The increasing focus on ecosystem based fisheries management, public transparency and protected species mitigation is stretching limited fishery agency resources.  This has required a rethink of commercial species’ monitoring and assessment. The challenge is to do this in a cost-effective way that ensures ongoing fishery sustainability and general stakeholder acceptance. In the context of a multi-species fishery this leads to questions such as:

• how many stocks actually need target reference points?
• what are the consequences of adopting multi-year Total Allowable Catches?
• what risk assessment and management tools can be applied to byproduct and bycatch species to ensure sustainable fishing?
• in re-evaluating fishery data needs what are the consequential effects on data collection options (fishery independent surveys, observers and electronic monitoring)?

This presentation discusses recent experiences in the Commonwealth Southern and Eastern Scalefish and Shark Fishery as an example for possible responses to these questions.