Australian Minister for Fisheries and Conservation, Senator Eric Abetz, said the 2006 report highlighted clear improvements across the board in the stock status of Commonwealth fisheries. 

“This is fantastic news for Commonwealth fish stocks and great news for seafood consumers who can now buy their favourite Commonwealth-managed fish species with extra confidence,” the Minister said.

“The $220m Securing our Fishing Future package was a historic commitment by the Australian Government and I’m delighted to see such early positive results.”

Under the package, over 550 fishing concessions have been voluntarily surrendered in Commonwealth fisheries at a cost of $149 million, and a range of management reforms introduced to better position the Commonwealth fishing industry for a sustainable and profitable future. 

The Minister said while the results have been very encouraging, it was still very much ‘early days’.

“While it’s great to see early success, the full benefits of the reforms under the package are not likely to be seen for some time,” Senator Abetz said.

“For example, 10 Commonwealth-managed stocks have still been classified as ‘over-fished’ which reflects the fact that for many species, such as orange roughy, their life history characteristics mean some stocks are likely to take many years to rebuild.

“However, with all Commonwealth fisheries now subject to management reforms introduced as part of the package, population trends across the board are heading in the right direction.”

The Minister said a record 97 fish stocks had been assessed in the 2006 report covering stocks managed solely by the Australian Government, through the Australian Fisheries Management Authority, as well as stocks managed jointly with other jurisdictions including international Regional Fisheries Management Organisations (RFMOs).

Of the 97 stocks, 27 were classified as ‘not over-fished’ (up from 19 in 2005) and 19 were classified as ‘over-fished’ and/or ‘subject to over-fishing’ (down from 24 in 2005). A further 51 stocks were classified as ‘uncertain’. Stocks are classified as ‘uncertain’ where insufficient information is available to provide a definitive classification and does not indicate a trend towards being ‘over-fished’ or ‘not over-fished’. 

Nonetheless, all Commonwealth-managed stocks classified as ‘uncertain’ are subject to the management reforms introduced as part of the Securing our Fishing Future package.  

The Minister said the five stocks classified as subject to over-fishing were all highly migratory species (e.g. big eye tuna in the Pacific Ocean) managed internationally by RFMOs, and over-fishing was the result of excess fishing pressure from international fleets, not Australian vessels. Australia is working through the relevant RFMOs to ensure the

long-term sustainability of these species.

The Minister said the development and roll out of the Securing our Fishing Future package had been a resource intensive and technically demanding exercise, and he thanked the fishing industry and other stakeholders for their valuable contributions. 

The Fishery Status Reports are produced annually by the Bureau of Rural Sciences. A full copy of the 2006 report can be found at www.affa.gov.au/statusreports.