The Marine chapter of the 2016 State of the Environment (SoE) report incorporates multiple expert templates developed from streams of marine data. This metadata record describes the Expert Assessment "Pressures on the marine environment associated with commercial fishing". The full Expert Assessment, including figures and tables (where provided), is attached to this record. Where available, the Data Stream(s) used to generate this Expert Assessment are accessible through the "On-line Resources" section of this record. DESCRIPTION OF THE PRESSURE Australia’s wild-caught marine fisheries are highly diverse and contribute significantly to the economy. These fisheries catch scallops, prawns, crabs, squid, coastal fish such as whiting and flathead, reef fish such as coral trout, shelf and deepwater fish such as ling and blue-eye trevally, and oceanic tuna and billfish Although fisheries operate across all states and the Northern Territory and out to the limit of the Australian EEZ, fishing effort is not evenly distributed across Australian marine waters with the majority of fishing effort occurring in the North, Temperate East, South-East, and South-West Marine Regions. The impact of fisheries on the marine environment also varies with differing gears having differing impacts on species that might be caught as bycatch, and the habitats where fishing takes place. Methods used to capture those species are highly varied ranging from small-scale netting to large-scale pelagic long-line fishing and trawling (Flood et al. 2014). There is currently extensive effort occurring the Coral Sea bioregion using pelagic long – line gear. There have been extensive reductions in the footprint of the trawl fishery in the South West, South East and Temperate Eastern Bioregions. There is also an extensive trawl fishery in the North Bioregion, associated with the Northern Prawn Fishery, which remains relatively constant through time. DATA STREAM(S) USED IN EXPERT ASSESSMENT The metadata record for the fisheries data can be found at http://www.marlin.csiro.au/geonetwork/srv/eng/search?uuid=aa53a4df-7fe6-46d1-93b7-2d3732f4883e. 2016 SOE ASSESSMENT SUMMARY [see attached Expert Assessment for full details] • 2016 • Assessment grade: Low-High Assessment trend: Improving Confidence grade: Adequate high quality evidence and high level of consensus Confidence trend: Adequate high quality evidence and high level of consensus Comparability: Grade and trend are not comparable to the 2011 assessment • 2011 • Assessment grade: Not directly comparable Assessment trend: Not directly comparable Confidence grade: Not directly comparable Confidence trend: Not directly comparable CHANGES SINCE 2011 SOE ASSESSMENT Commercial fishing was separated from recreational fishing and traditional use of resources.

The Marine chapter of the 2016 State of the Environment (SoE) report incorporates multiple expert templates developed from streams of marine data. This metadata record describes the Expert Assessment "Effectiveness of marine management of recreational fishing". The full Expert Assessment, including figures and tables (where provided), is attached to this record. Where available, the Data Stream(s) used to generate this Expert Assessment are accessible through the "On-line Resources" section of this record. DESCRIPTION OF THE PRESSURE BEING MANAGED, AND ITS IMPACT Recreational fishing continues to have considerable value as a popular Australian lifestyle activity contributing both economic benefits to the economy and playing an important social role in the Australian way of life. The most recent Australia wide survey of recreational and indigenous fishing was conducted in 2000-01. The results of this survey indicated that 3.4 million people participated in recreational fishing during this 12 month period generating an estimated $1.8 billion in expenditure on services and items related to recreational fishing. For example, in Western Australia a recent survey of recreational fishing found that approximately 711,000 people (29.6% of the population) fished recreationally in the 2014/15 period compared to 691,000 in 2011/12 (32% of the population). Over 160,000 recreational fishing licences were issued during 2014/15 for specific recreational fishing activities. All revenue raised from licence fees goes back into recreational fisheries management. During the 2014/15 period, the Department of Fisheries Western Australia spent a total of $19 million on managing recreational fishing around the State, which includes the development of harvest strategies that include sectoral allocation and target catch ranges for both the recreational and commercial fish resources. Through this process, 19 fish resources have been identified as having a significant recreational fishing component and of these, 85% currently have catch ranges within acceptable limits. DATA STREAM(S) USED IN EXPERT ASSESSMENT The assessment is based on expert knowledge of recreational fisheries management, peer-reviewed publications, state/territory and national assessments of fish stocks and recreational fishing activities and expert input from the Australian Fisheries Management Forum. Details of the specific data sets used to generate this assessment have not been provided. 