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Status Report for Re-assessment for Export Approval Under the EPBC Act
Coral Sea Fishery
August2013
This report has been prepared by the Australian Fisheries Management Authority for consideration by the Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities (SEWPAC) in accordance with the fishery’s declarationas a Wildlife Trade Operationunder the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999.
CONTENTS
1.Introduction
1.1.Coral Sea Commonwealth Marine Reserve
2.Description of the fishery
3.Management
3.1.Management arrangements
3.2.Consultation process
3.3.Harvest Strategies
3.4.Harvest Strategy Review
3.5.Changes to management arrangements
3.6.Performance of the fishery
4.Status of export approval/accreditation under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBCAct)
5.Research and monitoring
5.1.Research Projects
5.1.Monitoring programs
5.2.Logbooks
5.3.Observer coverage
6.Catch and Effort
6.1.Total catch of target species
6.2.Bycatch
6.3.Ecological Risk Assessment
6.4.ERA Review Process
6.5.Catches of shark species to be CITES listed in 2014.
7.Status of target stock
7.1.Resource concerns
8.Interactions with protected species
9.Impacts of the fishery on the ecosystem in which it operates
10.Conclusion
11.Progress in implementing conditions and recommendations
1.Introduction
In August 2010 the Australian Fisheries Management Authority (AFMA) submitted the Coral Sea Fishery Strategic Assessment Report (2010 submission) for assessment under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC Act).
Followingassessment, the Coral Sea Fishery (CSF)was declared an approved Wildlife Trade Operation under the EPBC Act for three years, until 19 November 2013.
This accreditation was subject to a number of conditions and recommendations, the outcomes of which are discussed in Table 4. Condition 3 provides that AFMA will produce and present reports to the Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities (SEWPAC) annually as per Appendix B to the Guidelines for the Ecologically Sustainable Management of Fisheries – 2nd Edition (Guidelines).
This report details changes in the CSF since the 2010 submissionand management responses to the conditions and recommendations of its accreditation.Where a heading in the Guidelines is not listed, there have been no significant changes in that area since the 2010 submission.
1.1.Coral Sea Commonwealth Marine Reserve
The Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities is the lead agency for marine bioregional planning issues.On 16 November 2012 the Hon. Tony Burke, the then Minister for Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities announced Commonwealth marine parks, including the Coral Sea Marine Reserve, will be implemented from July 2014 (see The government will be allocating approximately $100m in assistance to commercial fishers and fisheries to adjust to changes that will result from the displacement of commercial fishing from new Commonwealth marine reserves. This announcement and the scheduled implementation of the Coral Sea Marine Reserve will have implications on fishing methods and sectors (i.e. reduced catch and effort). It is also anticipated that at the completion of the fishery adjustment package a smaller number of permit holders and sectors will be present in the CSF. For that reason some of the actions under the CSF accreditation have been placed on hold.
2.Description of the fishery
The CSF lies east of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park (GBRMP) and extends to the edge of the Australian Fishing Zone (Figure 1). The fishery extends north from Sandy Cape (Fraser Island), to Cape York. It excludes the areas of the Coringa-Herald and Lihou Reef National Nature Reserves. Together the Nature Reserves cover approximately 17,000 square kilometres of coral reef habitat. The CSF often experiences adverse weather conditions which can make fishing difficult at certain times of the year.
The CSF is a diverse fishery employing a range of fishing methods to target a wide variety of species. Participation in the CSF is limited to 16 fishing permits; this means that to enter the fishery new entrants must purchase an existing permit and transfer this into their name. AFMA maintains a register of all Commonwealth fishing permits on its website.
Figure 1. Area of the Coral Sea Fishery.
A wide range of finfish species are taken in the CSF, as well as sharks, lobsters, trochus, sea cucumbers and live rock (limestone encrusted with coralline algae and other encrusting species). Catch composition varies over time depending on the methods and areas fished.The sectors and fishing permits of the CSF are based on fishing techniques. They are:
- Line and Trap Sector – demersallongline, trotlines, droplines, setlines and handlines, and demersal finfish traps
- Trawl and Trap Sector – otter board trawl gear for fish and crustaceans and demersal finfish traps
- Sea Cucumber Sector – hand collection
- Aquarium Sector – hand collection, barbless hook and line, scoop, cast and seine nets
- Lobster and Trochus Sector – hand collection.
