Tasmanian Recreational Fishing Survey
The Wild Fisheries Management Branch and the University of Tasmania's Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies have released the results of the 2012-13 Tasmanian Recreational Fishing Survey.
Over 3000 Tasmanian households were surveyed between November 2012 and October 2013 to see if they fish recreationally. 780 of these households, representing over 2000 persons then provided details of their fishing activities over a 12 month period.
Amongst the main findings of the survey:
- Almost one in four Tasmanians (around 98 000 people) went fishing at least once in 2012.
- Around 1.6 million flathead were caught, with 43% released. This equates to 925,000 flathead or 236 tonnes being kept and 686,000 released.
- Other important species were Australian salmon (230 000) and southern calamari (58 000).
- Over half the state's total fishing effort (56%) occurred off the east and south-east coasts.
The results are available in several formats:
- Download the summary brochure.
- Download the mini-poster.
- Download the full IMAS report. (124 pages).
- Survey author IMAS fisheries scientist Dr Jeremy Lyle talks about the survey findings. Watch the video.
The research was funded by the sale sea fishing licence fees via the Fishwise Fund.
The results are used in fisheries stock assessments to sustainably manage Tasmania's fisheries by giving a clearer picture of recreational fishing participation rates, catch and effort by species, fishing method and area, demographic profiles of fishers and expenditure on fishing activities.
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