2016 SOE ASSESSMENT SUMMARY [see attached Expert Assessment for full details] • Understanding of pressure: National and state/territory surveys have been conducted although understanding of overall impacts on stock status is not always known. In some jurisdictions ecosystem based approaches also include understanding of risks to species habitats and ecosystem structure. • Planning associated with management of pressure: Most jurisdictions have formal recreational fisheries management capacity and most incorporate ecosystems based approach to assessing risk, with increasing focus on habitat and fishery enhancement. • Input for informing management of pressure: Survey data include catch and effort data, and some social/behavioural and economic information. • Processes associated with developing, monitoring, and updating management: All jurisdictions use a range of controls including access restrictions, closed areas, closed seasons, restrictions on gear types, daily bag limits, minimum and or maximum size limits, possession limits, and licencing. • Outputs from management framework in place: National and jurisdictional survey data and reports can be used to provide information across species and stock ranges. • Outcomes of management framework in place: Recovery of some previously overfished species is occurring. CHANGES SINCE 2011 SOE ASSESSMENT Commercial and recreational fisheries and traditional use of resources were all included in the one assessment in the 2011 report.

The Marine chapter of the 2016 State of the Environment (SoE) report incorporates multiple expert templates developed from streams of marine data. This metadata record describes the Expert Assessment "Pressures on the marine environment associated with traditional use of marine resources". The full Expert Assessment, including figures and tables (where provided), is attached to this record. Where available, the Data Stream(s) used to generate this Expert Assessment are accessible through the "On-line Resources" section of this record. DESCRIPTION OF THE PRESSURE Quantifying the traditional use of marine resources by Indigenous communities is difficult due to the dispersed and sporadic nature of much traditional harvesting and the often complex and sensitive process of building community endorsement for long term monitoring programs to quantify harvest levels. Across Australia, there is a high diversity of community initiatives for monitoring and managing traditional harvest due to the specific local context for planning, managing and conservation. Since the 2011 assessment, the workforce of Indigenous rangers has grown around Australia and this has increased the on-ground capacity for monitoring the traditional take (e.g., GBRMPA, 2011; DIPF, 2013). In the Great Barrier Reef, as part of a Traditional use of marine resource agreement (TUMRA), Traditional owners are required to monitor, record and report traditional harvest activities (GBRMPA, 2008). In the Northern Territory, Indigenous rangers record information on the loss or return of aquatic species (e.g. fish, dugong, turtles) in their patrol areas (DIPF, 2013). Kimberley coastal communities are advancing with developing and implementing monitoring and evaluation frameworks (Jackson et al., 2015). Wide scale involvement of Indigenous rangers in monitoring programs also occurs in the Torres Strait (Johnson et al., 2015). Even with increased effort dedicated to Indigenous natural and cultural resource management, results have been mixed, with many projects falling well short of both Indigenous and non-Indigenous expectations (Barbour & Schlesinger, 2012). Natural and cultural resource management is considered a worthy and necessary goal (Ens et al., 2012), yet designing and implementing programs to achieve sustainability goals are not straightforward (Dressler et al., 2010). Determining whether traditional harvest is sustainable needs to be assessed on a case-by-case community basis given the wider ecological and pressure conditions within an area and as such, it is important to consider the state of the harvested population, state of supporting habitats, range of threats, and controls to limit human impacts. DATA STREAM(S) USED IN EXPERT ASSESSMENT The information used in the assessment was based on extracting insightful statements from reports and articles across Australia on Traditional use of marine resources. No data sets were used to generate this assessment. 2016 SOE ASSESSMENT SUMMARY [see attached Expert Assessment for full details] • 2016 • Assessment grade: Low impact Assessment trend: Unclear Confidence grade: Limited evidence or limited consensus Confidence trend: Limited evidence or limited consensus Comparability: Grade and trend are somewhat comparable to the 2011 assessment • 2011 • Assessment grade: Very good Assessment trend: Stable Confidence grade: Limited evidence or limited consensus Confidence trend: Limited evidence or limited consensus CHANGES SINCE 2011 SOE ASSESSMENT Since 2011, focus had been placed on monitoring and recording harvest levels to help quantify trends in Traditional use of marine resources.

