Determination of the impacts of direct harvest of coral species in northern Australia

Australia’s aquarium fisheries are high value (GVP >$20 million), small scale fisheries that rely on exporting CITES (the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora) listed corals for profitability and viability. The Australian government requires fisheries collecting and exporting these species to demonstrate that their harvest is sustainable under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC Act) in order to meet Australia's obligations under CITES. In the absence of empirical evidence, precautionary harvest limits are set on all coral species. Ongoing global demand for valuable coral species presents an opportunity for licenced fishers. However, to increase harvest limits, evidence is required to reinforce that the harvest and subsequent export will not have a detrimental effect on the population status of the species. This investment will generate data on the impacts of harvesting and relative abundance of species and the extent of recovery (or not) of key species of Scleractinian (hard) corals to support the potential expansion of the industry.