Fishing tactics and fleet structure of the small-scale coastal scalefish fishery in Tasmania, Australia

The small-scale coastal scalefish fishery in Tasmania, south-eastern Australia, uses a large number of fishing gear types to target a range of fish, shark and cephalopod species. This study applied multivariate analyses of catch and effort logbook records to identify fishing tactics (characterised by fishing gear, target species, location and month) and vessel groups (characterised by their fishing activities) for the 17 gear types used in the fishery. A total of 35 fishing tactics were defined, with up to 10, mostly species-specific, fishing tactics per gear type. Subsequently, 20 vessel groups were characterised that were categorised according to three degrees of specialisation and a deepwater component. The analysis highlighted the strongly-interlinked fishing tactics and the high level of flexibility in selecting target species and fishing tactics. This flexibility should be taken into consideration in stock assessments and the management of this fishery that have traditionally focussed on single fish species and individual fishing methods.