White, Sophie M., Pratchett, Morgan S., Mapleston, Amos, and Cabral, Reniel B. (2025) Evolution and objectives of diverse Australian recreational fisheries monitoring programs. Reviews in Fish Biology and Fisheries. (In Press)

Preview

PDF (Accepted Publisher Version) - Accepted Version Available under License Creative Commons Attribution. Download (1MB) | Preview

Abstract

Approximately half a billion people engage in recreational fishing, and are estimated to capture at least 10 million tons of fish annually, equivalent to 12% of the global fish catch. However, the recreational fishing sector can be difficult to monitor due to the lack of mandatory reporting of catch and participation. Australia, where one in five adults, or 4.2 million people, participate in recreational fishing annually, highlighted the need to collect information and monitor recreational fishing activity, catch, fish biology, and economic and social values in its 1994 ‘National Policy for Recreational Fishing.’ Here, we identify past and present Australian recreational fisheries monitoring programs (RFMPs) and provide a comprehensive overview of their objectives and methodologies, specifically considering their alignment with the four key research foci identified in the ‘National Policy for Recreational Fishing in Australia.’ We identified 40 unique marine state-wide multi-species RFMPs across all Australian states and territories. Most RFMPs focus on collecting catch, fishing activity and social and economic values information, and rarely contribute information on fish biology. However, there has been ongoing expansions in the number and scope of RFMPs, and an increasing proportion of offsite (i.e., information collected outside the fishing location) programs. While offsite monitoring programs are often cost-effective, we emphasize the crucial role played by onsite monitoring surveys. Results from this review can be used in plans for further expanding recreational monitoring programs towards a more comprehensive and in depth understanding of the recreational fisheries sector in Australia.

Item ID:	86957
Item Type:	Article (Research - C1)
ISSN:	1573-5184
Copyright Information:	© Crown 2025. Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
Date Deposited:	25 Aug 2025 23:08
FoR Codes:	30 AGRICULTURAL, VETERINARY AND FOOD SCIENCES > 3005 Fisheries sciences > 300505 Fisheries management @ 100%
SEO Codes:	10 ANIMAL PRODUCTION AND ANIMAL PRIMARY PRODUCTS > 1003 Fisheries - wild caught > 100302 Fisheries - recreational marine @ 100%
Downloads:	Total: 1 Last 12 Months: 1
	More Statistics