Herring bag limit to be cut
Catch limits for herring - one of WA's most popular recreational fishing species - could be slashed under State Government efforts to combat a dramatic decline in stock numbers.
The Department of Fisheries will today release the results of a three-year study into "bread and butter" recreational fishing species showing that whiting and tailor stocks are healthy but the herring population has slumped.
Blaming a range of factors including unprecedented marine heatwaves since 2010-11 and increased fishing activity, the department said it was considering "all options" in a bid to safeguard stocks.
"Combined pressures of fishing and environmental factors have impacted on the herring stock to the extent that action is needed," the department's Tim Nicholas said.
"The department has begun consultation with WA's peak fishing bodies to work through the science and formulate management responses to aid the recovery of herring stocks."
WA's recreational fishing lobby Recfishwest claimed the allowable catch for herring could be halved and called on the Government to ensure any changes accounted for the importance of the species to amateur fishers.
Recfishwest's chief executive Andrew Rowland said herring, which could be readily caught off the coast between Shark Bay and Victoria, was a staple for WA's 600,000-strong recreational fishing sector.
Under current arrangements, recreational anglers are allowed to take up to 30 herring a day, with most of the 100-150 tonnes typically caught by the sector each year coming from the west coast.
In comparison, commercial herring catches are roughly the same after plummeting from a high of 1545 tonnes in 1990-91.
Dr Rowland said though Recfishwest would be willing to accept lower catch limits to protect herring stocks, it wanted Fisheries to give recreational anglers a bigger share of any reduced take.
"Regardless of the unanswered questions around the causes why, the sustainability of our fisheries is paramount to Recfishwest and herring is a very important species," he said.
"But any changes to the management arrangements of herring must consider the relative value of the species to each sector and I would claim that herring wouldn't even rate within the top 20 most important commercial fisheries."
Commercial fisherman Tony Westerberg said it would be unsurprising if Fisheries wanted to cut catches but disputed assertions stocks had slumped, saying there were "more herring than you can poke a stick at" off the south coast.
The Albany-based angler said the only reason catches had fallen was because there were fewer markets to sell herring.
