The annual assessment of Commonwealth fish stocks by ABARES has found that the majority of stocks assessed were not overfished or subject to overfishing.
The ABARES Fishery status reports 2024 provides an annual, independent assessment of the biological and economic status of Commonwealth-managed fisheries.
ABARES Executive Director, Dr Jared Greenville, said the Fishery status reports 2024 indicated that overall, Commonwealth fisheries continue to be well-managed.
“Of the 102 stocks assessed only 3 changed status, but the overall result was the same as last year with 67 stocks classified as not overfished and 75 classified as not subject to overfishing,” Dr Greenville said.
The report highlights several pressures on sustainable fisheries management. This includes challenges to monitoring and responding to the impacts of ongoing climate change, and a decline in the quality and quantity of data to undertake stock assessments.
“In recent years, there has been an increase in the number of stocks with uncertain status and a small increase in the number of stocks assessed as overfished or subject to overfishing,” Dr Greenville said.
“This emphasises the importance of regular monitoring of fish stocks to allow fisheries management decisions to be adaptive and to direct effort to improving data collection.”
“That said, the management systems for Commonwealth fisheries are well established.”
“We’re in a good position to tackle these challenges and shore up long-term sustainability for our fish stocks.”
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