National Guidelines to Develop Fishery Harvest Strategies

Harvest strategies offer an effective fisheries management tool to integrate the ecological, social and economic dimensions of fisheries management into a single framework for fisheries management decision making. As evidenced by their wide use internationally and throughout Australian fisheries management jurisdictions, harvest strategies represent a best-practice approach to fisheries management decision making (FAO 2011; Smith et al. 2013; McIlgorm 2013). The objectives for this project were to: 1. Undertake a review and analysis of the present situation of harvest strategies in Commonwealth and State-managed fisheries. 2. Develop a common definition for nationally consistent harvest strategies. 3. Develop an agreed set of over-arching principles for Harvest Strategies across Australia The National Guidelines to Develop Fishery Harvest Strategies (the National Guidelines), outlined in this report, provide a national framework to support a consistent and more harmonised approach to harvest strategy development across Australian fisheries jurisdictions. The National Guidelines aim to provide practical technical assistance to all government fisheries management agencies in Australia (State, Territory and Commonwealth) to develop fishery-specific harvest strategies and to facilitate a consistent and more harmonised approach across fisheries throughout Australia. The National Guidelines aim to help inform policy makers involved in the development of over-arching harvest strategy policies and assist in ensuring a national best-practice approach to the development of such policies. A national approach to harvest strategy development will enable common challenges to be addressed in a consistent and coordinated manner, thereby avoiding unnecessary duplication of effort and resources, and ensuring more targeted investment in ways to address common challenges. A working group was established to develop the National Guidelines, including a national cross section of fisheries management, policy, science and fishing industry expertise presently involved in harvest strategy development in Australia. A national technical stakeholder workshop was held in the early phase of the project to shape the approach to development of the National Guidelines. A national qualitative audit was undertaken to evaluate the extent to which harvest strategies are being applied across Australian fisheries management jurisdictions. This audit identified that whilst harvest strategies are used widely in Australian fisheries their application is highly inconsistent, as is the use of terminology and language. The audit identified a need to more adequately integrate the economic and social aspects of fisheries management into harvest strategy development (particularly in relation to the use of social and economic performance indicators, target reference points and decision rules) to promote management of fisheries to broader ESD standards.