2021 State of the Environment Report Marine Chapter – Expert Assessment – State and Trend – Shelf (0-200 m) demersal and benthopelagic fish species

Updated: 2021-08-30

The Marine chapter of the 2021 State of the Environment (SoE) report incorporates multiple expert templates developed from streams of marine data. This metadata record describes the Expert Assessment "State and Trend of Shelf (0-200 m) demersal and benthopelagic fish species". ***A PDF of the full Expert Assessment, including figures and tables (where provided) is downloadable in the "On-line Resources" section of this record as "EXPERT ASSESSMENT 2021 - State and Trend – Shelf (0-200 m) demersal and benthopelagic fish species"*** ---------------------------------------- DESCRIPTION OF SPECIES/COMMUNITY FOR EXPERT ASSESSMENT This assessment includes shelf (0–200m), demersal, and benthopelagic fish stocks from around Australia, but attempts to avoid reef fish (0–30m) and pelagic species, which will be assessed separately. Some reef fish occurring in water deeper than 30m are included in this assessment. DATA STREAM(S) USED IN EXPERT ASSESSMENT This assessment is based on published reports (see references), notably Gaughan and Santoro (2020), Patterson et al (2020) and Stewardson et al (2018). ---------------------------------------- 2021 SOE ASSESSMENT SUMMARY [see attached Expert Assessment for full details] • 2021 • Assessment grade: Good Assessment trend: Improving Confidence grade: Adequate Confidence trend: Adequate Comparability: Grade and trend are somewhat comparable to the 2016 assessment • 2016 • Assessment grade: Poor Assessment trend: Improving Confidence grade: Adequate high-quality evidence or high level of consensus Confidence trend: Limited evidence or limited consensus Comparability: Grade and trend are somewhat comparable to the 2011 assessment • 2011 • Assessment grade: Very good Assessment trend: Stable Confidence grade: Adequate high-quality evidence and high level of consensus Confidence trend: Limited evidence or limited consensus ---------------------------------------- CHANGES SINCE 2016 SOE ASSESSMENT Assessed grade improved from “poor” (2016) to “good” (2021) based on an increase in the percentage of fish stock classified as sustainable cited reports.