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Shark Bay Snapper: Science, Policy, and the Decline and Recovery of a Marine Recreational Fishery

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Historical Perspectives of Fisheries Exploitation in the Indo-Pacific

Part of the book series: MARE Publication Series ((MARE,volume 12))

Abstract

Since the mid-1990s Shark Bay’s inner gulf snapper fishery has become one of the most intensively-studied and better-understood marine recreational fisheries in Australia. It provides an important case-study of the impact that recreational fishing can have on highly targeted stocks, showing that recreational fishers, by virtue of their greater numbers and their uptake of technologies developed for the commercial sector, can have an equal if not greater total catch than professional fishers in the same or similar fisheries. The Shark Bay case-study also demonstrates the complexity of the challenges associated with sustainably managing marine recreational fisheries. The effectiveness of traditional recreational management measures is increasingly being questioned. As more and more jurisdictions move towards implementing ecosystem-based management approaches, strategies to ensure sustainable harvests will be required for all sectors—commercial, recreational and artisanal alike. This chapter highlights the role that effective biological research and robust management intervention can play in assisting the recovery of a stock fished to the brink of collapse. Whilst the recovery of the inner gulf snapper stocks is continuing, it constitutes one of the few documented examples worldwide of the successful recovery of a marine recreational fishery through the promotion of sustainable, scientifically-based recreational harvest levels. The focus on ecological outcomes and other factors that contributed to the successful restoration of inner Shark Bay’s recreational snapper fishery are being recognised as essential elements in the reform of recreational fisheries management elsewhere.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    The sealing of the Old Coast Road between Perth and Geraldton in 1969 and the opening of the Brand highway in 1976 made large stretches coastline accessible to recreational fishers.

  2. 2.

    The results of this survey, conducted by the Western Australian Fisheries Department’s Mike Moran, have not been published (See Fisheries Department 1980/1981).

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Asia Research Centre, Murdoch University, 90 South Street, 6150, Murdoch, WA, Australia

    Dr. Joseph Christensen

  2. Western Australian Fisheries and Marine Research Laboratories, Department of Fisheries, Western Australia, PO Box 20, 6920, North Beach, WA, Australia

    Dr. Gary Jackson

Authors
  1. Dr. Joseph Christensen
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  2. Dr. Gary Jackson
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Joseph Christensen .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Asia Research Centre, Murdoch University, Murdoch, West Australia, Australia

    Joseph Christensen

  2. School of Management and Governance, Murdoch University, Murdoch, West Australia, Australia

    Malcolm Tull

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Christensen, J., Jackson, G. (2014). Shark Bay Snapper: Science, Policy, and the Decline and Recovery of a Marine Recreational Fishery. In: Christensen, J., Tull, M. (eds) Historical Perspectives of Fisheries Exploitation in the Indo-Pacific. MARE Publication Series, vol 12. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-8727-7_13

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