New Management Strategies for Balancing Conservation and Sustainable Coastal Fisheries in Southeast Australia

摘要

New South Wales (NSW) is on the east coast and one of the eight states and territories of Australia. NSW ocean fisheries harvest 10,725 metric tons offish and invertebrates valued at AUD 66.7 million dollar and include six major managed fisheries, ocean trap and line fishing, ocean prawn trawling, ocean fish trawling, ocean beach hauling, lobster and abalone harvesting. The legislative framework for reconciling fisheries with conservation in NSW is the Environment Impact Assessment process under theEnvironmental Planning and Assessment Act. This determines whether management strategies prepared under the Fisheries Management Act will deliver ecologically sustainable fisheries. The environmental impact assessment is an important tool. It details likely impacts and allows for alternative management and mitigation measures when formulating fishery management strategies for each of the six wild capture fisheries to ensure conservation of coastal biodiversity. It enables the community to review and provide input to the proposed strategy and management regimes. It also informs decision makers of the likely costs and benefits of the strategy and the need for mitigation measures. The environmental assessment examines the impacts of the fishing activitieson the environment and considers ecosystem information at multiple levels in addition to economic and social issues. Due to data deficiency the reconciling of fisheries with conservation in the environmental assessments is based on a multi-stage risk assessment.