3.Management
3.1.Management arrangements
The CSF is managed through a combination of input and output controls as prescribed in the:
- Fisheries Management Act 1991 (the Act) and associated amendments and temporary orders
- Fisheries Management Regulations 1992 and associated amendments and temporary orders
- CSF Harvest Strategies developed in accordance with the Commonwealth Fisheries Harvest Strategy Policy 2007 and implemented in 2008, and
- Conditions on fishing permits.
3.2.Consultation process
The following consultative bodies have been established to address management issues in the CSF:
- the CSF Stakeholder Group includes all concession holders and researchers directly involved in the fishery
- theCSF Expert Committee was formed to consider the review and development of the Harvest Strategies.
3.3.Harvest Strategies
The Harvest Strategies for the CSF are based on a comprehensive suite of catch and effort triggers recognizing the developmental nature of the fishery. The triggers aim to detect changes in the fishery, provide for low cost implementation and allow for controlled expansion as more information and management resources become available. There are currently four individual harvest strategies for the CSF:
- Hand Collection Sector: Aquarium
- Hand Collection Sector: Lobster and Trochus
- Hand Collection Sector: Sea Cucumber, and
- Line, Trawl and Trap Sector.
3.4.Harvest Strategy Review
Harvest strategies for the Coral Sea Fishery (CSF) were developed during 2007 and adopted in July 2008. Following a period of implementation AFMA considers a number of amendments are necessary to better align the harvest strategies with AFMA’s capacity to monitor and manage risk in the fishery. The four CSF Harvest Strategies were reviewed by the CSF Expert Panel in 2009 and 2010. The reviews considered:
- the recommendations from the independent CSIRO management strategy evaluation of the CSF Harvest Strategies conducted in November 2009
- the Harvest Strategies triggers and responses to ensure they are both efficient and effective.
Further work is underway to validate and justify the triggers and to demonstrate that management is appropriate, sustainable and defensible. Ongoing reviews are scheduled to be undertaken by the CSF Expert Panel with the view to redraft the numerous individual sector harvest strategies into a single document.The format of this revised CSF harvest strategy will better align with the harvest strategy documents for other AFMA managed fisheries and is expected to be more user-friendly.
3.5.Changes to management arrangements
A limited number of fishing permits are granted for the fishery each year under the Fisheries Management Act 1991(the Act). Permits are subject to conditions set out in section 32(5) of the Act as well as conditions specified on the permits. Conditions vary depending on the sector but may include gear restrictions, species size limits, trigger limits and total allowable catch limits (TACs) as well as spatial controls.
Trip limits for certain deepwater shark species in the CSF were implemented through 2010-11 permit conditions. Although relatively few deepwater sharks are caught in the CSF, these precautionary management arrangements will help protect these species from overfishing in the future. This move is part of a broader strategy to mitigate the risks of overfishing to deepwater sharks in all Commonwealth managed fisheries. To further restrict the impacts of fishing on deepwater sharks, permit conditions for 2013-2014 were changed to prohibit the take of deepwater dogfishes of the following species – Harrisson’s Dogfish (C. harrissoni), Endeavour Dogfish (C. moluccensis), Southern Dogfish (C. zeehaani) and GreeneyeSpurdog (Squaluschloroculus) by all sectors. The condition also outlines that in the event deepwater dogfishes of the species specified are taken alive, these species must be returned to the water carefully and quickly.
Permit conditions for 2011-2012 were changed to prohibit the take of Humphead Maori Wrasse by all sectors except the Aquarium Sector (which has a 50 specimen limit for the season). This condition is unchanged for the 2013-2014 fishing season.
For the 2013/14 season the rotational zone plan for the Sea Cucumber Sector was varied to increase the permitted number of days on Osprey reef to 30. The plan was varied to allow some flexibility to operators during the season. This decision was made in consultation with CSF Stakeholders and was based on a number of factors including:
- This will be less than the historical amount of days that could be fished in previous seasons on Osprey reef
- Osprey reef is relatively large approximately 15nm in length
- Recently effort in the Sea Cucumber Sector has been low (8 days fished in 2011/12 and no fishing in 2012/13)
- The existing measures in the Sea Cucumber Sector Harvest Strategy (TAC’s and move-on provision) will still be in place as fishing permit conditions.
