Snapper Recovery Package
The Snapper Recovery Package supports those affected by the extended closure of the Spencer Gulf, West Coast and Gulf St Vincent Snapper stocks until 30 June 2026.
The State Government will deliver $8.8 million in funding initiatives over 3 years, including:
- $5 million for the Snapper Science Program which is co-funded by the South Australian Government and the Fisheries Research and Development Corporation (FRDC)
- $2.4 million to support impacted fishers
- $1.2 million to support the continuation of the Snapper Restocking Program
- $200,000 for reef restoration projects.
(Prof. Mike Steer) Snapper is one of the most iconic fisheries resources in southern Australia.
The Snapper population has declined over many years. The initial closure was implemented in 2019 and extended for three years and at the end of that closure we reassessed the population through a stock assessment and that extended that closure for a further three years. That’s only the Spencer Gulf and West Coast stock and the Gulf St Vincent stock. There’s part of the state that is still open to controlled fishing around the South East, which is a stock that we share with western Victoria.
(Hon. Clare Scriven MLC) So because Snapper is so iconic, the State Government’s invested $8.8 million in the Snapper Recovery Program. Now that’s got a number of components, the first is the Snapper Science Program, so $5 million, and that’s a collaboration between the South Australian Research and Development Institute, SARDI, as well as the FRDC. Interestingly, the single biggest investment in Australia into a single species. There’s also $2.4 million to assist affected fishers, and $1.2 million for the Snapper Restocking program, so that’s releasing close to a million fingerlings into South Australian waters, and also some reef rebuilding, to assist with addressing that depletion of the Snapper stocks.
(Dr Gretchen Grammer) The SARDI Snapper Science Program addresses key priorities across three research themes. These are biology and ecology, estimates of biomass, and monitoring and assessment.
(Dr Troy Rogers) Snapper populations are characterised by highly variable recruitment, so even though fish spawn each summer, spawning isn’t always successful, and in most years there’s very few eggs and larvae that survive to becoming juveniles, which are added to the population. That’s a real key driver for the declines in Snapper populations in South Australia and elsewhere throughout its distribution. So a key aim is to understand the factors that may be influencing the survival of Snapper eggs and larvae, in particular those from the physical environment, so the temperature of the water that they’re in, the availability of food and wind that’s dispersing those larvae, and to try and understand how that might be influenced by the changing environment into the future.
(Dr Michael Drew) So one of the main priorities for Snapper research is to develop a fishery-independent method to estimate biomass, and that can be incredibly hard considering it’s hard to estimate the number of fish in a population. We’re working on four different techniques, one of those being the DEPM refinement study, so it’s the daily egg production method. Then there’s the close-kin mark-recapture technique, and then the hydroacoustic surveys, and then also redevelopment of the stock assessment model, which estimates biomass. Each technique has its pros and cons and we’re going to work through different techniques to assess which method is appropriate for Snapper.
(Dr Troy Rogers) A core component of any fishery science program is to be monitoring the stock. There’s a range of ways that that can be done, but it’s essential to understand how the populations function and to detect evidence of recovery. The collection of biological samples provides us information on the length, the weight, sex, the maturity and the age of each fish, which we use to build a profile of fish in that region.
(Hon. Clare Scriven MLC) So SARDI is doing an assessment of the Snapper stock, that will be ready later this year. So it’s really rigorous, it’s got to be really robust, because that will be a huge part of the information we rely on to make a decision of whether the fishery can reopen. And the Snapper Science Stakeholder Group, the SSSG, is also a really important part of that work and that planning.
(Asher Deszery) Yeah, so I have a membership position on the Snapper Science Stakeholder Group. I provide advice from a recreational perspective and offer the nuances specific to the recreational fishing community, and that includes working groups, meetings and in the general public through general communications as well.
(Dr Troy Rogers) Stock assessment for Snapper is currently underway, and it’s expected to be delivered at the end of the year, and that stock assessment is going to be really important to inform the review of the current fishery management that will happen after that.
Background
Over the past decade, there have been significant declines in the productivity and stock statuses of Snapper fisheries throughout Australia. One example of this is the progressive decline in annual commercial catches of Snapper from each mainland state between 2011–12 to 2020–21.
There are 3 recognised stocks of Snapper in South Australia:
- Spencer Gulf, West Coast stock
- Gulf St Vincent stock
- Western Victoria stock.
Over the past 2 decades, these stocks have demonstrated very different trends in biomass and fishery catches. The change primarily related to 2 processes:
- recruitment – the number of juvenile Snapper that enter the population each year
- exploitation – the number of fish that are removed from the population.
Spencer Gulf, West Coast stock
Historically, the Spencer Gulf, West Coast stock has provided the highest contribution to the state's catches and supported the most productive regional fishery in Australia.
The biomass of Snapper stock for this area declined considerably from 2006 and has remained at record low levels since 2012. This reflected an extended period of poor recruitment and continued exploitation of the population.
The biomass decline resulted in the Spencer Gulf, West Coast stock being classified as depleting in 2012, which was further downgraded to depleted in 2018.
Gulf St Vincent stock
The Gulf St Vincent stock followed a much different trend. Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, the biomass of Snapper stock in the area was comparatively quite low. It then progressively increased during the 2000s and early 2010s due to multiple recruitment events in the 1990s and 2000s.
In response, catches from Gulf St Vincent increased exponentially from 2006 and remained at record high levels from 2010 to 2015, before also declining considerably.
The decline prompted a change in stock status to depleted and resulted in the implementation of fishery closures from 1 November 2019.