South Western Region
Fact Sheet [PDF]
Description
Commercial fishing employment, including aquaculture, is largely concentrated across the Eyre Peninsula where almost all coastal towns have strong linkages to commercial fishing activities. For instance, the town of Port Lincoln has the largest number and proportion of people employed within the fishing sector of any coastal town in Australia.
Major commercial fisheries in the Region include: South Australian prawn trawl fisheries, abalone dive and rock lobster trap fisheries (South Australia and Western Australia); Great Australian Bight Trawl Fishery (Australian Government); southern bluefin tuna net fishery (Australian Government); and net fisheries for small pelagic species (South Australia and Australian Government).
The total commercial fisheries production for the Region in 2002 was estimated at 39,500 t with a GVP of $335m.
Ocean jacket fish trapping, South Australia
(R. Grove Jones, Focus Magic)
Socio-economic characteristics
The distribution and density of the Non-metropolitan population in conjunction with the natural geography of the Region has created several distinct coastal communities, such as the Yorke and Eyre Peninsulas, the Nullarbor Plain, and the south western corner of Western Australia. Within these communities there are coastal towns that act as key regional centres, for example Bunbury, Albany, Esperance, Ceduna, Port Lincoln and Whyalla. However, the Augusta-Margaret River area in Western Australia has more inland settlements than coastal settlements.
The coastal fringe of the Great Australian Bight from Ceduna to Esperance has a large proportion of Indigenous people, a very low population density and a highly transient population, with the area acting as a transport corridor between the western and the eastern parts of the continent. The western part of the South Australian coastline is mainly desert and comprises the Yalata Aboriginal Land.
The South Western Region has a population of approximately 774,330 persons distributed across 61 coastal SLAs (36 in South Australia and 25 in Western Australia). Around 60% of the Region's total population reside in Metropolitan SLAs. Between 1996 and 2001, population growth was higher across the Western Australian portion than across the South Australian portion, with rapid population growth around Bunbury, Busselton, Albany, Denmark, the southern fringes of Perth, and the Augusta-Margaret River area.
The South Australian portion of the Region is characterised by substantially older median ages and high elderly dependency, and is more dependent on agriculture, fisheries and forestry industries with lower employment diversification outside regional centres.
Maps and Analysis
| Social Profile of the South Western Marine Region | ||
| South Western Region: Employment in the consolidated fish industry, commercial fishing GVP and fishing methods | GIF | |
| South West Region (eastern Part): Recreational fishing catch and catch composition | GIF | |
| South West Region (western Part): Recreational fishing catch and catch composition | GIF | |
| South Western Region SLA and UCL - SA Portion | GIF | |
| South Western Region SLA and UCL - WA Portion | GIF | |
| Mapper: Western Australia and South Australia lobster fisheries, GVP, 2002 | ||
| Mapper: Western Australia and South Australia abalone fisheries, GVP, 2002 | ||
| Mapper: Australian Government Great Australian Bight Trawl Fishery deepwater flathead , Catch, 2002 |
