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Australia's ability to report on the ecological
sustainability of its wild capture fisheries has
received a major boost with the launch this week of
a practical 'How to' guide to Ecologically
Sustainable Development (ESD) reporting.
The Guide is part of a
major project, funded by the Fisheries Research and
Development Corporation to develop a national
framework to assist Australian fisheries management
agencies, individuals and the fishing industry
report on how they are contributing to the
objectives of ESD.
The 'How To' Guide
provides step-by-step instructions to assist
individuals, agencies and the industry complete
reports on ESD for their fisheries.
Leader of the
project, Dr Rick Fletcher from the Department of
Fisheries, Western Australia, said the guide will
help these groups meet increasing government and
community expectations.
"The urgency to
develop a comprehensive and practical reporting
system has increased substantially in recent years
with changes to legislation at both the Commonwealth
and State levels along with increasing community
expectations.
"Achieving ESD
requires the integration of short and long-term
economic, social and environmental effects in all
decision making. This has been a difficult task to
implement in a practical way.
"Implementing ESD in
fisheries means that we not only need to consider
the effects of the fishery on the target species,
but also what effects there may be on the rest of
the ecosystem. We also need to recognise the
economic health of a fishery (such as the profits to
commercial fishers or the satisfaction of other
users of the resource) relies on maintaining
essential ecological processes.
"The 'backbone' of
the guide is a national reporting framework
developed by a team of experts including
representatives from the Bureau of Rural Sciences,
CSIRO, University of Queensland and the Department
of Fisheries, WA.
"The Framework
divides ESD into eight major components (within the
3 main categories of Ecological Wellbeing, Human
Wellbeing and Ability to Achieve) relevant to
fisheries" said Dr Fletcher.
The four main
elements in the process to complete an ESD report
which include:
(1) identifying the issues relevant to the fishery
across each of the 8 components;
(2) prioritising these issues using risk assessment
techniques;
(3) completing suitably detailed reports on the
performance of the fishery for each issue (dependent
upon their priority and complexity); and
(4) the compilation of summary background material
on the fishery being examined.
Dr Fletcher said the
guide had been developed with the approval of all
fisheries agencies and the strong support and
involvement of stakeholder groups.
The 'How to' Guide
can be downloaded in electronic format from the
website:
www.fisheries-esd.com.
Media Contact: Dr
Rick Fletcher - 08 9246 8465 |
