A comprehensive review of fisheries regulations is progressing and the fishery specific project teams have continued to meet during March and April. The final recommendations for the Prawn and Abalone fisheries have been distributed to industry representative bodies. Recommendations for the remaining fisheries will be finalised over the coming months.

The remaining strategic plans were completed for the GSV Prawn, West Coast Prawn, Charter Boat, Sardines and Blue Crab.

A draft Co-management Policy was endorsed by members at meeting 21 of the Fisheries Council and will be provided to the Minister for consideration. Following approval from the Minister the draft policy will be released for industry consultation.

The final draft of the Commercial Blue Crab Fishery Management Plan has been endorsed by the Council and forwarded to the Minister for adoption.

A draft Lake Eyre Basin Fishery Management Plan was endorsed by the Council at its November 2011 meeting. The comments provided by the Council have been incorporated and the plan has been forwarded to the Minister for consideration to release it for public consultation.

A draft of the Commercial Abalone Fishery Management Plan was endorsed by the Council at its November meeting. The draft plan was released for two months of public consultation which concludes on 25 April 2012. A public meeting was held on 3 April 2012 at SARDI Aquatic Sciences where interested persons were welcome to attend. Submissions received will be considered by the Council at its May meeting.

The final draft of the Pelican Lagoon Aquatic Reserve Management Plan has been endorsed by the Council and forwarded to the Minister for adoption.

The management plan drafting has commenced and will be considered by the Rock Lobster Fishery Management Advisory Committee in the coming months.

The management plan drafting has commenced and will be considered by the Rock Lobster Fishery Management Advisory Committee in the coming months.

A draft Commercial Marine Scalefish Fishery Management Plan was endorsed by the Fisheries Council at its 21st meeting held 7 March 2012. The plan will be submitted to the Minister for approval to release for three months of public consultation.

An independant review of the Gulf St Vincent Prawn Fishery was recently undertaken of the stock assessment, harvest strategy and economic structure of the fishery to inform the development of a revised harvest strategy, which will be incorporated into the next management plan (due mid 2013).

Work will commence on this management plan this year.

To assist the recreational sector approach the future in a more strategic way, the Council is facilitating a project to develop a strategic plan for this sector. During October stakeholder meetings were held to get input from regions on their local issues. This information will feed into a state-wide strategic plan and subsequently a management plan for the Recreational Fishery.  A draft strategic plan will be presented to the Fisheries Council at meeting 22 on 17 May 2012. 

The FARAC held a stakeholder research and development priority setting workshop on 15 February 2012, where the current priorities were revised. The amended document will be circulated to attendees once finalised. The annual FRDC competitive call will be sent to all stakeholders at the end of April / early May and expression of interest applications are to be submitted to Kylie Leppa by 15 June 2012. The next meeting of the FARAC will be 20 July 2012, where the applications received will be assessed.