Commercial Fish Production

Fishery Production

• Introduction
• Victorian fisheries production summary (2017/18)
• Number of Fishery Access Licences (June 2018)
• Victoria Statewide (Teleosts) catch and value, 2013/14-2017/18
• Victoria Statewide (Molluscs, Echinoderms, Crustaceans and Chondrichthyans) catch and value, 2013/14-2017-18
• Port Phillip Bay catch, 1978/79-2017/18
• Western Port catch, 1978/79-2017/18
• Corner Inlet catch, 1978/79-2017/18
• Gippsland Lakes and Lake Tyers catch, 1978/79-2017/18
• Offshore catch, 1978/79-2017/18
• Southern Rock Lobster (Western Zone) catch, effort and value by quota year, 1982/83-2017/18
• Southern Rock Lobster (Western Zone) catch, effort and value by month during quota year 2017/18
• Giant Crab (Western Zone) catch, effort and value by quota year, 1982/83-2017/18
• Giant Crab (Western Zone) catch, effort and value by month during quota year 2017/18
• Southern Rock Lobster (Eastern Zone) catch, effort and value by quota year, 1982/83-2017/18
• Southern Rock Lobster (Eastern Zone) catch, effort and value by month during quota year 2017/18
• Abalone catch and effort by quota year and zone, 1995/96–2017/18
• Marketing, Scientific and Previously Used Names for Fishery Production

Aquaculture Production

• Introduction
• Number of Aquaculture Licences
• Growout Production (excluding Molluscs), 2013/14-2017/18
• Ongrowing and Growout Production (Molluscs), 2013/14-2017/18
• Statewide Aquaculture Total, 2013/14-2017/18
• Areas of Water Licensed for Cultivation — Blue Mussels and Other Molluscs (Bivalves), 2013/14-2017/18

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Fishery Production

Introduction

Victoria’s commercial fisheries began at the time of European settlement during the 1840s.  These fisheries have been managed under various Fisheries Acts since 1859 and fishery catch data have been collected continuously since 1911.  Catch and effort data for the period since June 1978 have been stored in an electronic database where the data are secure and readily accessible for various uses.

This information bulletin is designed to meet the data needs of the fishing industry, fishery researchers, Fisheries Victoria, the Victorian Government, the Commonwealth Government, and the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organisation.

Under the Fisheries Act 1995, lodgement of catch and effort return forms is a condition of a fishery access licence.  Individual returns are collected under Section 146 of the Act and are treated confidentially according to the Fisheries Act 1995 and the Information Privacy Act 2000.  The data is released in aggregated form only.  To preserve confidentiality, data is not reported if less than five licence holders have contributed to it.

Notes to the reader

This annual Victorian Fisheries Authority Commercial Fish Production Information Bulletin is produced by Victorian Fisheries Authority.

This issue is compiled from catch and effort data supplied by Victorian commercial fishery access licence holders on mandatory monthly fishing returns and from aquaculture production data supplied by Victorian aquaculture licence holders on mandatory 6-monthly aquaculture returns.  In previous years, production value was estimated from price-at-first-sale data supplied by the Melbourne Fish Market, selected fish processors and selected fish aquaculture farms.  Price data is unavailable for the majority of species since 2010/11.  The provision of accurate and timely data from licence holders and processors is acknowledged.

All data in this bulletin have been computer validated and do not include data received or processed after 1 October.  Fishery production compliance rates for submission of return forms by that date were 100% for the fiscal years 2012/13 to 2017/18.  Aquaculture production compliance rates for submission of return forms by 1 October were100% for the fiscal years 2012/13 to 2016/17 and 99% for 2017/18.

Data presented in this publication have been provided in an aggregated form to protect commercial confidentiality of individual licence holders; summary data are not provided where less than five licence holders have supplied the data unless prior permission was obtained.

