THE BEST AVAILABLE INFORMATION - SOME CASE-STUDIES FROM NSW, AUSTRALIA, OF CONSERVATION-RELATED MANAGEMENT RESPONSES WHICH IMPACT ON RECREATIONAL FISHERS

In the state of New South Wales, southeastern Australia, fishing is on e of the most popular recreational activities in coastal and freshwate r environments, Although a wide variety of fish, crustaceans, molluscs , other invertebrates and algae are exploited by fishers for sport, fo od and bait, there is little quantitative information on the catches, efforts and effects of humans on populations of these organisms, Altho ugh there have been a number of surveys of the activities of recreatio nal fishers in lakes, rivers, estuaries, and more recently the marine environment, there have been few such surveys of the catch, effort, ef fects and/or motivations of other human user groups such as spearfishe rs, SCUBA divers, aquarium fish collectors and conservationists. Ideal ly, fisheries managers use catch and effort data together with informa tion on species biology and human usage to determine management strate gies aimed at sharing the fisheries resources in order to maximise the benefits for both present and future generations. Generally, fisherie s managers must thus use 'the best available information' and the resu lts of public consultation to make balanced management decisions, In t his paper we present case studies on Aquatic Reserves and protected aq uatic species which illustrate NSW Fisheries' management responses uti lising 'the best available information' and the 'precautionary princip le' to protect aquatic habitats and species in NSW waters, We then con sider some of the positive and negative impacts that such management s trategies may have on users groups, Unfortunately, to date there have been very few examples of the use of 'adaptive management' to test the effectiveness of NSW Fisheries' management decisions, though this wou ld be the ideal approach under most such circumstances. Copyright (C) 1996 Elsevier Science Ltd