10051 5th Street N., Suite 105 St. Petersburg, Florida 33702‐2211 Tel: (727) 563‐9070 Fax: (727) 563‐0207 Email: [email protected] President: Andrew A. Rosenberg, Ph.D. Full Assessment Exmouth Gulf prawn trawl fishery Public Comment Review Document Prepared for MG Kailis Prepared by MRAG Americas, Inc. June 2015 Assessment Team: Richard Banks, Kevin McLoughlin, and Robert J. Trumble MRAG – Exmouth Gulf Prawn Fishery Public Comment Draft Report page i Table of Contents List of Abbreviations ................................................................................................................ iv 1. Executive Summary ......................................................................................................... 7 2. Introduction .................................................................................................................... 11 3. Authorship and Peer Reviewers .................................................................................... 12 4. Description of the Fishery .............................................................................................. 15 4.1 Unit(s) of Certification and scope of certification sought ................................... 15 4.2 Overview of the fishery ...................................................................................... 15 4.3 Principle One: Target stock status and harvest strategy (P1) ........................... 28 4.4 Principle Two: Ecosystem Background ............................................................. 48 4.5 Principle Three: Management ......................................................................... 112 5. Evaluation Procedure .................................................................................................. 169 5.1 Harmonised Fishery Assessment .......................................................................... 169 5.2 Previous assessments ........................................................................................... 170 5.3 Assessment Methodologies ................................................................................... 170 5.4 Evaluation Processes and Techniques .................................................................. 170 6 Traceability .................................................................................................................. 176 6.1 Eligibility Date .................................................................................................. 176 6.2 Traceability within the Fishery ......................................................................... 176 7 Evaluation Results ....................................................................................................... 178 7.1 Principle Level Scores ..................................................................................... 178 7.2 Summary of Scores ......................................................................................... 178 7.3 Summary of Conditions ................................................................................... 180 7.4 Recommendations .......................................................................................... 180 7.5 Determination, Formal Conclusion and Agreement ........................................ 181 7.6 Changes in the fishery prior to and since Pre-Assessment ............................. 181 References .......................................................................................................................... 182 General References ........................................................................................................ 182 1.1 Principle 1 References .................................................................................................. 188 1.2 Principle 2 References .................................................................................................. 189 1.3 Principle 3 References .................................................................................................. 197 Appendices ......................................................................................................................... 201 Appendix 1 Scoring and Rationales .................................................................................... 201 Appendix 1.1 Performance Indicator Scores and Rationale ...................................... 201 Appendix 1.2: Conditions ................................................................................................ 283 Appendix 2: Client Action Plan – Exmouth Gulf .................................................................. 290 Appendix 3 Report Support Documents ............................................................................. 296 Appendix 3.1: Productivity Sensitivity Analysis (DoF) .................................................... 296 Appendix 3.2: Exmouth Gulf Fishery Harvest Strategy ................................................... 305 MRAG – Exmouth Gulf Prawn Fishery Public Comment Draft Report page ii Appendix 3.3: Ranked Risk Assessment for Multiple Fisheries (RRAMF) Methodology (After Evans, R. and Molony, B. W. 2010) ..................................................................................... 313 Appendix 3.4: ETP Species in the Exmouth Gulf Region ................................................ 318 Appendix 4: Harmonisation ................................................................................................. 324 Appendix 5. Peer Review Reports ...................................................................................... 329 Appendix 6. Stakeholder submissions ................................................................................ 386 Appendix 7. Surveillance Frequency .................................................................................. 394 Appendix 8. Client Agreement ............................................................................................ 395 Appendix 9 Objections Process .......................................................................................... 396 MRAG – Exmouth Gulf Prawn Fishery Public Comment Draft Report page iii List of Abbreviations AAC Aquatic Advisory IFAAC Independent Allocation Committee Advisory Committee AFMA Australian Fisheries IFM Integrated Fisheries Management Authority Management ALC Automatic Location IMCRA Integrated Marine and Communicator Coastal Regionalisation of Australia AMM Annual Management IMS Introduced Marine Meeting Species ARMA Aquatic Resources IOD Indian Ocean Dipole Management Act AS/NZS Australia and New Zealand ITQ Individual Transferable Safety Management Quota Standards BAP Bycatch Action Plan IUCN International Union for Conservation of Nature BMSY Biomass at Maximum JAMBA Japan-Australia Migratory Sustainable Yield Bird Agreement BRD Bycatch Reduction Devices KPI Key Performance Indicator CA Consequence Analysis LOW Letters of Warning CALM Conservation and Land LENS List of Exempt Native Management Species CAMBA China-Australia Migratory MAC Management Advisory Bird Agreement Committee CI Confidence Interval MCS Monitoring, Control and Surveilence CITES Convention on International MDS Multi-dimensional Scaling Trade in Endangered Species CMS Convention on the MFL Managed Fishery Licence Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals CoA Commonwealth of Australia MRAG Marine Reseource Assessment Group CO Compliance Observer MSC Marine Stewardship Council COAG Council of Australian NBPMF Nickol Bay Prawn Governments Managed Fishery CoC Chain of Custody NPWCA National Parks and Wildlife Conservation Act 1975 CPL Carnarvon-Peron Line NTA Native Title Act CL Carapace Length NCWHAC Ningaloo Coast World Heritage Advisory Committee CSIRO Commonwealth Scientific OCP Operational Compliance and Industrial Research Plan Organisation CSMPA Composite Square Mesh OCS Offshore Constitutional MRAG – Exmouth Gulf Prawn Fishery Public Comment Draft Report page iv Panels (Aft) Settlement CSMPF Composite Square Mesh OPMF Onslow Prawn Managed Panels (Forward) Fishery CSWA Circular, Straight-Vertical- PSA Productivity- Bars, Wide-Bar-Spacing, Susceptibility Analysis and Accelerator CW Carapace Width PSMA Public Sector Management Act DEC Department of Environment RBF Risk Based Methodology and Conservation WA DoE Department of Environment RMADP Research, Monitoring, Assessment and Development Plan DoF Department of Fisheries ROKAMBA Republic of Korea- WA Australia Migratory Bird Agreement DPaW Department of Parks and RRAMF Risk Ranked Assessment Wildlife WA for Multiple Fisheries EBFM Ecosystem Based Fisheries RSNA Rectangular, Straight- Management Vertical-Bars, Narrow- Bar-Spacing and Accelerator EEZ Exclusive Economic Zone SAFE Sustainability Assessment for Fishing Effects EG Exmouth Gulf SAT State Administrative Tribunal EGPMF Exmouth Gulf Prawn SB Shark Bay Managed Fishery ENA Extended Nursery Area SBBSMNMF Shark Bay Beach Seine Mesh Net Managed Fishery ENSO El Niño/La Niña Southern SBCIMF Shark Bay Crab Interim Oscillation Managed Fishery EOI Expression of Interest SBPMF Shark Bay Prawn Managed Fishery EPBC Act Environment Protection and SBPTOA Shark Bay Prawn Trawler Biodiversity Conservation Operators’ Association Act ERA Environmental Risk SBSMF Shark Bay Scallop Assessment Managed Fishery ESD Ecologically Sustainable SKM Sinclair Knight Merz Development ETP Endangered, Threatened and SLA Service Level Agreement Protected FAM Fisheries Assessment SRE site Short Recovery Methodology Experimental site FAS Act Fisheries