The State of Victoria and its employees do not guarantee that the publication is without flaw of any kind or is wholly appropriate for your particular purposes and therefore disclaim all liability for any error, loss, or other consequence, which may arise from you relying on any information in this publication.  Data can change from one issue of the bulletin to the next issue as a result of improved compliance, correction of data errors, or use of more representative price data.

To maintain consistency with other States and the Commonwealth, the names for fish used in this Bulletin are those in the List of Standardised Australian Fish Names developed as a National Standard based on the Codes for Australian Aquatic Biota (http://www.marine.csiro.au/caab/namelist.htm). Therefore, some fish names are different from those used in previous Bulletins, and may be different from the names used on the catch and effort returns completed by fishers.  Readers should refer to the list of names on pages 20 and 21 of the Bulletin to find any previously used species names.

Copies of this Bulletin and further information available from:

Catch and Effort Unit

Victorian Fisheries Authority

PO Box 114

Queenscliff VIC 3225

Freecall: 1800 620 896

Fax: (03) 5258 4553

Preferred way to cite this publication:

Victorian Fisheries Authority Commercial Fish Production Information Bulletin 2018.  Victorian Fisheries Authority, Queenscliff, Victoria, Australia.

Published: Victorian Government, Victorian Fisheries Authority (VFA)

http://www.vfa.vic.gov.au

Copyright by The State of Victoria, Victorian Fisheries Authority Melbourne, 2018.

This publication is copyright.  No part may be reproduced by any process except in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright Act 1968.

Authorised by the Victorian Government, 1 Spring Street, Melbourne 3000

ISSN: 1446-2567

Victorian fisheries production summary

¹ Weight (live, tonnes); ² Value ($'000) from Jan 2011, Melbourne Fish Market price data collection ceased. Selected processors are still providing price data for some species including abalone, rock lobster, Australian salmon and pilchards; ³ nd, no data obtained;      ⁴ na, not applicable; ⁵ id, insufficient data to report because there are less than five licence holders (policy requirement to protect commercial confidentiality of data); ⁶ Shark carcass weight (beheaded and eviscerated with fins attached) for Victorian Proclaimed waters only; ⁷ Aquaculture weight and value does not include hatchery production; ⁸ mussels and crustaceans; ⁹ no, number only of ornamental fish available (2,438,000 for 2015/16, 2,283,000 for 2016/17 and 1,915,000 for 2017/18).

Number of Fishery Access Licences (June 2018)

Victoria Statewide (Teleosts)

Commercial catch and value for each major species caught during 2013/14–2017/18 (fiscal years)

Excludes landings from Commonwealth waters by the South East Fishery and Southern Shark Fishery.
Value is estimated from various sources.

¹nd, no data obtained;²id, insufficient data to report because there are less than five licence holders (policy requirement to protect commercial confidentiality of data), and the data have been included as 'other'.

Victoria Statewide (Molluscs, Echinoderms, Crustaceans & Chondrichthyans)

Commercial catch and value for each major species caught during 2013/14–2017/18 (fiscal years)

Excludes landings from Commonwealth waters by the South East Fishery and Southern Shark Fishery.
Value is estimated from various sources.

¹nd, no data obtained; ²id, insufficient data to report because there are less than five licence holders (policy requirement to protect commercial confidentiality of data), and the data have been included as 'other';  ³Scallop live weights (shell weight) reported;  ⁴shark carcass weight (beheaded and gutted with fins attached) for Victorian Proclaimed Waters only;  ⁴weight of margins of pectoral fins (`flaps') only.

Port Phillip Bay

Commercial catch for each major species caught in Port Phillip Bay during 1978/79–2017/18

Excludes data for abalones, blue mussel, southern rock lobster, and commercial scallop.

¹ Reduction in licence numbers and introduction of catch limits from April 2016; ²id, insufficient data to report because there are less than five licence holders (policy requirement to protect commercial confidentiality of data), and the data have been included as 'other'; ³nd, no data obtained.

