A. Species
Scientific name: Haliotis laevigata
Common name(s): Greenlip abalone
Global IUCN Red List Threat Status: Vulnerable
B. Location of use
Geographic location(s):
- South Australia
Country/Region: Australia
C. Scale of assessment
Scale of assessment: Sub-national / Sub-region / Sub-State
Name/Details of location: Offshore from Southern Australia
D. Timescale of use
Start Year: 1968
End Year: 2008
E. Information about the use
How is the wild species sourced?: Wild species sourced from its natural habitat
Type of use: Extractive
Practice of use: Targeted fishing harvesting/exploiting or collecting wild aquatic resources
Lethal or non-lethal: Lethal
Does this use involve take/extraction of: The whole entire organism
Purpose(s) of end use: Food and feed
Motivation of use: Basic subsistence, Income generation from trade (individual/household/community) and Largescale commercial exploitation for trade
Is this use legal or illegal?: Legal under national law
F. Information about the Users
Which stakeholder(s) does the record primarily focus on?: Local people and National / local private sector
G. Information about the sustainability of use
Is there evidence that the use is having an impact on the target species?: Wild species sourced from its natural habitat
Has an assessment (or judgement) of sustainability of the use of the target species from an ecological perspective been recorded?: Yes, considered sustainable
Details of assessment carried out: Data provided in this study
Brief summary on why the use has been assessed/judged to be sustainable or unsustainable: Commercial Logbook Catch and Effort Data, Length-Frequency Distribution of the Commercial Catch, and Fishery-Independent Dive Surveys of Greenlip Density at Principal Fishing Sites analysed in this study show that abalone numbers are stable: 1. Total catches from the WZ have been consistent for >20 years, reflecting the stable TACCs (>200 t.yr−1) over this period. 2. Levels of production from each of the key FAs have been stable (or increased) over the last 20 years, as have catches from the 11 metapopulations, encompassing both inshore and offshore areas, which have consistently comprised >70% of the catch. Relative catches from remaining FAs and nearly all remaining metapopulations have varied among years, with no evidence of a long-term trend, in response to changing diver preferences and market demands, and natural variations in abalone abundance. 3. Long-term, fishery-independent estimates of legal-sized and sub-legal-sized greenlip density, while limited to the four key fishing grounds in the two most important FAs from ∼1990, are stable or increasing. Additional, recently established survey sites in FAs 8 and 14 will increase the spatial coverage of this monitoring program. 4. Catches are dominated by medium and large greenlip, indicating an absence of a reliance on recruits to the fishery (i.e., knife-edged selection). 5. Fishery-independent surveys show high proportions of small, legal-sized greenlip that are not present in the catch. 6. The absence of weak length classes in data from fishery-independent surveys suggests that recruitment is relatively consistent among years . 7. While catch rates on abalone can be insensitive to changing biomass, primarily by underestimating declines, CPUE and MDC increased across the fishery between 1997 and 2005 in the absence of a detectable increase in effective effort, and current levels are among the highest on record.
Has an assessment (or judgement) of sustainability of the use of the target species from an economic perspective been recorded?: Yes, considered sustainable
Details of assessment carried out: this study
Brief summary on why the use has been assessed/judged to be sustainable or unsustainable: Management of abalone fishery includes limitations on access to the resource, establishment of appropriate minimum legal sizes, and effective controls on total catches.
Has an assessment (or judgement) of sustainability of the use of the target species from a social perspective been recorded?: No, sustainability not determined
Details of assessment carried out: this study
Brief summary on why the use has been assessed/judged to be sustainable or unsustainable: not discussed
Has an assessment (or judgement) of sustainability of the use of the target species from a human health perspective been recorded?: not recorded
Details of assessment carried out: this study does not discuss this
Brief summary on why the use has been assessed/judged to be sustainable or unsustainable: this study does not discuss this
Has an assessment (or judgement) of sustainability of the use of the target species from an animal health/welfare perspective been recorded?: not recorded
Details of assessment carried out: this study does not discuss this
Brief summary on why the use has been assessed/judged to be sustainable or unsustainable: this study does not discuss this
Recommendations provided in the record to maintain or enhance the sustainability of the use of the target species
Authors state: "Key elements of the management system investigated in this study were critical in preventing over-exploitation. These include early limitations on access to the resource, establishment of appropriate minimum legal sizes, and effective controls on total catches. A biological research program that focused explicitly on stock assessment and underpinned timely adjustments to management arrangements based on changes in stock status has also been critical. Recommendations by fisheries management committees involving resource managers, scientists, industry members, and other stakeholders have been underpinned by formal management plans."
Record source
Information about the record source: scientific_pub
Date of publication/issue/production: 2011-01-01T00:00:00+0000
Source Reference(s):
Date of record entry: 2022-11-25