Catch and effort from a specialised recreational pelagic sport fishery off eastern Australia

Recreational fisheries are undergoing increasing participation, specialisation and fishing power and contribute significantly to the total catch of several species. The specialised recreational pelagic sport fishery off eastern Australia was studied using a 12-month daytime access point survey. Sport fishing comprised 15% of the fishing trips of the 7243 recreational fishers intercepted, with the majority of fishers being male (90%) and not members of a fishing club (89%). Fishing effort, catch rates and total estimated catch varied temporally, spatially and between fishing club and non-fishing club members. A total of 25 pelagic species were retained or released by fishers and catch rates were very low (0.001–0.047 fish h−1). A generalised additive model incorporating environmental variables provided a useful alternative to traditional direct estimation methods for estimating total annual catch. Estimated sport fishing effort (±S.E.) was 63,802 (±5114) angler hours in 2010. Estimated total catch (±S.E.) for yellowtail kingfish, Spanish mackerel and wahoo ranged between 4.61 (±1.39) and 11.61 (±4.00) t and was equivalent to 27–206% of the 2010 commercial catch for these species. These results demonstrate that the catch from small specialised recreational fisheries can be significant and need to be considered in stock and resource allocation assessments.

► We use an access point survey to investigate a specialised sport fishery.
► Sport fishers generally male, not fishing club members and rare in population.
► Catch and effort varies spatially and temporally.
► Catch rates of all pelagic species lower than one fish per 100 angler hours.
► Estimated recreational catch significant when compared to commercial catch.