An ecological risk assessment of the southern Queensland East Coast Otter Trawl Fishery and River and Inshore Beam Trawl Fishery

Abstract

The East Coast Trawl Fishery (ECTF) provides significant benefits to the Queensland economy.
Risks associated with the fishery are assessed and managed at both a whole-of-fishery and species-specific level with high emphasis placed on the long-term sustainability of both target and non-target species. The following report describes outcomes of a comprehensive qualitative ecological risk assessment (ERA), which was undertaken as part of a formal review of the Fisheries (East Coast Trawl) Management Plan 2010. The assessment included all waters fished by otter trawls between the southern limit of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park (GBRMP) and the New South Wales (NSW) border, as well as areas of the River and Inshore Beam Trawl Fishery (RIBTF). The assessment focused specifically on the prawn-trawl and tropical saucer scallop fishery, including both targeted and non-targeted species that interact with or have the potential to interact with the ECTF during normal fishing operations.