December 21, 2009
Australia's aquaculture industry needs to maximise its profitability
According to a case study of Australia's Northern Prawn Fishery (NPF) there is a large gap between theory and practice when it comes to achieving the major goal of many of the world's leading commercial fisheries - maximum economic yield (MEY).
Conducted by CSIRO's Wealth from Oceans Flagship, the Australian National University (ANU) and the University of Washington, the study found that sustainable fisheries management relies on four factors, information, a clear social grouping, strong institutional arrangements and appropriate incentives.
According to a paper on the study's findings published this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, "a dose of reality" was an equally critical factor.
The $74.1 million (US$65.5 million) NPF was recently identified by the United Nations as a global model for sustainable fisheries management that produces banana prawns and tiger prawns from a fishing ground extending from Weipa in far north Queensland to Cape Londonderry in northern Western Australia.
One of the paper's lead authors, CSIRO scientist Dr Cathy Dichmont, said the NPF is among the first major fisheries in the world to fully embrace both economic efficiency and environmental sustainability in an operational management system.
"Underpinning this is a bioeconomic model developed by CSIRO, the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and ANU to set harvest levels in a way that joins industry profit with prawn biology so the fishery can be managed in real time," according to Dr Dichmont.
This required researchers to mathematically and statistically describe the growth and survival rates of the four main prawn species caught in the NPF, how they interacted with the fishing fleet and how this influenced industry costs such as fuel consumption.
"All this, while considering that costs, price and biology are dynamic in the short- to medium-term," Dr Dichmont said. "It isn't a crystal ball that predicts exactly what will happen. Fisheries management is described as a 'wicked problem' because interactions within and among the social, economic and ecological systems are highly complex, non-linear and, to a large degree, unknown. There is no one right answer that will solve the problem forever."
She said the study made it clear that the participation of all relevant parties, fishers, boat owners, managers and scientists are essential to ensure the model incorporates accurate data and as many viewpoints as possible.
The CEO of NPF vessel operator Austral Fisheries, David Carter, said continuing collaboration between the industry, scientists and fishery managers should ensure the NPF's future success. "Extensive research in the NPF has helped us address market downturns, over-fishing of tiger prawn stocks, and the environmental impacts of fishing," Mr Carter said.
Dr Dichmont added that NPF stakeholders were actively involved in determining which assumptions were to be applied in the modelling analyses. "The NPF experience moves us along the line of changing theory. There is a lot we can learn from it, which will help to identify how the approach can be adapted for and applied to other fisheries around the world," Dr Dichmont commented.
