Standard Presentation (15 mins) Australian Marine Sciences Association 2022

Plastic gear loss estimates from a major Australian fishery (#269)

Katrina Bornt 1 , Jason How 2 , Simon de Lestang 2 , Renae Hovey 1 , Kathryn Linge 3 , Tim Langlois 1
  1. The University of Western Australia, Crawley, WESTERN AUSTRALIA, Australia
  2. Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development, Hillarys, WA, Australia
  3. ChemCentre, Perth, WA, Australia

Plastic loss from fisheries remains largely undocumented despite the value estimates provide when comparing the magnitude of loss relative to other sources of plastic marine debris and mitigating the potential impacts from plastic fishing gear lost at sea. This is the first study to estimate plastic loss from a pot fishery worldwide using interviews of 50 commercial fishers from the West Coast Rock Lobster Managed Fishery and documenting the plastic gear components used, the number of pots lost and the causes for gear loss in 2021. The annual gear loss rate (0.2%) was considerably lower than global estimates for other pot fisheries indicating that plastic loss from this fishery is relatively low. Plastic loss was attributed to rope (46.5%), pot components (30.3%) and floats (23.2%), of which 78.2% were polypropylene and polyethylene. Low plastic loss estimates may be associated with changes to the management of the fishery and the gear loss prevention measures implemented by commercial fishers. This is the first study to examine the plastics used and lost by a major Australian pot fishery with a dynamic approach that provides reliable estimates to better inform plastic mitigation efforts and understand the magnitude of plastic loss from fisheries.