The Marine chapter of the 2016 State of the Environment (SoE) report incorporates multiple expert templates developed from streams of marine data. This metadata record describes the Expert Assessment "Pressures on the marine environment associated with shipping". The full Expert Assessment, including figures and tables (where provided), is attached to this record. Where available, the Data Stream(s) used to generate this Expert Assessment are accessible through the "On-line Resources" section of this record. DESCRIPTION OF THE PRESSURE Australia as an island relies heavily on shipping for transportation of its imports and exports. In 2013–14, approximately 1274 million tonnes of cargo were loaded and 151 million tonnes discharged at Australian wharves by 5499 vessels that made 28 714 port calls. As this shipping traverses Australian waters there is potential for adverse interactions with the marine environment across all regions (see Figure 1). Specifically, there is a risk of environmental damage from collision or grounding of vessels, and ship strike, which is a significant cause of anthropogenic mortality to whales worldwide. Also although not addressed specifically here it should be noted small recreational vessels regularly injure dugongs, turtles, and dolphins. DATA STREAM(S) USED IN EXPERT ASSESSMENT • AIS: AIS data for 2014, coverage over all regions, based on CTS product from AMSA • Ship strike database: Coverage over all regions 1872-2015. For the assessment we mainly looked at post 2000 records. • Shipping statistics: Coverage over all regions from 1998-2013 (Predictions from infrastructure Australia used for 2014-2015 growth). 2016 SOE ASSESSMENT SUMMARY [see attached Expert Assessment for full details] • 2016 • Assessment grade: Low Assessment trend: Deteriorating Confidence grade: High level of consensus Confidence trend: High level of consensus Comparability: Comparable • 2011 • CHANGES SINCE 2011 SOE ASSESSMENT The assessment is unchanged.

The Marine chapter of the 2016 State of the Environment (SoE) report incorporates multiple expert templates developed from streams of marine data. This metadata record describes the Expert Assessment "Pressures on the marine environment associated with climate and system variability". The full Expert Assessment, including figures and tables (where provided), is attached to this record. Where available, the Data Stream(s) used to generate this Expert Assessment are accessible through the "On-line Resources" section of this record. DESCRIPTION OF THE PRESSURE Climate and the marine environment varies on multiple temporal and spatial scales. This variability results in seasonal, inter-annual, decadal and longer changes to water temperature, rainfall patterns affecting ocean salinity, and surface winds, oceanic currents and tidal regimes which can influence the degree of vertical mixing through the water column. DATA STREAM(S) USED IN EXPERT ASSESSMENT Published papers and reports on climate variability. Details of the specific data sets used to generate this assessment have not been provided. 2016 SOE ASSESSMENT SUMMARY [see attached Expert Assessment for full details] • 2016 • Assessment grade: Low impact Assessment trend: Unclear Confidence grade: Adequate high quality evidence or high level of consensus Confidence trend: Adequate high quality evidence or high level of consensus Comparability: Not previously asssessed • 2011 • (Not previously assessed) CHANGES SINCE 2011 SOE ASSESSMENT Climate and system variability as a pressure on the marine environment was not assessed in 2011.

