Stock Assessment Reports
Research and development is an important component of abalone fishery management. There has been a considerable investment in abalone research in Victoria and the other south-eastern states. The combined expertise and facilities of these states ensures that the abalone resource is well researched and monitored.
Nonetheless, there are biological processes and ecological relationships that are not well understood, owing to the difficulties posed by conducting field experiments in areas subjected to strong wave energy. In addition, monitoring early life history processes such as larval, post-larval and juvenile abalone densities has mostly proved intractable due to sporadic patterns of spawning and settlement as well as occupancy of cryptic habitat. This invariably leads to the need for assumptions or the use of surrogate measures to conduct stock assessments.
The abalone resource is well monitored and understood relative to many other commercially exploited species. The setting of TACCs and legal minimum lengths are informed by an annual stock assessment (link to stock assessment page). The abalone stock assessment program uses the following information:
- Fishery independent abundance surveys;
- Length frequency from commercial catch sampling and independent monitoring;
- Dive related information (e.g. depth, temperature and location);
- Diver observations;
- Catch rates / catch per unit effort data;
- Catch history;
- Fishery modelling; and
- Other available research, such as maturity, spawning potential, natural mortality, growth and biomass estimates.
This information is used to produce an annual report.
Stock assessment reports:
Eastern Zone:
2024 Stock Assessment Summary
2024 Stock Assessment
Central Zone:
2024 Stock Assessment Summary
2024 Stock Assessment
Western Zone: