Game fish back off Australia's ‘overfished’ hook

Australia’s fisheries have received a clean bill of health, the latest annual audit of the nation’s 95 fish stocks spread across 22 sites managed by the Australian Government has shown.

The Fishery status reports 2018 has revealed that almost 70 percent of the nation’s fish stocks were not overfished, or subject to overfishing. The news was even better for anglers heading out after big game fish.

“The reports reflect a positive change in a number of stocks managed jointly with regional fisheries management organisations,” Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics executive director Steve Hatfield-Dodds said.

“For example, southern bluefin tuna is now classified as not subject to overfishing for the first time in the history of the Fishery status report, first released in 1992,” Hatfield-Dodds said.

“In addition, both bigeye tuna and swordfish in the Eastern Tuna and Billfish Fishery [stretching from Queensland to the southern tip of Victoria] are now classified as not overfished and not subject to overfishing.”

However, while no fish species was identified as overfished for the fifth year running, the report said a number of stocks were close to it, and it was not certain if fish numbers in those zones would rebuild naturally.

“There are also a number of stocks, in both solely and jointly managed fisheries that are now classified as uncertain due to changes in catch that need to be monitored, or the lack of up-to-date assessments, Hatfield-Dodds said.

The report estimated the economic performance of the Commonwealth-managed fisheries were worth $403 million to the economy, and represented almost a quarter of the $1.75 billion earned from Australia’s wild-capture fisheries each year.