The Marine chapter of the 2021 State of the Environment (SoE) report incorporates multiple expert templates developed from streams of marine data. This metadata record describes the Expert Assessment "Effectiveness of Management – Recreational fishing". A PDF of the full Expert Assessment, including figures and tables (where provided) is downloadable in the "On-line Resources" section of this record as "EXPERT ASSESSMENT 2021 - Effectiveness of Management - Recreational Fishing" DESCRIPTION OF THE APPROACH TO MANAGING THE PRESSURE In Australia, participation in the recreational sector is high by global levels (Hyder et al., 2018) and complex. Fishers target highly diverse but low productivity ecosystems, which lead to variable catches of many species. For some species, the proportion of the catch taken by recreational fishers can be large, at times rivalling or exceeding the harvest from commercial fisheries (Henry and Lyle, 2003; Brown, 2016; van Putten et al., 2017). The intensity of recreational fishing activities can therefore pose a threat to both stocks and marine biodiversity, at least at a local scales (Stuart-Smith et al., 2008; Edgar et al., 2018; Little et al., 2019). It should be noted, however, that recreational fishing can also have positive socio-economic roles, creating significant economic activity, playing an important social role for coastal communities and providing nutrition (Pascoe et al., 2014; Griffiths et al., 2017; Cooke et al., 2018). Regulatory responsibilities for Australian fisheries are shared between the Australian Commonwealth Government and the governments of each state or territory. States manage recreational fisheries but are required to adhere to State or Commonwealth regulations as they apply to access and prohibitions such as “no take” reserves for biodiversity conservation such as National Park or Sanctuary Zones in Marine Parks. Marine recreational fishery catch, is solely managed by the states, even when occurring in Commonwealth waters, and are regulated through a combination of input and output controls as well as licensing and spatial and temporal access controls (Lynch et al., 2019). Recreational fisheries management typically relies on output controls, mainly possession and size limits to reduce potential overharvest and protect spawning biomass. There are also examples of input controls, such as closed seasons, gear restrictions and gear exclusions. Spatial and/or temporal closures are also used to protect spawning events, rebuild stocks, limit impacts in sensitive area or life history stages. Closures are also used in marine reserves and parks for the conservation of biodiversity. Recreational fisheries assessments are conducted by all states and territories across Australia. Assessments include telephone–diary surveys, which provide catch and effort estimates at broad spatial (state-wide, regional) and temporal (annual, seasonal) scales (Table 1). Smaller-scale, targeted research that includes onsite roving, progressive counts, and access-point surveys are also undertaken to deal with complexity and meet legislated requirements for particular fishery performance and resource allocation (Smallwood et al., 2012; Wise et al., 2012; Lynch, 2014; Ochwada-Doyle et al., 2014; Wood et al., 2016; Lynch et al., 2020). While there is growing professional regional cooperation and coordination between Australia’s recreational fishery scientists, through workshops and collaborations, surveys are not synchronized or aligned temporally between states (Table 1). Surveys are expensive and, between jurisdictions, there are varying gaps in time series continuity between repeat surveys. While basic methodologies for each of the state-wide surveys are similar, there are also some differences, such as the sampling frames used (telephone number lists vs fishing licence) and survey scope (e.g. coverage of interstate fishers, replication). Ultimately, the objectives, scale and resources available to

The Marine chapter of the 2021 State of the Environment (SoE) report incorporates multiple expert templates developed from streams of marine data. This metadata record describes the Expert Assessment "Management Effectiveness of Commercial fishing". A PDF of the full Expert Assessment, including figures and tables (where provided) is downloadable in the "On-line Resources" section of this record as "EXPERT ASSESSMENT 2021 - Management Effectiveness - Commercial Fishing" DESCRIPTION OF THE APPROACH TO MANAGING THE PRESSURE All Australian jurisdictions understand the direct pressures that commercial fishing has on the marine environment. Almost all management agencies across Australia are using evidence-based processes such as harvest strategies for commercially important species to determine sustainable catch levels, and risk-based assessments of the broader ecosystem effects of fishing. Implementation, however, is not uniform with some stocks having an unknown sustainability status. The Australian partnership approach between managers, commercial fishers, scientists and other stakeholders is recognised globally as a standard for fisheries management (Marchal et al., 2016). Management agencies rely to varying degrees on co-funding of management costs from industry. Increased use of risk-based intelligence-gathering and reporting of fishing activity, and uptake of vessel monitoring systems