Report claim that big fund was injected to boost the research of stock assessment of critical species of near shore in Australia. A project examining the stock status of species vital to recreational fishing has received $250,000 funding from the State Government’s Natural Resource Management (NRM) strategy.
Fisheries Minister Norman Moore informed that the government is ready to grant the aide to follow nearly two years of research into herring and tailor stocks in the West Coast Bioregion by the Department of Fisheries. He added that these two species are critical to recreational anglers, especially in the metropolitan area. He also said that there will be additional funding which will allow similar information for whiting on the West Coast, as well as extending work to the South Coast to provide a complete picture of the status and connectivity of the near shore stocks in Western Australia’s temperate waters.
Research work will include modern micro-chemical and genetic techniques being applied to determine the connectivity of West Coast and South Coast stocks of these popular species and the link between adults and juvenile fish to explore whether predictive forecasting of relative abundance is possible. Moore also said that there are significant social, economic and ecosystem benefits from the State’s near shore fishery stocks and assets and thus the research would help to learn more about the species for futre generation.
