Recreational Western Rock Lobster Fishery Survey

Recreational fishers are responsible for harvesting a significant proportion of the total lobster landings each year. Mail surveys of licensees have been carried out annually since 1986, aimed at estimating the total recreational catch and gleaning additional secondary information on recreational fishing methods, areas fished, frequency of activity and fisher demographic characteristics.

The significance of the recreational lobster catch to total lobster landings makes it a component of the fishery that cannot afford to be ignored by those managing the resource. There is a need to have an understanding of where, when and how much lobster is taken by this user group, so that this portion of the catch can be taken into account in stock assessment considerations.

This project:

* calculates total lobster landings made by recreational fishers and tracks the proportion that these landings make from year to year compared with the commercial catch;
* monitors participation rates and documents variations in the usage of the western rock lobster stock by the recreational sector from year-to-year; and
* makes predictions of future recreational rock lobster licence sales, usage and catch based on puerulus settlement indices.

Time : Ongoing.