Allocation of the Western Rock Lobster Resource between User Groups

In this submission to IFAAC, the Department will outline what it believes are the most practical and cost effective ways of managing a system of allocation amongst the commercial, customary and recreational sectors. This recommendation recognises that cost efficiencies and outcomes will be greatly affected by the type of allocation model that is chosen. Consequently the Department recommends that the allocation system should be based on a single allocation to each sector that is available over the entire fishery, The Department does not recommend having any finer scale zoning of the allocations, or the creation of exclusive recreational fishing areas. These would result in significant additional management, monitoring and compliance costs. Finally, the Department recommends that a reallocation system be developed that will enable adjustment of the resource shares in the future. The lobster resource allocation for customary fishing is considered by the WA Government to have priority over the commercial and recreational allocations. INTRODUCTION The Department of Fisheries (the Department) does not represent any sector with regard to their levels of access to the stocks of western rock lobster (WRL). The Department manages the WRL stocks on behalf of the Government for the benefit of all Western Australians. It is not therefore the Department's role to suggest the size of the allocations that should be made to each sector that use the resource. However, the Department recognises that there should be a fair and equitable mix of recreational, commercial and customary fishing. For the purposes of this submission, it is important to note that indigenous people partake in both recreational and customary fishing; however, customary fishing is currently unreported and it will be an additional allocation to that of the recreational sector's allocation. Recreational fishing by indigenous people is simply considered part of the recreational fishing total. The Department is of the view that the following should be taken into account when determining the allocations: • the historical proportion of the WRL resource taken by the various sectors (recreation (which includes indigenous), commercial and customary) and the likely future trends in those proportions; 4 • the economic and social benefits and costs of each sector's use of the WRL resource; 1 • the most important marine areas used by each of the sectors to take WRL and the most likely areas of competition and resource sharing conflict between the sectors; • the practicality and ease of managing, monitoring and …