Quotas above average & industry set to land more fish in 2016-17

Quotas in the trawl fishery over the previous five years have averaged just over 20,000 tonnes per annum.  Trawl quotas for the upcoming season which starts in May have been finalised and are 21,830 tonnes.

Blue eye trevalla, blue grenadier, elephant fish, western gemfish, ocean perch, smooth oreo, pink ling and school whiting quotas have all increased.  Fishermen are happy to see quotas for ocean perch, pink ling, oreo dory, blue eye trevalla and school whiting increase, because these species seem to be growing in abundance and catches over the last few years have been limited by quota.

The big downward movement this year has been silver warehou with a 50%, or 1,208 tonne reduction.  The need to reduce the quota is was due to several years of poor recruitment driven by environmental factors and is supported by industry.

Industry, the Management Committee, the Resource Assessment Group and AFMA had no points of disagreement on this year’s trawl quotas.

Expectations are that the fishery will land more fish in the coming year.