Improving Catch Estimates from a Large Regional Boat Ramp Survey in Western Australia: Objectivity and Transparency in Choice Analytical Methods

The West Coast Bioregion of Western Australia extends from south of 27°S on the west coast to west of 115°30′E on the south coast, and includes approximately 900 kilometres of coastline. The State’s capital city, Perth, and several of its largest regional centres, containing over 80% of the Western Australian population, are located on this coast.

Demersal fishing activities principally occur off the main residential areas of the West Coast Bioregion and over the last decade there have been significant increases in both population size and fishing efficiency. As a consequence, fishing pressure on the demersal species in this bioregion has increased markedly.

Following growing concerns about the sustainability of demersal species in the West Coast Bioregion, four 12-month surveys of boat-based recreational fishing have been conducted in 1996/97, 2005/06, 2008/09 and 2009/10. The surveys were designed to provide estimates of the total catch and fishing effort by those boat-based anglers who were line fishing in the oceanic waters of the West Coast Bioregion.

The bus route method was used for this survey and 61 boat ramps in the West Coast Bioregion used to launch boats into the ocean were included in the survey. As fishing activity is highly variable, both spatially and temporally, it was important to investigate alternative methods for the estimation of catch and effort to allow for comparison between survey years.