component tree of the external impacts of the South Australian Abalone Fishery ........................................................................... 65 Figure 19 Exchange rate (USD) and price for South Australian Abalone, 1990/01 to 2007/08 (source: EconSearch 2009). ......................... 71 4 DRAFT LIST OF TABLES Table 1 Summary of management measures for the commercial sector of the South Australian Abalone Fishery in 2008*. sw = shell weight; mw = meat weight; SL = shell length. ........................................... 17 Table 2 Summary of management measures for the Recreational South Australian Abalone Fishery. ......................................................... 18 Table 3 Abalone exports from South Australia, by product type, 2005/06 to 2007/08 (source: EconSearch 2009). ........................................... 24 Table 4 Abalone exports from South Australia, by country of destination,
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