Western Port

Commercial catch for each major species caught in Western Port during 1978/79–2017/18

¹nd, no data obtained; ²id, insufficient data to report because there are less than five licence holders (policy requirement to protect commercial confidentiality of data), and the data have been included as 'other'.

Corner Inlet

Commercial catch for each major species caught in Corner Inlet during 1978/79–2017/18

¹id, insufficient data to report because there are less than five licence holders (policy requirement to protect commercial confidentiality of data), and the data have been included as 'other'.

Gippsland Lakes and Lake Tyers

Commercial catch for each major species caught in Gippsland Lakes and Lake Tyers during 1978/79–2017/18

¹Lake Tyers fishery was closed in April 2003. ²id, insufficient data to report because there are less than five licence holders (policy requirement to protect commercial confidentiality of data), and the data have been included as 'other'.

Offshore

Commercial catch for each major species caught offshore during 1978/79–2017/18

Excludes landings from Commonwealth waters by the South East Fishery and Southern Shark Fishery.

¹id, insufficient data to report because there are less than five licence holders (policy requirement to protect commercial confidentiality of data), and the data have been included as 'other'.

Southern Rock Lobster (Western Zone)

Catch, effort and value by quota year (April–March) during 1982/83–2009/10 (July–June) during 2009/10–2017/18.

Western Zone - South Australian border to Longitude 143^o40' E (just east of Apollo Bay).

Total Allowable Catch Catch (TACC) quota management was introduced 16 November 2001.

Southern Rock Lobster (Western Zone)

Catch, effort and value by month during quota year (July–June) 2017/18

Target pot-lifts is determined by allocating all effort to the species with catch greater than 70% of total catch prior to April 1998, but from April 1998 target species is specified in the logbooks.

¹id, insufficient data to report because there are less than five licence holders (policy requirement to protect commercial confidentiality of data).

Giant Crab (Western Zone)

Catch, effort and value by quota year (April–March) during 1982/83–2017/18

Western Zone - the South Australian border to Longitude 143° 40' E (just east of Apollo Bay).

Total Allowable Catch Catch (TACC) quota management was introduced 16 November 2001.

¹nd, no data obtained.

Giant Crab (Western Zone)

Catch, effort and value by month during quota year (July–June) 2017/18

Target species is specified in the logbooks.

¹id, insufficient data to report because there are less than five licence holders (policy requirement to protect commercial confidentiality of data).

Southern Rock Lobster (Eastern Zone)

Catch, effort and value by quota year (April–March) during 1982/83–2009/10, (July–June) during 2009/10–2017/18.

Eastern Zone - Longitude 143^o40' E (just east of Apollo Bay) to the New South Wales border.

Total Allowable Catch Catch (TACC) quota management was introduced 16 November 2001.

Southern Rock Lobster (Eastern Zone)

Catch, effort and value by month during quota year (July–June) 2017/18

Target pot-lifts is determined by allocating all effort to the species with catch greater than 70% of total catch prior to April 1998, but from April 1998 target species is specified in the logbooks.

Abalone

Catch and effort by quota year (April–March) and zone during 1995/96–2017/18

Total Allowable Commercial Catch (TACC) quota management was introduced for the commercial fishery on 1 April 1988.

Western Zone-all Victorian waters west of longitude 148^oE (Hopkins River mouth). Central Zone-all Victorian waters between longitude 142^o31' E and 148^oE. Eastern Zone-all Victorian waters east of longitude 148^oE (Lakes Entrance).

Blacklip abalone

Please note: Includes catches taken under permits when issued in addition to TACC.

Greenlip abalone

Please note: Includes catches taken under permits when issued in addition to TACC.

History of TACCs for each zone

Please Note: TACC for each zone does not include permit allowable catch.
¹Further quota order amends TACC due to abalone disease.

Marketing, Scientific and Previously Used Names for Fishery Production

Teleosts/Scalefish

Other species