The CSF Management Arrangement Booklet describes all management arrangements for the 2013-2014 fishing season. The booklet is available on AFMA’s website at
3.6.Performance of the fishery
A statement of the performance of the CSF against its objectives, performance indicators and performance measures is made in AFMA’s Annual Report available on AFMA’s website at:
4.Status of export approval/accreditation under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999(EPBCAct)
The CSF was last assessed under the protected species and export provisions of the EPBCAct in 2010. The CSF was declared an approved Wildlife Trade Operationunder Part13A of the EPBCAct on 19November 2010, thus allowing export of product from the fishery until 19November2013. Details of the fishery’s progress against conditions and recommendations of the export approval are detailed in section10 of this report.
5.Research and monitoring
5.1.Research Projects
Research needs in the fishery are reviewed by the CSF Stakeholder Group. Operators have worked with research organisations to undertake scientific monitoring programs. Observers have also undertaken biological sampling of target and bycatch species. This information is used to assess the impacts of the fishery on the marine environment and the effectiveness of management measures and commitments under the bycatch action plan. Table 1 provides a list of research projects undertaken or scheduled to be undertaken in the CSF.
Table 1.Summary of research undertaken or scheduled to be undertaken in the CSF.
Project / Purpose / Outcomes / Research Provider / StatusCoral Sea Commonwealth Marine Reserve: social and economic assessment of the impacts of commercial and charter fishing / This project assessed the impacts of the proposed marine reserve in the coral sea on commercial and charter fishing / ABARES commission by SEWPaC / Completed June 2012
Coral Sea Fishery ERA – Phase II TEP and chondrichthyan species. / A report provided in December 2011 outlined the outcomes of a species specific ERA of all TEP and Chondrichthyan species likely to occur in the Coral Sea region. / CSIRO / Completed March 2012
Reducing Uncertainty in Stock Status: Coral Sea Fishery Aquarium Sector / The Reducing Uncertainty in Stock Status (RUSS) project formed part of an expanded Fisheries Research Program aimed at facilitating the classification of Australian Government-managed fish stocks that were classified as uncertain. / ABARES / Restricted release of the Aquarium sector draft report in December 2011. Final reports for all sectors have not been released.
5.1.Monitoring programs
The monitoring program for the CSF includes information collected through logbooks and catch disposal records, observer coverage and independent research. An overview of the monitoring programs is provided below.
5.2.Logbooks
All concession holders in the CSF are required to complete the designated logbook by method and catch disposal records. Logbooks provide for the recording of information on the vessel, operator, gear, location, time and catch for each fishing operation. Information on bycatch species, interactions with TEP species and other trip observations including bottom type, scallop size and discard rates are also collected. Accurate data from logbooks will allow continued monitoring of bycatch and discards in the fishery and assist in identifyingany emerging issues.
5.3.Observer coverage
A total of 90 fishing days were observed in the CSF for the fishing seasons (2009-10 to 2012-13). This involvedsix different boats and a range of fishing methods including line, trap and hand collection (Sea Cucumber). The details of the observer coverage over this period are outlined in Table 1.
Observer trips undertaken in the line, trawl and trap sector in the 2011-12 fishing year were undertaken as per the typical integrated scientific monitoring program applied on board an auto line voyage. These trips require biological data collection including completing catch compositions and collecting length frequencies, wildlife abundance and interaction data as well as other general data including daily log information, vessel and gear details and shot specific information. Further information was collected on the capture and interaction of the vessel with Gulper Sharks. The trips observed 100% of theshots by the vessel during the voyages and no interactions with threatened, endangered or protected species were reported.
Table 1.Observer coverage forfishing seasons 2009-10to 2012-13.
