Standard Presentation Australian Marine Sciences Association Annual Meeting 2023

NSW Eastern Rock Lobster Fishery: Who Benefits? (#142)

Carla Sbrocchi 1 2 , Kate Barclay 1
  1. Climate, Society and Environment Research Centre (C-SERC), University of Technology Sydney, Ultimo, NSW, Australia
  2. Centre for Marine Socioecology, Hobart, NSW, Australia

There is growing concern that share-managed fisheries may not deliver expected social and economic outcomes, such as a sustainable and local source of seafood, to Australian communities. This presentation will walk through a case study of the eastern rock lobster fishery in New South Wales (NSW), which examined the present and forecasted flows of benefits from the fishery in relation to the concerns of different beneficiaries. For this study, beneficiaries included commercial fishers, recreational fishers, Aboriginal communities, and the NSW public. This research demonstrates that management of the NSW eastern rock lobster fishery (dominated by an individual transferrable quota system) has primarily benefited commercial fishers, with limited flows to other beneficiaries. Benefits may diminish in the future even to commercial fishers if managers do not address critical drivers of change, such as climate, and social values surrounding the domestic provision of seafood. Considering the rapidly changing set of climatic, market, technological and social conditions on the NSW coast, management of the eastern rock lobster fishery will have to address significant distributional and intergenerational equity issues to meet societal and stakeholder expectations. Further, benefits to Aboriginal communities are not evident, which is a significant shortcoming of this management approach.