is benefitting compliance. Australian jurisdictions have sought to implement single jurisdiction stock management where possible. Historically, the Offshore Constitutional Settlement has been the primary means to do so. More recently the emphasis has been to develop common (cross-jurisdictional) stock assessments and harvest strategies for shared stocks without changes in jurisdiction. Spatial management is used widely to reduce conflicts between sectors and increasingly to reduce the fishing impacts on vulnerable species and habitats. Some closures prohibit specific fishing methods within sensitive habitats. An increasing range of mechanisms and technical tools are being used to reduce interactions with seabirds, marine mammals, reptiles and other vulnerable species. Such bycatch reduction devices include tori lines, sprayers, seal and turtle excluder devices. Management agencies and industry recognise that climate change is affecting Australian fisheries, and the changing nature of marine ecosystems is receiving greater attention. However, implementation challenges remain. Management across sectors remains a challenge in terms of both of accurate data collection to understand stock status, and resource sharing. Cross-sectoral management with recreational sector continues to improve with several jurisdictions committed to regular surveys and rules around catch limits that better reflect stock levels. Traditional fishing is being increasingly recognised, but there remains no common agreement between indigenous Australians and jurisdictions about how to move forward. A range of best practice guidelines for fisheries management have been developed (Penney et al. 2016; Hobday et al. 2019; Sloane et al. 2014) and are steadily being deployed. Small-scale/data-limited fisheries are prevalent and remain a challenge (Hill et al., submitted; Dowling et al. 2016). Jurisdictions have begun to use a range of processes and decision-support tools to better ensure the sustainability of these fisheries including harvest strategies. DATA STREAM(S) USED IN EXPERT ASSESSMENT not supplied 2021 SOE ASSESSMENT SUMMARY [see attached Expert Assessment for full details] • Approach • Assessment grade: Effective Assessment trend: Improving Confidence grade: Adequate Confidence trend: Adequate Comparability with 2016: Somewhat comparable. Increased uptake of harvest strategies and ecological risk assessments by most jurisdictions. • Outputs • Assessment grade: Effective Assessment trend: Improving Confidence grade: Adequate Confidence trend: Adequate Comparability with

The Marine chapter of the 2016 State of the Environment (SoE) report incorporates multiple expert templates developed from streams of marine data. This metadata record describes the Expert Assessment "Effectiveness of marine management of commercial fishing". The full Expert Assessment, including figures and tables (where provided), is attached to this record. Where available, the Data Stream(s) used to generate this Expert Assessment are accessible through the "On-line Resources" section of this record. DESCRIPTION OF THE PRESSURE BEING MANAGED, AND ITS IMPACT Ecologically Sustainable Development (ESD) is a common objective across all Australian jurisdictions resulting in a good level of understanding of the direct pressures commercial fishing has on the marine environment. All Australian jurisdictions have introduced one or more measures to address those pressures that are increasingly based on risk assessment and implementing a management response. These include harvest strategies for the main commercial species, adaptive management involving expert judgement, more quantitative management strategy evaluation, ecosystem modelling and broader ecological risk assessments. There is now a greater understanding of the effects of climate change and ocean acidification on the marine environment and the need to consider this when determining appropriate fisheries management responses. However, management agencies are yet to integrate all the available science into their management systems. Likewise, current habitat analysis work will identify the emerging priorities in managing the environmental effects on habitats of commercial fishing. Spatial management has been introduced to mitigate the impacts on both vulnerable species and habitats where identified i.e. gulper shark closures in the Southern and Eastern Scalefish and Shark Fishery and the introduction of gillnet zoning closures to limit interactions with the Australian sea lion. Similarly, spatial closures that specifically prohibit trawling within seagrass and other sensitive nursery habitats are often used for many fisheries including, for example, the Shark Bay and Exmouth Gulf prawn trawl fisheries in Western Australia. Specific mitigation measures for protected species are also used to reduce the effects of commercial fishing. This includes such things as: seal and turtle excluder devices, square mesh panels in trawls, tori lines and other sea bird deterrent devices. Education programs for the fishing industry have also been improved to provide a greater understanding of how to avoid and/or handle protected species. DATA STREAM(S) USED IN EXPERT ASSESSMENT The assessment is based on relevant literature and reports on current management measures associated with commercial fishing – a list is provided in the attached Expert Assessment. 