Fisheries long term monitoring program : Benthic Marine Fauna Composition in the Queensland Scallop Fishery Area in 2000 and 2002

Abstract

Since 1997, the department has monitored the saucer scallop Amusium japonicum balloti stock in southern Queensland. This is a commercially important species worth about $18 million annually.

Catch rates observed in the early part of the 1996-1997 scallop season were at about one-third of average levels since 1988. The then Queensland Fisheries Management Authority, acting on the basis of precautionary management, embarked on a two-pronged approach to ensure the sustainability of the fishery. The first was the creation of three scallop replenishment areas, closed to trawling. These areas were historically highly productive and were closed as a means of maintaining spawning stock levels for the coming winter spawning season. The second was the implementation of an annual fishery-independent trawl survey that would measure the density and abundance of scallops before they recruit to the fishery as an indicator of likely catch levels the following season.

In 2000 and 2002, samples of benthos were collected from the main scallop fishing grounds from Yeppoon to Hervey Bay as part of the saucer scallop survey.