The Western Australia Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development (DPIRD) has advised recreational abalone fishers that the replacement fishing session for the West Coast Zone in waters between Busselton Jetty and the Greenough River Mouth on Saturday, March 14, has been cancelled to ensure the safety of fishers and volunteer lifeguards.
Modelling shows a significant risk to the safety of recreational abalone fishers and volunteer surf life savers due to predicted sea conditions creating an unsafe environment on the reef platforms.
The DPIRD made the decision to close the fishery after consulting with Surf Life Saving WA and Recfishwest, based on the hazardous surf assessment that uses the best available information on conditions from several sources, rating the risks for factors like wind speed, wave height, tide, swell period and direction.
The DPIRD said there will not be another replacement day scheduled this season as the weather conditions are generally not favourable to fish safely for abalone further into the autumn months, and any replacement session would likely have to be cancelled.
DPIRD Management Officer Aidan Walsh said the abalone season was tightly managed to provide fishers with safe access to the abalone and ensure the long-term sustainability of the fishery.
"While we understand it is disappointing for the final session to be cancelled, the main priority is to ensure the safety of fishers and volunteer lifeguards when accessing abalone," Mr Walsh said.
"Our preliminary reports show that fishers had excellent results across the three previous fishing days, with many recreational fishers collecting full bag limits and some nice size abalone."
Mr Walsh said that fishers are urged to stay safe this weekend and that DPIRD fisheries compliance officers will still be attending beaches within the Western Zone on Saturday to ensure that abalone fishing is not taking place.
