The facilitation of localised stock management in the Australian abalone fishery through simulation and modelling: People power in the Australian abalone fishery

Abalone (Haliotids) are marine molluscs which occur in high density aggregations on shallow coastal reefs (0-20m) in many parts of the world. Since pre-historic times abalone have been highly prized for their accessibility, large meaty foot muscle and bowl like shell. Today they are highly regarded as a delicacy by people of Chinese and Japanese decent for whom abalone symbolize prosperity. Abalone fisheries have proved prone to overfishing. The large fisheries of California and Mexico have experienced collapses. While landings from the large Japanese fishery have slowly declined over the last three decades. Global production peaked at 27 600 tin 1968 and has since declined to below 12 000 t per annum [1], [2]. Concurrently, the value of abalone as an international commodity has increased greatly since the 1960s partly due to declining supply but also as a result of the growing economic strength of the Asian economies. Today Japan and Australia are the principle suppliers of abalone each supplying approximately 40% of global production. The landed value of abalone in Australian is approximately $AUD200 million per annum and approximately 200 divers are licenced to collect it. Entitlements to collect abalone are extremely valuable changing hands for $AUD1-3 million depending on the state for which the entitlement applies. State governments have been quick to realise the revenue potential of the industry and generally charge divers an annual licence fee of $30 000- $40 000 [3]