Fisheries Research and Development Corporation (FRDC)
Abstract
[Extract] Blacklip and greenlip abalone form the basis of valuable fisheries in Tasmania, Victoria, South Australia and New South Wales (Figure 1.1). The Tasmanian abalone fishery is the largest wild abalone fishery in the world, producing more than 25% of the global catch (Miller et al. 2009). In 2008, the fishery had a gross landed value of $ 90 million. Blacklip abalone (BA), Haliotis rubra, is the predominant species harvested in Tasmania with 2461 t landed in 2008, compared to only 122 t of greenlip abalone (GA), H. laevigata (Tarbath and Gardner 2009). Since 2003, the BA fishery has been divided into five zones: Eastern, Western, Northern, Bass Strait, and Central West (Tarbath and Gardner 2009). The GA fishery is restricted to the north of the state and is managed by regions and separately from the BA fishery. In Victoria, approximately 1,200 t was landed in 2007/08, however, the current TAC is 774 t (2010/11). Catches are dominated by BA (96%) and the fishery is structured into three zones: Western, Central and Eastern. The South Australian fishery harvests approximately 880 t of abalone each year, about 60% of this is BA with the remainder comprising GA. Like Victoria, the South Australian fishery is divided into the Southern, Central and Western zones. Current annual catches in NSW were less than 75 t in 2009/10 and consist exclusively of BA. The commercial fisheries are assessed on a variable combination of commercial catch, effort and size-composition data, fishery-independent surveys and length-structured models. In Tasmania, 105,500 abalone were taken by recreational fishers in 2006/07, weighing an estimated 49 t. The number of recreational licenses has tripled since 1995, with 12,500 recreational diving licenses issued in 2007/08 (Lyle 2008). Recreational catches in SA are small, probably less than 1% of the TACC (Jones, 2009)
