In March 2000 this fishery became the world's first fishery to be certified as sustainable to the MSC environmental standard. It also became the first fishery to be certified for a third time in March 2012.

The Western Australia rock lobster fishery is the most valuable single-species fishery in Australia. Its sales generate $200M (AUS) annually in export to markets including Taiwan, Japan, Hong Kong, China, the United States and Europe.

The fishers target lobsters with baited pots and traps on the coast of Western Australia from Cape Leeuwin to Shark Bay.

“There has been a significant improvement in the consultation process as a result of MSC certification with fishers having a significant input and ownership of the changes the industry recently experienced. As a consequence, fishers have a better understanding of the sustainability issues. Having a third party accreditation gives the fishers confidence that their fishery will survive and prosper for future generations.”

“Being independently certified to the MSC standard greatly enhances the fishery’s sustainability credentials, as the assessment process is highly rigorous, is transparent, incorporates opportunity for stakeholder input and is subject to peer review. This gives the fishery a great deal of credibility when communicating with government, industry and ENGOs.”

“Engaging with the MSC program has provided a real impetus for change in the fishery. While some of the management actions set by the MSC to improve the fishery were something we would have gradually worked towards, the MSC program truncated this process and made these changes happen in a much shorter timeframe.”

“This third certification of the fishery to the exacting MSC standard validates what we fishers have believed for some time; that the Western Australian rock lobster fishery is one of the best managed fisheries in the world.”

Nic Sofoulis,
Executive Officer of the Western Rock Lobster Council

"The Western Australia rock lobster fishery not only provides significant social and economic benefits to the State, it has again been confirmed that we use the world’s best practice in managing the fishery in a sustainable way...I not only applaud the Department of Fisheries for managing the sustainability of this fishery, but also the fishers themselves, who deserve a pat on the back for their commitment to the fishery’s long-term health and productivity."

Jon Ford
Australia Fisheries Minister

For further information, please visit the Western Rock Lobster Council

For the certifiers evaluation please download the full public certification report with detailed information on the performance of this fishery against the criteria of the MSC environmental standard for sustainable fishing.

The fishery scored as follows in assessment against the MSC standard for sustainable fishing. The highest possible score for each principle is 100 and a fishery must score at least 80 against each principle to get certified:

Sustainability strengths

The points on which the fishery scored 90 or above (near perfect performance) are outlined below.

The assessment supports a high to very high degree of confidence that:

Principle 1: the state of the fish stock

• The stock is above the point where recruitment would be impaired
• The target reference point is such that the stock is maintained at a level consistent with BMSY (Biomass and maximum sustainable yield)
• There is an adequate assessment of the stock status
  
  

Principle 2: the impact of the fishery on the marine environment

• There is a high degree of confidence that there are no significant detrimental effects (direct and indirect) of the fishery on ETP (endangered, threatened and protected) species.
• Accurate and verifiable information is available on the magnitude of all impacts, mortalities and injuries and the consequences for the status of ETP species.
• There is adequate knowledge of the impacts of the fishery on the ecosystem.
  
  

Principle 3: the fishery management systems

• The management system exists within an appropriate and effective legal and/or customary framework
• The fishery has a research plan that addresses the information needs of management.
• There is a system for monitoring and evaluating the performance of the fishery-specific management system against its objectives.

Challenges

In order to ensure its continuing sustainable operation this fishery made a commitment to improving its performance where it scored between 60-80.

The actions the fishery has committed to by the 2nd annual audit are:

• Providing control rules that are well defined.
• Providing evidence on how the information that is currently collected is used to inform/assess the formal control rules.
• Providing evidence that sufficient reliable information on the spatial extent of the fishery has been collected to identify the nature of the impacts of the fishery on different habitat types.

The fishery: Unit of certification

The certified Western Australia rock lobster fishery is defined as:

Surveillance audits: FIrst certification period 2000-2005

Surveillance 7: Completed 13 July 2005

Compliance report on final corrective actions - 28 February 2006

Further review of corrective actions from surveillance report no.7 - 6 December 2005

Review of corrective actions from surveillance report no.7 - 24 October 2005

Surveillance report no.7 - 13 July 2005

Surveillance 6: Completed 17 August 2004

Surveillance report no.6 - 17 August 2004

Surveillance 5: Completed 12 April 2003

Surveillance report no.5 addendum 2 - 1 April 2004

Surveillance report no.5 addendum 1 - 23 June 2003

Surveillance report no.5 - 12 April 2003

Surveillance 4: Completed 5 November 2002

Surveillance report no.4 - 5 November 2002

Surveillance 3: Completed 5 July 2002

Surveillance report no.3 - 5 July 2002

Surveillance 2: Completed 14 June 2002

Surveillance report no.2 - 14 June 2002

Surveillance 1: Completed 22 April 2002

Surveillance report no.1 -  22 April 2002

Initial assessment: Certified March 2000

Variation response: Extension to maximum period of validity of a fishery certificate -  22 December 2011

Variation request: Extension to maximum period of validity of a fishery certificate -  22 December 2011

