Abrolhos Islands scallop fishers congratulated by Minister

13/8/01
Fisheries Minister Kim Chance today congratulated the Abrolhos Islands and Mid-West Trawl Managed Fishery on a successful 2001 fishing season.
Mr Chance said final catch estimates from the 2001 Abrolhos scallop season, shortened from three months to two at the request of industry, had resulted in a more abundant catch than predicted while protecting juvenile stocks for the future.
"Final catch estimates of 236 tonnes of meat weight with an average of 16 tonne of scallop meat per boat far exceeds the 90 to 140 tonne estimated from a pre-season survey last November," he said.
The Minister said commercial fishers should be commended for their commitment to ecologically sustainable management by adopting initiatives that minimised fishing on juvenile shell to maximise future catches.
"Sustainable use of fish resources is greatly benefited by ensuring stakeholders have a strong sense of stewardship and involvement in management of fisheries," he said.
The shortened scallop season, which started on April 3 and closed on May 31, has been in place for two seasons.
The Department of Fisheries (WA) has conducted pre-season scallop surveys during the past four years, with plans to continue to provide additional information to improve future catch forecasting.
The 2001 scallop season was also the first season under the satellite Vessel Monitoring System (VMS), with all 16 vessels fitted out and operational for the season. VMS enables accurate monitoring of vessels within the sensitive marine environment of the Abrolhos Islands.
Mr Chance further praised the industry for demonstrating a high level of compliance with VMS nomination requirements and closed fishery areas.
"The implementation of the VMS into the fishery will lead to improved and cost-effective compliance while providing enhanced research monitoring capability across all vessels within the fishery," he said.
Mr Chance said the current catch estimate for the 2001 Shark Bay scallop fishery is around 200 tonne taken to date with an average catch of 10 tonne per scallop vessel.
"All commercial scallop operators had finished by early June but the fishery remains open until the closure of the prawn season on October 28 as prawn boats are also licensed to take scallops," he said.
Catches for the Shark Bay prawn fishery, which commenced on March 14, are average with catches for the season expected to be in the acceptable range for the fishery.
Mr Chance said the fleet in the Exmouth Gulf prawn fishery, which commenced on April 10, was targeting areas with optimal size king and tiger prawns for this time of the season.
"King prawn catches are expected to return toward normal levels this year under normal environmental conditions and tiger prawn catches are expected to be higher than the low catch from last year due to improved stock levels," he said.
In 2000, tiger prawn stock levels were adversely affected by cyclonic events.
Media contact: Mike Marren 9213 6700