PO Box H292, Australia Square NSW 1215
Email: Secretariat@marineparksaudit.nsw.gov.au
Web: www.marineparksaudit.nsw.gov.au
4.15
–5.40pm, Monday 28 November 2011
Conference Room
Port Stephens Fisheries Research Institute
Taylors Beach NSW
Attendees:
Assoc Prof Bob Beeton, Chair
Prof Colin Buxton
Mr Greg Cutbush
Prof Peter Fairweather
Assoc Prof Emma Johnston
Dr Roberta Ryan
Ms Petrina Alcock, Secretariat Manager
Dr Fiona Powell, Secretariat
Dr Bob Creese, Department of Primary Industries
Prof Steve Kennelly, Department of Primary Industries
The views expressed at all workshops are those of the individual participants. They do not necessarily reflect the views of the NSW Government, the views of all the workshop participants or the views of the Audit Panel.
The Chair welcomed attendees, provided a background to the Audit and explained Audit procedures.
Participants discussed how to determine whether marine parks can be effective at achieving their stated objectives to conserve biodiversity and referred to an MPA Briefing Note dated 26/03/2007
(Audit document 210). It was indicated that, in 2007, four out of 45 Marine Parks Authority projects were designed to monitor the effectiveness of marine park zones.
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It was suggested that input from the Marine Parks Research Committee (while it existed) had been used well in NSW to determine where to establish marine parks but used not so well in determining zone boundaries. It was suggested the 2009 Fairweather et al. review identified this shortcoming.
Funding under the Recreational Fishing Trusts was discussed and it was suggested that recent attempts for funding of projects looking at marine parks have not received much support, compared to past years. For example, in 2006, the Trust funded a very large project looking at recreational fishing in the Sydney basin in the context of whether there might be a marine park established around Sydney, as described in Audit document 155.
Temporal closures under the Fisheries Management Act 1994 were discussed and it was suggested they could be used more effectively and strategically to manage fish stocks. It was further suggested there is potential to use temporal and spatial closures for strategic management of particular species or a specific location such as breeding habitats or known aggregations sites. As examples, participants indicated that spawning aggregations of Ranina ranina (Spanner Crabs) in the Cape Byron Marine Park have been managed quite well with a temporal closure for almost 20 years; and short-term spatial closures around river mouths are used routinely after serious flooding events in the northern rivers to protect a huge variety of fish washed out to sea.
Participants suggested that such examples show how temporal closures can be of benefit to commercial and recreational fisheries.
Participants discussed a submission by the Department of Primary Industries to the independent review of NSW commercial fisheries.
Participants suggested that benefits to fisheries from small scale spatial closures to fishing in sanctuary zones in marine parks can be incidental to their primary aim of conserving biodiversity, and the species most likely to benefit are those that have particular aggregation sites, such as
Carcharias taurus (the Grey Nurse Shark) and Ranina ranina (the Spanner crab), or are quite sedentary like Haliotis rubra (Abalone) and Cheilodactylus fuscus (Red Morwong). Conversely, those fisheries based on species with broad distributions and that are highly migratory such as prawn fisheries are unlikely to benefit from such closures unless they are strategically designed for those species.
Concerns regarding the status of dogfish were discussed, as was whether marine parks could contribute to their conservation. It was suggested that marine parks in Commonwealth waters could be of benefit to the species if they are large enough and designed strategically to take account of the biology of such species but that gear restrictions and quota management are probably the most appropriate tools to manage such species.
It was suggested the status of fisheries in NSW are assessed based on expert opinion and the best available scientific data but that little or no data on secondary effects of fishing
—for example, cascading effects on other species from predator-prey and competitive relationships- are available.
Participants advised that the most recent assessments of NSW fished species indicated:

