Media Release

For immediate use - 13th August 2002

NSW TO RECEIVE $1.2M FOR FISHERIES R&D

The Fisheries Research and Development Corporation (FRDC) has announced funding of over $1.2 million for two new research and development projects in NSW. FRDC Chairman, Mr Denis Byrne announced details of the 2002-2003 funding round today.

"Projects funded this year reflect the industry and governments commitment to ensuring the sustainability of Australia's fisheries resources, developing leadership within industry and building on previous success to deliver benefits to NSW," Mr Byrne said.

"The new research projects on arresting the decline of the commercial and recreational fisheries for mulloway and on developing fishery-independent surveys for the adaptive management of NSW's estuarine fisheries will be conducted by Dr Charles Gray, from NSW Fisheries.

"Mulloway is a significant recreational and commercial species, and stocks are currently declining.

"There is a need to synthesize all existing information, and to obtain new basic biological and fisheries-related information, on mulloway to enable informed management decisions and ensure stocks are harvested sustainably in NSW.

"Most importantly, the growth, age and reproductive biology of mulloway needs to be accurately described so the effects of fishing can be understood," he said. Data on the length, sex and age compositions of catches - and how these vary between different fishing sectors and gear types - needs to be collected and analysed to provide a comprehensive basis for the management of the fishery, that has an annual commercial value of nearly half a million dollars and is an important species recreationally.

"The other project to be undertaken is quite unique. It will develop a standardised fishery-independent sampling strategy to provide estimates of relative abundances and biological characteristics of fish populations in NSW estuaries.

"This research will provide a benchmark to enable long-term, large-scale surveys of the fish populations in NSW estuaries."

"First, the correct sampling tools and methods need to be developed. A range of commercial and scientific fishing gears are available, but these have been designed to capture very specific species and sizes of species. There is a need to modify these gears to develop better techniques to sample wider size ranges and diversities of fish.

"Second, once the best tools have been developed, appropriate area ranges, seasons, and the number of times to sample need to be determined so that ongoing survey design can be established for the decades to come," he said.

The FRDC is responsible for planning, investing in and overseeing fisheries R&D and facilitating the dissemination, adoption and commercialisation of the results. The FRDC is a statutory authority of the Commonwealth Government Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry - Australia.
ENDS
Contact: Kylie Paulsen, Communications Manager - Extension, Ph 0438 630 491
Dr Charles Gray, NSW Fisheries, phone 02 9527 8540