Western Australia (WA) and China have formalised their collaboration, signing an official memorandum of understanding (MOU) to facilitate the exchange of fisheries expertise.
The MOU was signed in Shanghai on April 20 by a delegation of representatives from WA's Department of Fisheries, Murdoch University and Challenger Institute of Technology (Fremantle) and the China Society of Fisheries.
Supervising Scientist Dr Brett Molony, who led the delegation on behalf of the department, said the agreement underpins exchanges of information on artificial reefs, stock monitoring and assessment, approaches for policy development for fishery management and compliance systems.
"Under this agreement we will access China's vast experience in the design and evaluation of purpose-built artificial reefs," said Dr Molony.
"They will also benefit from our expertise in the policy development, management, monitoring and compliance components of fisheries management."
Dr Molony said there was a push from recreational fishers to trial artificial reefs in WA and several regions had already been identified for potential deployment along the coastline.
"North Asian countries like China have been at the forefront of construction, deployment and research into purpose-built artificial reefs, so this MOU gives us the opportunity to learn more about their effectiveness before we make any decisions," he said.
Dr Molony said purpose-built artificial reefs could provide alternative fishing opportunities for the community.
They are usually constructed from concrete or metal and any placement along the WA coastline would follow a thorough assessment of environmental, social and economic impacts.
The reefs would also be subject to carefully devised research programs that build on the
experiences in China and other jurisdictions.
"The benefit of these purpose-built reefs is that they can be designed to increase production with specific species and management objectives in mind," Dr Molony said.
"If they are not meeting the management objectives they can be modified, relocated or removed completely."