IMPACTS OF ENVIRONMENTAL AND CLIMATE CHANGE

Desired Outcome: Recreational fishers understand the impacts of environmental and climate change and have the knowledge to change practices to help mitigate the impacts or be able to adapt to the change.

PRIORITY AREAS FOR INVESTMENT

The following are the priorities for impacts of environmental and climate change on recreational fishing.

 Assessment of the likely impacts of environmental and climate change on recreational fishing;

 Monitor fish recruitment for effects of environmental and climate change;

 Determine the carbon footprint of recreational fishing and how it can be reduced;

SIGNIFICANCE OF ISSUE

Most of the Australian population lives close to coast in areas that are important fish habitats. With continued population growth there is continued development of our coast with inevitable impacts on fish habitat and resources. Climate change is likely to have a number of significant impacts on recreational fishing, some positive and some negative. Southward shifts in the occurrence of some marine species are already being observed. The effects of climate change are likely to become evident in changes in fish recruitment, with significant impacts on fishing.

In relation to freshwater there is ever increasing competition for a diminishing resource and fish habitat and resources are generally well down the priorities when it comes to decisions on water allocation and usage. Climate change is predicted to reduce our freshwater resources and increase competition for what will remain. A number of our key recreational species are struggling to cope with the changes, both environmental and climatic, and the retreat of mainland trout fisheries into highland waters has already been predicted.

Strategies for addressing the impacts of climate change on fishing will require a clearer understanding of the added complexities arising from long term drought and changes to how water is allocated and managed. Like the rest of the community, recreational fishers need to understand the contribution their activities make to global warming and the steps they can make to reduce their impacts.

CURRENT STATUS

 Projects addressing environmental change and the sustainability of fish stocks have been going on for the past decade and will continue into the future while growth in population and development continue.

There is only limited work being undertaken in relation to climate change and recreational fishing. Some work is being done to calculate carbon emissions from some recreational fishing activities including emissions from outboard motors.

CapReef in Central Queensland has examined changes in local climate and its impact on Barramundi recruitment and is continuing to examine the likely impact on Barramundi stocks.

RECFISHING RESEARCH STRATEGIC RESPONSE

 Recfishing Research will continue to work with researchers, government agencies and community groups in the development of projects that address environmental impacts on fish habitat and resource.

There is a need to understand what the impacts of climate change are likely to be on recreational fishing so that fishers can:

 Increase their resilience to the impacts of climate change;

	Assist in mitigating the effects of climate change by reducing carbon emissions through changing their practices;

 Determine how best of adapt to climate change.

PROGRESS TO DATE

The Department of Climate Change has released a report on “Implications of Climate Change for Australian Fisheries and Aquaculture – A Preliminary Assessment”. The report is available for download from: http://www.climatechange.gov.au/impacts/publications/fisheries.html

PROJECTS RECFISHING RESEARCH IS MONITORING

FRDC project 2007/002: "Flow impacts on estuarine finfish fisheries of Gulf of Carpentaria" Queensland Primary Industries and Fisheries: Ian Halliday Ian.Halliday@deedi.qld.gov.au

Timeframe: 2007 - 2010
Developing a whole-of-ecosystem approach to understanding river ecosystems including estuaries

eWater Cooperative Research Centre: "Ecological response modelling: Development of a mathematically driven size and age model for the Fitzroy River Barramundi stock and provision of ecological response models for a range of estuarine dependent species linking freshwater flows and population parameters" Queensland Primary Industries and Fisheries: Ian Halliday Ian.Halliday@deedi.qld.gov.au
Timeframe: 2007 - 2010

FRDC project 2008/033: "Development of an agent-based model to communicate implications of recruitment variability of finfish to recreational fishers" Principal Investigator: Alex Hesp a.hesp@murdoch.edu.au
Timeframe: July 2008 -