that 43 of the 108 fished species are sustainable

that 11 species are assessed as recruitment overfished, overfished or growth overfished.
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
there are insufficient data to assess the status of 54 fished species.
Participants indicated that through a risk assessment process, species with insufficient data to be assessed to date but that are at high risk, for example because of their life history, are prioritised for research to provide data for the next annual round of assessments.
Participants suggested some NSW fisheries, such as Abalone, are overfished and these may benefit from spatial closures. It was further suggested Argyrosomus japonicus (Mulloway) is also overfished but is mainly managed through size limits.
Participants suggested there had been no NSW Government fisheries economist for several years and that virtually no recent research has been done by DPI in that area. It was also discussed how social and economic issues are considered together when ideally, in a fisheries context, they would be better treated separately so that social issues become a focus to reflect the huge importance of recreational fishing in NSW.
The value of marine parks as insurance against unknowns was discussed.
It was suggested that commercial fishers have been uncertain about the future of their industry for many years. Participants indicated that in NSW, commercial fishing businesses have decreased over the last decade or so, and that 85% of seafood consumed in NSW comes from elsewhere.
There has also been an increase in recreational fishing during this time with population rise and better angler education.
Participants noted that NSW is now, and has been for many decades, a predominantly recreational fishing state.
It was suggested that with a decline in commercial fishing and an increase in recreational fishing:

compliance changes

there are less commercial catch data

there is a need to develop ways to monitor catches from recreational fishing which is much more difficult than collecting commercial catch records

estimates of the sustainability of different fisheries accordingly become less certain.
It was suggested that to try and address some of these issues, the Department of Primary
Industries (DPI) has championed fisheries-independent sampling rather than just relying on commercial catch data and that these data are also fed into annual stock assessments.
Participants estimated that of the non-aquaculture fisheries research undertaken by the DPI:

approximately half relates to stock assessments, gear research and providing the information needed to manage wild commercial and recreational fisheries, and

the other half is research into fish habitats, ecosystems (driven by reporting under the
Monitoring, Evaluation and Reporting Strategy), and threatened and pest species.
It was suggested there has been very limited research by DPI in aquatic reserves and intertidal protected areas in recent years.
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Extensive seabed mapping of the NSW marine environment was discussed.
Assessment of comprehensiveness and representativeness was discussed, particularly how these might be assessed for non-fish species, and it was suggested that this is particularly difficult.
It was suggested the NSW Marine Parks Authority generally aimed for approximately 20% sanctuary zones in marine parks but this figure was not based on any rigorous science.
Participants discussed die-back of seagrass in NSW. It was suggested this mostly occurs on the north coast of NSW, and may be due to physical damage and removal rather than dieback due to freshwater inputs.
Gaps in the NSW marine parks system were discussed. Participants suggested there were few good sediment maps for the NSW marine environment, so scientists have little information on how much mud, sand etc there is and where these substrates may be. There is also a lack of data for rocky reefs in estuaries, where the swath technique is required for mapping. Better substrate data exist for offshore areas and for Sydney, for example due to information collected by the Navy. The large volume of material such as hand drawn maps around Sydney was recently digitized.
Participants discussed the commercial fishing ban for Sydney Harbour due to contaminants and the prohibition of recreational fishing upstream of the Harbour Bridge.
Participants discussed recreational fishing from beaches. It was suggested that beaches are dynamic habitats and the biology of fish targeted from beaches was such that spatial closures were unlikely to enhance those stocks.
Participants discussed the Monitoring, Evaluation and Reporting Strategy and considered it is a good program. It was suggested one difficulty with the strategy was that DPI and the Office of
Environment and Heritage had to redirect resources to support it, and that current resources are not sufficient for the scope of the vision under the Strategy.
It was discussed that there are only five research full time equivalents out of 43 in the Marine Parks staff, although it was acknowledged that Marine Parks management & compliance staff also assist with research from time to time and, similarly, that research staff also assist management and compliance staff.
Participants emphasized that marine parks are not used explicitly to manage fisheries in NSW but to manage biodiversity, and any benefits to fisheries are ancillary. There is some evidence to suggest increased size and abundance of some fish species in the Solitary Islands Marine Park
’s sanctuary zones compared to non-sanctuary zones but it is not possible to infer that sanctuary zones have therefore significantly enhanced fish stocks.
It was suggested that there is limited evidence of spillover benefits to fisheries in NSW due to sanctuary zones.
The Chair closed the workshop at 5.40pm.
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Supplementary workshop material participants offered to provide:

2007 MPA briefing note

Background information on the now defunct NSW Marine Park Research Committee.
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