As we celebrate World Fisheries Day this year, OceanWatch wishes to recognise all the incredible professional fishers who have supported our work over the past year. Their commitment to the OceanWatch vision of a healthy, productive, valued and responsibly used Australian marine environment has been invaluable.
The NSW Abalone and Sea Urchin and Turban Shell (SUTS) fishers have continued to restore areas of urchin barrens on the NSW South Coast through our ‘Plague to Profit‘ initiative. The project supports the recovery of biodiverse, kelp dominated reef by selectively controlling urchin numbers, and encouraging the development of the sea urchin fishery and the recovery of abalone stock.
Professional tuna longline fishers and Tuna Australia have trialled reusable light sticks in place of single use chemical ones through our source reduction initiative. You can check out the video update from a professional long line Captain who took part of the trial here, and read the findings of the trials here.
NSW Ocean Trap and Line Demersal Fish Trap (DFT) and Spanner Crab (SC) fishers have continued to trial fishing gear modifications to mitigate whale entanglement along the east coast. Learn more about the gear modifications here.
OceanWatch Master Fisherman continue to raise the standard of responsible fishing in Australia and this year the training was expanded interstate with fishers in SA now participating in the training, it has also been extended to NSW Abalone and SUTS fishers through the Responsible Diver program.
Happy World Fisheries Day!