“Fishing Smart”: Bioeconomic Optimization of Fishing Strategies in an Australian Mollusk Fishery

Abstract

AbstractRecent declines in the biomass of wild abalone populations around Australia are leaving fisheries with low catches, declining profitability, and an uncertain future. Using the abalone fisheries in the western zone of South Australia, we investigate ways to help mitigate these changes by “fishing smart.” We use a two‐pronged approach to demonstrate (1) considerable benefits to fishing abalone during specific months of the year and (2) that fishing profitability can benefit considerably from fleet rationalization. This was achieved by (1) using the seasonally variable biology of abalone to increase fishing efficiency and (2) analyzing the economic benefit of reducing fleet size and fishing season. We demonstrate that profitability can be improved by changing the timing of fishing and amending fleet size as the total allowable commercial catch changes. We show that information on the seasonally variable biology of greenlip abalone Haliotis laevigata and blacklip abalone H. rubra can be used to increase net economic return, reduce exploitation rates, or achieve a combination of these two management objectives. The outputs identify clear economic and biological benefits to altering monthly fishing effort for both species. A cost–benefit analysis contrasted restructure scenarios that involved combinations of changes in fishing season and fleet size with a status quo baseline.