2016 SOE ASSESSMENT SUMMARY [see attached Expert Assessment for full details] • Understanding of pressure: Understanding of fisheries and effective management frameworks is reasonably high and improving. • Planning associated with management of pressure: Improved planning processes directed towards research and risk-based assessment processes are resulting in more robust outcomes. • Input for informing management of pressure: Greater use of technology for data collection informs management decisions and measures the trajectory of trends over time. • Processes associated with developing, monitoring, and updating management: Improved processes have been developed to expand the range of fishery assessment tools with an increased use of risk-based approaches. • Outputs from management framework in place: Biennial State of key Australian Fish Stocks Report form the primary assessment output for national commercial fisheries. • Outcomes of management framework in place: Improvements in data gathering and reporting direct resources towards commercial fishing operations that pose the highest risk to the marine environment. CHANGES SINCE 2011 SOE

The Marine chapter of the 2016 State of the Environment (SoE) report incorporates multiple expert templates developed from streams of marine data. This metadata record describes the Expert Assessment "Pressures on the marine environment associated with marine mining". The full Expert Assessment, including figures and tables (where provided), is attached to this record. Where available, the Data Stream(s) used to generate this Expert Assessment are accessible through the "On-line Resources" section of this record. DESCRIPTION OF THE PRESSURE A wide variety of mineral resources exist within Australia’s maritime jurisdiction (see Table 1 in attached Expert Assessment). Mining of those resources however, remains an 'emerging industry'. DATA STREAM(S) USED IN EXPERT ASSESSMENT Published papers and reports. Assessment has been completed by literature review. 2016 SOE ASSESSMENT SUMMARY [see attached Expert Assessment for full details] • 2016 • Assessment grade: Low impact Assessment trend: Unclear Confidence grade: Limited evidence or limited consensus Confidence trend: Evidence and consensus too low to make an assessment Comparability: Grade and trend are somewhat comparable to the 2011 assessment • 2011 • Assessment grade: Very good Assessment trend: Stable Confidence grade: Limited evidence or limited consensus Confidence trend: Limited evidence or limited consensus CHANGES SINCE 2011 SOE ASSESSMENT Climate and system variability as a pressure on the marine environment was not assessed in 2011.

The Marine chapter of the 2016 State of the Environment (SoE) report incorporates multiple expert templates developed from streams of marine data. This metadata record describes the Expert Assessment "Pressures on the marine environment associated with marine debris". The full Expert Assessment, including figures and tables (where provided), is attached to this record. Where available, the Data Stream(s) used to generate this Expert Assessment are accessible through the "On-line Resources" section of this record. DESCRIPTION OF THE PRESSURE Marine debris is recognized as a globally important stressor in the marine environment, with increasing reports of impacts on marine biodiversity reported during the last four decades (Gall and Thompson 2015) and upwards of 6-12 million metric tons of plastic waste entering the oceans each year (Jambeck et al. 2015). Marine litter includes consumer items such as glass or plastic bottles, cans, bags, balloons, rubber, metal, fiberglass, cigarettes and other manufactured materials that end up in the ocean and along the coast, and other materials intentionally or unintentionally discarded at sea. In Australia, marine debris has been identified as a key threatening process for threatened and endangered vertebrate fauna. Marine litter also has socioeconomic impacts, it acts as a transporter of invasive species, can be a navigation hazard and there are increasing concerns over the human health risks due to food security issues from seafood (Rochman et al. 2015). With estimates of ¾ or more of marine debris coming from land-based sources and continued growth in plastics production and usage, marine debris is a ubiquitous problem, with high but variable concentrations of marine debris found both in coastal and marine environments (Hardesty et al. 2014). DATA STREAM(S) USED IN EXPERT ASSESSMENT Concentrations derived from a single survey around Australian coastline and at sea, carried out between 2011-2013 as well as data and analyses presented in peer review publications, a recent review of the TAP for marine debris. 2016 SOE ASSESSMENT SUMMARY [see attached Expert Assessment for full details] • 2016 • Assessment grade: Good Assessment trend: Stable Confidence grade: Adequate high quality evidence and high level of consensus Confidence trend: Adequate high quality evidence and high level of consensus Comparability: Grade and trend are somewhat comparable to the 2011 assessment • 2011 • Assessment grade: Very good Assessment trend: Stable Confidence grade: Limited evidence or limited consensus Confidence trend: Limited evidence or limited consensus CHANGES SINCE 2011 SOE ASSESSMENT Marine debris was not included in 2011 assessment.