With the recommencement of the recreational demersal season, it is timely to remind fishers that we are ten years into the 20 year recovery plan for demersal scalefish in the West Coast Bioregion.
The latest research shows that while there is still some way to go before demersal scalefish in the West Coast Bioregion are fully recovered, there are some early signs of recovery.
Recovery has been led so far in the metropolitan and South-West areas, with limited recovery in the Mid-West and Kalbarri areas, particularly for dhufish. However, there are steps fishers can take to help the long-term recovery of these important species:
• Don’t target demersal specie for ‘catch and release’, as there are mortalities for some of the fish after release.
• Use release weights when releasing any under size fish.
• Stop fishing once you’ve reached your bag or boat limit, or target non-demersal scalefish species.
• Don’t target the same demersal species after you’ve reached your bag limit in a bid to catch bigger fish.
You can find out more about the rules for fishing for demersal scalefish species on the recreational fishing rules website.