Not only will recreational fishing for abalone in the West Coast Zone go ahead between 7am and 8am this Saturday, but an additional fishing hour on Saturday 9 March has also been scheduled to replace the cancelled January session.
Following a recommendation by Surf Life Saving WA (SLSWA), a decision was made to cancel recreational abalone fishing on Saturday 12 January.
Comprehensive monitoring of the recreational abalone catch, to date, has predicted that, with a fourth day’s fishing next month, the total catch for the season will not exceed the sustainable target range of 18 to 22 tonnes.
For this coming Saturday (16 February) the SLSWA recommendation, based on surf prediction modelling, is that fishing can proceed. The SLSWA modelling uses the best available information on sea and weather conditions from multiple information sources and rates the risks for factors, such as wind speed, swell, tide and swell period. The modelling for this Saturday sets the risk factors in the low to medium range.
Licensed abalone fishers planning to take part in the fishing hour this Saturday are still reminded to make an individual assessment of the sea and weather conditions on the day and ensure their water skills, clothing and gear are suitable for abalone fishing.