Fishing Season / Days observed / Methods observed / Number of trips / Number of boats / Coverage of total effort2009-10 / 16 / Dropline / 1 / 1 / 100%
2010-11 / 7 / Dropline / 1 / 1 / 100%
17 / Trap / 1 / 1 / 11%
10 / Hand Collection & Line Fishing / 1 / 1 / 100%
2011-12 / 20 / Auto long-line / 2 / 1 / 100%
2012-13* / 8 / Hand Collection (Aquarium sector) / 1 / 1 / 72%
12 / Auto long-line / 1 / 1 / 60%
*July 2012 to May 2013
6.Catch and Effort
6.1.Total catch of target species
Catch and effort in the Coral Sea Fishery for the fishing seasons 2009-10 to 2012-13 are provided in table 1. The differences in the catch data for particular fishing years within the tables below are due to the different methods used to record the vessels landed catch (catch weighed and recorded in catch disposal records) and the at-sea catch (catch estimates recorded in logbooks).
Table 1: Total landed catch in the CSF between 2008-09 and 2011-12 (excluding Aquarium Sector).
Fishing year / Catch(whole wt tonnes) / No. of boats / Methods
2009-10 / 4 / 2 / Diving (hand collection), dropline
2010-11 / 54.3 / 4 / Trapping, diving, line fishing
2011-12 / 39.3 / 3 / Diving (hand collection), dropline, longline
2012-13* / 16.5 / 1 / Longline
*July 2012 to May 2013
Line, Trawl and Trap Sector
Over the past 3 fishing seasons catch and effortfrom the line, trawl and trap sector has declined (table 1). The majority of catch was taken from the line sector with catches also from the hand collection sector (table 2).
Auto-long line catches for the past three seasons have been below the harvest strategy species triggers. In terms of the trigger pertaining to changes in catch composition (if the relative catch proportion of any species changes by >30% from its historical average AND the catch of this species is greater than 1t, invoke a Level 1 response on the relevant species), one species (flame snapper) exceeded this trigger for the past two seasons while spikes in catches were also observed for bar rockcod, blue-eye trevalla, and ruby snapper. Industry members have advised that in recent years targeting practices have changed due to new marketing opportunities for particular species. This has resulted in the spike in catches for these species which is largely attributable to a change in depths fished. Ongoing monitoring and observer coverage is scheduled to continue during 2013 on auto-line fishing vessels to monitor catch rates and effort.Given the announcement and scheduled implementation of the Coral Sea Marine Reserve (see section 9.1) and exclusion of auto-long lining from the fishery in mid-2014, the potential risks of overfishing these species in the CSF are considered low. Thereforeno further management restrictions will be considered during 2013.
Table 2: Logbook catch, effort and CPUE for line, trawl and trap methodsfor fishing years 2008-09 to 2011-12.
Fishing year / Trap lifts / Catch (Kg whole weight) / CPUE (total catch/total effort)2009-10 / 0 / 0 / 0
2010-11 / 11,081 / 77,973 / 7.04
2011-12 / 0 / 0 / 0
2012-13 / 0 / 0 / 0
Fishing year / Trawl hours / Catch (Kg whole weight) / CPUE (total catch/total effort)
2009-10 / 0 / 0 / 0
2010-11 / 0 / 0 / 0
2011-12 / 0 / 0 / 0
2012-13 / 0 / 0 / 0
Fishing year / Dropline hooks[[1]] / Catch (Kg whole weight) / CPUE (total catch/total effort)
2009-10 / 216 / 1,239 / 5.7
2010-11 / 555 / 528 / 0.95
2011-12 / 864 / 295 / 0.34
2012-13 / 0 / 0 / 0
Fishing year / Longline hooks / Catch (Kg whole weight) / CPUE (total catch/total effort)
2009-10 / 0 / 0 / 0
2010-11 / 687 / 1,733.6 / 0.4
2011-12 / 244,100 / 39,264 / 0.16
2012-13 / 111,500 / 16,455 / 6.77
Note fishing year 2012-13 is for the period July 2012 to May 2013
Hand Collection (Sea Cucumber) Sector
Sea cucumber catch landed in the CSF for years 2009-10 to 2012-13 is provided in table 3. Assessing the sea cucumber catch against the harvest strategy trigger limits for the past 3 seasons shows that all catches by species were below the catch limits (see table 4).
Table 3: Logbook catch, effort and CPUE for hand collection (sea cucumber)for fishing years 2008-09 to 2011-12.