Surveillance 4: Completed March 2011

Surveillance report No.4 - 10th March 2011

Variation response: Surveillance Audit reporting - 3rd March 2011

Variation request: Surveillance Audit reporting - 3rd March 2011

Stakeholder Announcement - Surveillance visit scheduled - 17th September 2010

Surveillance 3: Completed January 2010

Reassessment: Certified December 2006

Initial assessment: Certified March 2012

Certificates: Compliance with the MSC Principles and Criteria for Sustainable fishing

Certificate of compliance F-SCS-0081 - Valid from 12 March 2012 to 11 March 2017

Stage 7: Objections procedure/public certification report and certificate issue

No objections were received

Public Certification Report - 8 March 2012

Stakeholder Notification: Public Certification Report - 8 March 2012

Stage 6: Final report and determination

Final report and determination - 2 February 2012

Stakeholder Notification: Final report and determination - 2 February 2012

Stage 5: Public review of the draft assessment report

Variation response: Extension to maximum period of validity of a fishery certificate -  22 December 2011

Variation request: Extension to maximum period of validity of a fishery certificate -  22 December 2011

Public comment draft report - 13 December 2011

Stakeholder Notification: Public comment draft report released - 13 December 2011

Stage 4: Client and peer review

Stakeholder Notification: Peer reviewers confirmed - 13 October 2011

Stakeholder Notification: Peer reviewers proposed - 13 September 2011

• Curriculum Vitae: Richard Allen

• Curriculum Vitae: David Armstrong

• Curriculum Vitae: Caleb Gardner

Stage 3: Information gathering, stakeholder meetings and scoring

Stakeholder Notification: Follow up site visits scheduled - 21 April 2011

Stakeholder Notification: Site visits scheduled - 22 October 2010

Stage 2: Building the Assessment Tree

Stakeholder Notification: Confirmation of Default assessment tree - 26 April 2011

Stakeholder Notification: Draft assessment tree released for comment - 22 October 2010

Stage 1: Fishery Announcement and Assessment Team Formation

Stakeholder Notification: Confirmation of assessment team - 22 October 2010

Stakeholder Notification: Assessment team nominated - 5 October 2010

Stakeholder Notification: Fishery enters full assessment  - 5 October 2010

Assessment Timeline - 5 October 2010

Western Rock Lobster Council

PO Box 55
Mount Hawthorn,
Western Australia,
6915,
Australia
Tel: 61-8-9492-8831
Fax: 61-8-9244-1197

Contact: NIc Sofoulis, WRLC Executive Officer
nics@wrlc.com.au 

Certification Body

Scientific Certification System Inc (SCS)

2200 Powell Street, Suite 600
Emeryville,
California 94608,
USA

Contact: Sabine Daume
Mail: sdaume@scscertified.com
Phone: +1 510 452 6388

Contact: Adrienne Vincent
E-mail: avincent@scscertified.com
Website: www.scscertified.com
Phone: +01.510.452.9086
Fax: +01.510.452.6884

First certified in March 2000, recertified in December 2006 and again in March 2012.

Summary

Species:  Rock Lobster (Panulirus cygnus)
Location:  Coast of Western Australia from Cape Leeuwin to Shark Bay.
Fishing methods:  Baited pots and traps
Number of fisheries:  1

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Download Fishers' stories - Net Benefits 2009 - Western Australia rock lobster (PDF, 200kb)

More about rock lobster

Western rock lobster occurs off the western coast of Australia, with the postlarval stages inhabiting the continental shelf from 1 to 200 metres in depth. The highest densities occur in waters less than 60 metres deep. The species, Panulirus cygnus, is a spiny lobster with long antennae. The older juveniles and adult lobsters (except 'whites') assume a reddish-purple colour with each moult. Its life cycle includes a long oceanic larval stage (about 9 months), 3-6 years juvenile stage in shallow reefs and then become available to the fishery.

Fishing methods

Lobsters are harvested using baited pots and traps.

Fishery tonnage

5,500mt of western rock lobster in 2010/2011

More about the fishery

The 2nd recertification covers the 250 lobster vessels operating in the fishery.

The fishery has strict requirements in place including seasonal closures, minimum size requirements and a ban on catching breeding females. Data on the fishery has been kept since the 1960s and enables fisheries scientists to predict catches accurately and ensure that controls are adequate to keep the fishery operating at sustainable levels. Commercial fishers, processors and the Western Australian government work closely together to preserve the fishery’s future.

The fishery recently moved from an input (effort control) to an output (catch quota) management system, which controls the amount of catch fishers are able to take during the commercial season. This decision was made in close consultation with the Department of Fisheries Western Australia because of below-average recruitment rates in the fishery in recent years, and has meant a significant reduction in the volume of lobster taken from the fishery – a reduction of almost half from the 2005/06 catch – to ensure the sustainability of the rock lobster stocks.

A consequence of the introduction of these quota management measures has been a significant reduction in the number of pots being used in the fishery, which in turn has significantly reduced the fishery’s impact on the surrounding ecosystem. The fishery has also introduced Sea Lion Exclusion Devices (SLEDS) to minimise the mortality of sea lions and banned the use of bait bands that can entangle marine animals.

Commercial market

Western Australia rock lobster is the most valuable single-species fishery in Australia at an estimated value of $200M per year. Products from this fishery are sold to markets in Australia, Taiwan, Japan, Hong Kong, China, the USA and Europe.