Australian fisheries economic indicators report 2017: Financial and economic performance of the Southern and Eastern Scalefish and Shark Fishery

The Australian fisheries economic indicators report expands on and takes the place of the long running ABARES Australian fisheries surveys report. The report presents results from ABARES' fishery surveys on financial returns to fishers and net economic returns from fisheries to the Australian community. The report includes a range of other economic indicators, including productivity analysis.

This report covers the Commonwealth Trawl Sector (CTS), and the Gillnet, Hook and Trap Sector (GHTS) of the Southern and Eastern Scalefish and Shark Fishery (SESSF), with new survey results for the 2013-14 and 2014-15 financial years and non-survey based estimates of net economic return for the 2015-16 and 2016-17 financial years.

Key issues

• Profit at full equity was positive and increased for the average boat in the CTS from 2013-14 to 2014-15 but was lower than the peak in 2008-09. In the GHTS, profit at full equity improved from negative to positive between 2013-14 and 2014-15, but the result in 2015-16 was lower than its 2008-09 level. • Net economic return (NER) in the CTS increased in 2014-15 following three years of decline. Preliminary non-survey based estimates indicate that NER further increased in the 2015-16 and 2016-17 financial years. • NER in the GHTS is estimated to have been negative in the 2013-14 and 2014-15 financial years. However, preliminary non-survey based estimates indicate that NER was positive in the 2015-16 and 2016-17 financial years with 2015-16 being the first positive NER in the fishery since 2008-09.