WA’s booming octopus fishery growing across the world
Western Australia’s commercial Octopus Interim Managed Fishery was in the spotlight on World Octopus Day, boasting an average annual growth of 50 per cent over the last five years, excluding the COVID lockdown period in 2020.
Five years ago, the Octopus Interim Managed Fishery became the first octopus fishery in the southern hemisphere to be Marine Stewardship Council certified. It remains one of only two MSC certified octopus fisheries in the world and continues to show a dedicated approach to sustainability as it undertakes its first recertification.
An Ecological Risk Assessment of the Western Rock Octopus resource, published in March by the Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development (DPIRD), evaluated the potential impacts of fishing for octopus on WA’s broader marine ecosystem.
Additional independent studies have forecast the industry could become one of Australia’s major fisheries, with wholesale revenues exceeding $70 million per year.
The assessment demonstrated that octopus fishing activities do not pose an unacceptable risk to other species, marine habitats or the broader marine ecosystem.
In April this year, gear modification requirements for octopus pots were implemented to further reduce entanglement risks during the whale migration months along WA’s coast.
In recent years the Western Rock Octopus was recognised as a unique species and given a new scientific name, Octopus djinda, which is the Noongar word meaning star.
The next exciting step is the project 2023-52 Novel fishery independent, biological and economic-processing methods to underpin expansion of Australia’s fastest growing fishery, the Western Rock Octopus, supported by $650,260 funding from the Fisheries Research and Development Corporation (FRDC) on behalf of the Australian Government to support the sustainable growth of Western Rock Octopus and its expanding fishery. The study will investigate information gaps in the biology and ecology of the species to promote the sustainable development of the fishery to its natural capacity.
The fishery extends from near Shark Bay, south along the West Coast and South Coasts to South Australia’s border.