Fellow fish ecologists,

I am currently developing a proposal concerning the "impacts of net fishing
(non trawl) on non target fish, reptile and mammalian species" for fisheries
in Queensland, Australia. To date there have been no studies looking
directly at the bycatch in any of these fisheries (or none that I am aware
of) and the impact they may or may not have on biodiversity.

There are three main types of netting used: gill, tunnel and beach seine. In
the gill net fishery there are about 1040 licences held over a coastline of
4500 km. This fishery is relatively non-species selective especially when
the nets are set over long periods of time. The tunnel net fishery exist
only in the south east portion of the state with < 20 fishers using this
method. This method is non-selective for species or size however when
operated properly the large majority of the bycatch is released alive. The
beach seine fishery has 70 licences held and is used to target spawning
mullet and tailor off the ocean beaches of southern Qld (about 400km of
coastline). All fishers in these fisheries are compelled by law to complete
log books and return them to a central data bases. They do not have to
indicate what is a target species and which are caught incidentally but also
sold.

My question to the list is: Has anyone had any experience with developing a
voluntary log return in which the fishers record what fish species was being
targeted, what mesh size was used and the number of sets used in each day?
Also what amount of coverage ( 5%, 10% 15%, 50% heaven forbid) of the total
fishery was found to provide representative information in the most cost
effect manner?
How did you keep the fishers interested and what incentives were used?

Thanks in advance for replies.
Please reply directly to me on: [log in to unmask] (long isn't it)

Ian Halliday
Ian Halliday
Fisheries Biologist
Qld Department of Primary Industries
PO Box 76
Deception Bay 4508
Ph:  61 7 3817 9530
Fax: 61 7 3817 9555
email: [log in to unmask]