'Shocking': Fish stocks in Australian waters drop a third in a decade

Wild fish stocks in Australian waters shrank by about a third in the decade to 2015, declining in all regions except strictly protected marine zones, according to data collected by scientists and public divers.

Fewer pupils: A grey nurse shark cruising through a school
of yellow-tail off North Rock, Broughton Island, 2010.

The research, based on underwater reef monitoring at 533 sites around the nation and published in the Aquatic Conservation journal, claims to be the first large-scale independent survey of fisheries. It found declining numbers tracked the drop in total reported catch for 213 Australian fisheries for the 1992-2014 period.

The biomass of larger fish fell 36 per cent on fished reefs during 2005-15 and dropped 18 per cent in marine park zones allowing limited fishing, the researchers said. There was a small increase in targeted fish species in zones that barred fishing altogether.

Read Peter Hannam’s story from The Age - “'Shocking': Fish stocks in Australian waters drop a third in a decade.”