Addressing the Challenges of Harvesting Forage Fish; Lessons Learned in Two Australian Fisheries

Two Australian fisheries are compared to highlight issues that need to be addressed if fisheries for forage species are to demonstrate their ecological sustainability and maintain a social license to fish. The South Australian Sardine Fishery (SASF) was established in 1991. It developed rapidly despite two mortality events that each killed >60% of the adult population. Community concerns about ecological impacts have been addressed by conducting field-based studies and ecosystem modelling to inform the adaptive development of a precautionary assessment and management framework that includes: fishery-independent surveys; decision rules for setting quota; mitigation of operational interactions with dolphins; and spatial management. The Management Plan for the Commonwealth Small Pelagic Fishery (SPF) draws on the approach taken in the SASF and was developed with considerable stakeholder input. An attempt to introduce a large factory trawler to the fishery in 2012 severely damaged its social license to operate. Community perceptions of these two fisheries highlight the complex challenges that must be addressed to retain a social license to fish. I describe how the SASF’s social license was established, what went wrong in the SPF and what is being done to further improve the SPF’s assessment and management framework and restore public confidence.