Behavioural and economic drivers influencing shark fishing practices in Queensland’s commercial net fisheries: Phone questionnaire for Queensland Net Fishers, 2018

Abstract

During 2018, Queensland net fishery operators participated in a survey that documented the relative importance of behavioural and economic factors that influence whether sharks are retained or not. 121 commercial net fishers were interviewed, spanning the diversity of net fishery operations in Queensland waters (Gulf of Carpentaria and east coast). Results suggest that discarding sharks (live or dead) is common practice in Queensland’s net fisheries with 76% of fishers responding that they don’t keep a lot or all of the sharks that they catch. A key finding of the survey was that a combination of regulatory and market forces dictate whether fishers keep sharks. When sharks are retained, 80% of fishers indicated the market is the reason for keeping sharks with 28% of fishers saying sharks are important to their business. Overall, the results of this survey suggest that the policy changes enacted in January 2018 which made the reporting of shark catch more difficult, may have encouraged net fishers to discard more sharks. New tools currently being developed by Fisheries Queensland (such as a commercial fishing app, Species Identification tools, and vessel tracking) should simplify future reporting requirements. A follow-up survey, conducted after the introduction of these new tools, would be informative.