Salmon: What are they really worth?

As the end has drawn on an absolute 'bumper' metropolitan salmon season, a question that has regularly crossed the minds of all at Recfishwest is "imagine what it would be like if this occurred every year"? Unfortunately, the stark reality is that a metropolitan salmon season, like the one we have seen this autumn, will remain a rarity if salmon continue to be netted commercially along the south west coast.

I was fortunate enough to experience this unbelievable metropolitan salmon season first hand thanks to our ideally situated offices at the Watermans Bay Marine Centre. One morning, on our monthly fish, the staff of Recfishwest was greeted with the ocean bubbling with salmon gorging themselves with baitfish. The salmon were easily within casting distance and taking a wide array of lures. Between four of us, a total of 34 salmon were caught and released that morning. This was a truly memorable experience and one that we all would like to become a regular occurrence each year rather than a one-off.

Salmon are most highly regarded for their fighting qualities rather than their eating qualities (although if prepared properly taste fine fresh). These hard fighting qualities make the Australian salmon a prime candidate as a recreational only species given the large switch towards catch and release fishing in recent years of many environmental minded fishers. If large numbers of salmon reached the metropolitan region on an annual basis could this possibly help alleviate some of the pressure on deep sea demersal species with people switching their effort to catching this exciting sportfish?

Recfishwest have always lobbied hard for salmon to be recognised as a recreational only species, at least along the west coast. Recfishwest strongly supports the establishment of a Volunteer Fisheries Adjustment Scheme (VFAS) for the South-west salmon managed fishery. We have previously written to the Minister for Fisheries in support of this and continue to list the south west salmon fishery as very high priority for any buy back scheme.

When you think that a commercial salmon fisher receives approximately 40c/ kilo or about $2 per fish, compared to the amount of money that recreational anglers spend in the tackle industry chasing these fish it is obvious to see that economically these fish are far more valuable to the recreational fisher. The State of the Fisheries Report 2004/05 estimated the annual value of the fishery for 2004 as $973,000 for 2,382 t of salmon landed. Of this 728 t of salmon with a worth of approximately $300,000 was caught in the south-west managed salmon fishery (north of Cape Beaufort). This is a rather measly economic return for the amount of fish caught and is and injustice to what could be potentially returned if these fish were left to the recreational fisher along the west coast.

The recreational fishing industry is estimated to be worth over $500 million dollars to the Western Australian economy, making it an important contributor to the overall Gross Domestic Product of this state. If salmon were made a recreational only species I can imagine this figure increasing as people flock to their favourite tackle store to replace equipment lost in the heat of battle. This is something that I can vouch for, spending plenty of money looking for the perfect salmon lure as well as breaking my 2-4 kg Strudewick rod after accidentally dropping a salmon on it during a photo opportunity. An amateur mistake you might say.

The higher metropolitan catches of salmon are thought to be associated with a weak Leeuwin Current during the autumn migration period. In this situation the coastal waters are cooler and the salmon typically migrate further up the west coast, bypassing the commercial net fishers along the south west coast. This explains why such high numbers of salmon were encountered off the metropolitan coast even though netting was still occurring on the south west coast. The question that still remains is would these fish still venture up into the metropolitan regions in such numbers in years where the Leeuwin Current was stronger if they weren't netted along the south west coast? The reality is that in years when the Leeuwin Current is particularly strong the number of salmon that even make it around to the west coast of Western Australia is greatly reduced. Resource sharing issues eventuate in years of a strong Leeuwin Current as recreational fishers are forced to compete heavily with commercial fishers for reduced numbers of salmon.

Earlier this year Recfishwest wrote to the Minister for Fisheries, Jon Ford, asking for the consideration of a temporal closure to the commercial south west salmon fishery during the peak recreational fishing period over the Easter weekend and the April school holidays. Although it was not able to be implemented for Easter this year, the Minister acknowledged the worth of such an idea and we are hopeful that the legislation can be passed before next year.

Recfishwest receives numerous complaints annually regarding commercial fishers netting large schools of salmon where large numbers of recreational fishers gather during this holiday period. Commercial netting of large schools of salmon greatly reduces the opportunity for holidaying families to have a tangible return from this popular pastime. The result has been repeated confrontation between disgruntled recreational fishers and commercial operators during this period.

Each year hundreds of anglers can be seen along the stretch of rocky shoreline between Cape Naturalist and Dunsborough; often waiting several hours for the one opportunity to cast at passing salmon; only to have the commercial salmon fishers appear at the first sight of a passing school and net the entire school. This is very disillusioning for the parents and young children who have waited patiently for many hours then see their persistence go unrewarded.

For many recreational anglers, the Easter break and April school holidays is the only opportunity they have for their families to attempt to catch a large, hard fighting sport fish such as the Australian salmon. It is a shame that this opportunity is often denied by commercial fishermen netting large schools of salmon for which they receive a very small financial return.

Many people are confused by a number of signs that are present along the south coast, indicating that certain beaches are Designated Fishing Zones for commercial salmon fishers and all recreational fishers must get out of their way. These signs are in fact outdated and incorrect. Designated Fishing Zones are designed to allow commercial fishing operations to occur on particular beaches along the south west coast. They are not intended to give one user group an unfair advantage over others and under no circumstances are recreational fishers required to stop fishing in preference to a commercial operator. Recfishwest is hopeful that these signs will be amended prior to start of next year's salmon season.

On the east coast of Australia the recreational salmon fishery is at its strongest ever. Recreational fishers have facilitated a major buy-back of commercial salmon fishing licences. Where salmon once rarely reached Sydney during their annual migration before being netted are now being caught abundantly around Sydney and as high up as Coffs Harbour due to the fact that salmon are now largely a recreational only species. This should be viewed as strong evidence for the benefits for any future Western Australian commercial salmon fishery licence buy-back.

The fantastic metropolitan salmon season has allowed many people to have their first exposure to this wonderful sportfish and many are eagerly awaiting their chance to have another crack at these fish next year. Let's hope a few more people understand what the fuss is all about and people understand why letting a few more fish swim past the nets could greatly improve the quality of the fishing further up the coast.

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This page last updated on 17 January 2007.