Ecological Risk Management

Level 2 ERA Residual Risk Assessments for Commonwealth Fisheries

In making the transition from ecological risk assessment (ERA) outcomes to ecological risk management (ERM), AFMA has developed and implemented a process known as ‘residual risk’ which will effectively bridge the gap between the raw Level 2 ERA results and the real ‘on the water’ risks posed by Commonwealth managed fisheries.

The Level 2 Residual Risk process considers additional information; particularly the mitigating effects of management arrangements that were not explicitly included in the Level 2 ERAs or introduced after the process commenced, ensuring that the current situation in each fishery is accurately reflected. The result is a more accurate list of priority species within each fishery that is used in the next step of the ERM process – the formulations, implementation and review of management responses.

The solution to ERA Limitations

Due to the semi-quantitative nature of the Level 2 ERAs, they do not take into account all management measures currently in place in fisheries, resulting in an over-estimate of the actual risk for some species. The management strategies that are not accounted for in the Level 2 ERA assessments include:

• Limits to fishing effort;
• Catch limits (such as Total Allowable Catch and Effort (TACs and TAEs);
• Other controls such as seasonal closures; and
• Fishery management arrangements introduced after the ERAs had commenced.

In addition to this, since the Level 2 ERAs were initiated there have been improvements in the scientific information on some species as well as improved catch data. The Level 2 ERA residual risk process was developed to incorporate this information and address the shortcomings of the original process to produce an up-to-date, meaningful list of priorities that each fishery can address.

Level 2 ERA Residual Risk Guidelines

In 2007 AFMA, with extensive input from CSIRO and stakeholders, developed Level 2 ERA Residual Risk Guidelines to ensure the process is applied consistently and transparently across all Commonwealth fisheries. Within each of the guidelines there are clear decision rules that can be applied to individual species (if relevant) to calculate the residual risk posed by a fishery. When applying the guidelines clear and substantiated information is required and all supporting information has to be documented and referenced where applicable. This is consistent with the precautionary approach applied in the Level 2 ERAs, with the residual risk remaining high unless there is evidence to the contrary.

Page last updated 14 August, 2008