Recent history of Australia's South East Fishery; a manager's perspective

Abstract

A brief history of the South East Fishery is presented, focussing on the period 1986–2000. With the realization in the 1980s that natural resources are finite, active fisheries management became more of a focus for the Australian Federal Government. This paper describes the Federal Government’s fisheries management objectives since the mid 1980s as well as major new policy initiatives, and seeks to measure the performance of the fishery against key management objectives. A few simple indicators of change are examined with particular reference to the pursuit of economic efficiency.