Resource Assessment Groups

In striving to achieve a balance between resource use and conservation, the Australian Fisheries Management Authority (AFMA) and the Management Advisory Committees (MACs) draw upon advice provided by Resource Assessment Groups (RAGs) which have been established for each major fishery group or individual species.

Follow the links to view information about each Resource Assessment Group.

AFMA is currently reviewing its Resource Assessment Groups. This includes considering:

  • The future role of the RAGs;
  • A review of RAG structures;
  • The expertise required to support future RAG work; and
  • A review of governance arrangements for RAGs.

RAGs comprise fishery scientists, industry members, fishery economists, management and other interest groups. The wide membership ensures that, in addition to scientific information on each fish stock, industry knowledge and developments in management strategies, market prices and the costs of harvesting are also taken into account.

RAG meetings are partially funded by AFMA from the AFMA Research Fund (which is drawn from Government sources on the basis that the wider community has an interest in having robust assessments of stocks and sound resource usage strategies) and partially industry funded through levies. RAGs are not a body of the MACs and operate independently from them, although the two groups work closely together. All advice presented by RAGs is given without bias.

The main role of RAGs is to provide advice on the status of fish stocks, substocks, species (target and non-target), and on the impact of fishing on the marine environment. This includes providing advice to MAC research sub-committees on the type of information required for stock assessments. RAGs also evaluate alternative harvest options proposed by MACs, including impact over time of different harvest strategies; stock depletion or recovery rates; confidence levels for fishery assessments; and risks to the attainment of approved fishery objectives. The RAGs also evaluate and report on economic and compliance factors affecting the fishery. RAGs coordinate, evaluate and regularly undertake fishery assessment activity in each fishery. They report their recommendations through the individual fishery MACs to the AFMA Board on issues such as the setting of total allowable catches (TACs), stock rebuilding targets, biological reference points etc. In effect, the RAGs provide advice taking account of uncertainty and seek to identify the risks associated with the alternatives (risk assessment).

The MACs consider the advice of RAGs and provide recommendations to the Board based on how the alternatives will contribute to meeting overall objectives for the particular fishery (risk management) and, ultimately, to the pursuit of AFMA’s legislative objectives.