A WA parliamentary question seeks data on commercial fishing in Wonnerup Estuary, including the number of fishers, target species, and catch volumes. The answer provides fisher numbers but withholds catch data due to confidentiality, noting system improvements for future data collection.

AnsweredQoN 3039Legislative Assembly
Asked
17 August 2004
Portfolio
Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries

QuestionView source ↗

(1) How many commercial fishers are licensed to catch fish within the Wonnerup Estuary east of Busselton?
(2) How many licensed commercial fishers are known or believed to fish within the Wonnerup Estuary?
(3) What are the target species that are caught by these fishers from the Wonnerup Inlet?
(4) What is the annual volume of each species caught from the Inlet and what is the estimated annual total value of all fish caught in recent years from the Wonnerup Estuary?

AnswerView source ↗

Answered
9 November 2004
Responded by
Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries
Response time
84 days
(2)The number of licensed commercial fishing units operating in the estuary in recent years has ranged from six (6) in 2000, four (4) in both 2001 and 2002, and two (2) in 2003. (3) Sea mullet is the target species. Yellow eye mullet and black bream are also occasionally taken. (4) Under the previous system used to record catch it was not possible for the Department to distinguish between who has fished in the Wonnerup Estuary and adjacent areas. The Department has recently amended its system to enable it to get specific catch figures for the Wonnerup Estuary and such data will be available in future years. However, due to the confidentiality provisions of the Fish Resources Management Act 1994, it is not possible to supply catch data in relation to this question.
(3) Sea mullet is the target species. Yellow eye mullet and black bream are also occasionally taken. (4) Under the previous system used to record catch it was not possible for the Department to distinguish between who has fished in the Wonnerup Estuary and adjacent areas. The Department has recently amended its system to enable it to get specific catch figures for the Wonnerup Estuary and such data will be available in future years. However, due to the confidentiality provisions of the Fish Resources Management Act 1994, it is not possible to supply catch data in relation to this question.
(4) Under the previous system used to record catch it was not possible for the Department to distinguish between who has fished in the Wonnerup Estuary and adjacent areas. The Department has recently amended its system to enable it to get specific catch figures for the Wonnerup Estuary and such data will be available in future years. However, due to the confidentiality provisions of the Fish Resources Management Act 1994, it is not possible to supply catch data in relation to this question.
The Department has recently amended its system to enable it to get specific catch figures for the Wonnerup Estuary and such data will be available in future years. However, due to the confidentiality provisions of the Fish Resources Management Act 1994, it is not possible to supply catch data in relation to this question.
However, due to the confidentiality provisions of the Fish Resources Management Act 1994, it is not possible to supply catch data in relation to this question.

Explore WA Government Data

Search the full archive in the free dashboard, or query programmatically via API.

Explore more