R&D News : Fisheries Research and Development Corporation FRDC

THINK outside the square to sell your products, Sydney consultant Nick Ruello tells inland saline aquaculture pioneers.

Speaking at Australasian Aquaculture 2006, he advised intending growers to try the ‘eco’ market for premium prices and a good business-to-business relationship.

“Australia has 150 growers’ markets and thousands of delis. They’re looking for new products. They’ll value your fish and respect you,” he said.

“Australian consumers aren’t eco-active, but they do want to be guilt-free.”

The organic chain also was worth considering, he said. Although there was no certification yet, demand exceeded supply.

On species, he said the strongest seafood demand was for fillets, so big fish such as golden perch and snapper should be evaluated. Beyond seafood, aquarium fish brought top dollar.

“And why not sturgeon? For caviar and flesh? Other countries are doing it. Why not us?”

The man’s a machine

WHO would install expensive oyster shucking machinery when skilled operators can each open hundreds of dozen a day by hand?

Callum McCallum of New Zealand’s Clevedon Coast Oysters told Australasian Aquaculture 2006 his fastest men could open up to 700 dozen Pacifics a day each, although their norm was
400 to 500 dozen.

He said the New Zealand Industry still relied on natural spat collection followed, in his case, by 18 months’ growout.

To be able to sell worldwide, Clevedon Coast is audited quarterly by the United States Food and Drug Administration and periodically by European Union inspectors also. It grows under an FDA water monitoring program and its factory HACCP procedures are approved by the FDA and the EU.

Oysters account for seven per cent of NZ’s aquaculture value, ranking third behind mussels and salmon.

Government there to help?

“DON’T be afraid of government. Find out how the system works and ask for help.”

This advice for aquaculture novices was delivered at Australasian Aquaculture 2006 by one of their number.

Andrew Ferguson, former merchant banker and commercial lawyer, now runs one of Australia’s biggest abalone farms near Elliston on South Australia’s Eyre Peninsula.

Australian Bight Abalone operates as a managed investment scheme (MIS), similar to those now widely used
to fund timber plantations and horticultural crops.

As such, it promotes up-front tax advantages to eastern states physicians, lawyers and other high-worth individuals who otherwise would be unlikely investors in aquaculture.

And with operating costs of $800,000 a month Australian bight Abalone needed their flow of investment dollars during its long run-up to production and sales, Andrew Ferguson said.

“Most importantly, the South Australian Aquaculture Act permits this type of business and I congratulate the government for it.”

There had been a lot of local scepticism about the company’s plans, made worse, he said, when a storm deposited the farm’s poly-baskets along 100km of coast - “an environmental disaster for a newcomer”.

“My advice is: own up to mistakes, but don’t repeat them. Set higher standards than compliance. Then, compliance isn’t an issue. Involve the community and hire locally.

“Take the initiative to keep the people in the department briefed. If they have to ask me for information I’m not doing my job right,” Andrew Ferguson said.

He said his company planned further aquaculture developments in South Australia, possibly for other species.

Profit in abalone genetics

IF Australian abalone farmers move to genetically selected stock for 60 per cent of production they can expect a farm gate gain of $2.3m a year, according to simulations by Victoria’s Department of Primary Industries.

Researcher Nick Robinson said he and his colleagues had successfully used a market-assisted selection (MAS) shortcut to identify economically-beneficial traits, particularly growth, in a FRDC-funded project.

They scanned the genome for appropriate markers, selected 10 per cent of the best and 10 per cent of the worst performers, then pooled the DNA for each group.

“It was cost-effective and worked well,” he told Australasian Aquaculture 2006. “We found nine regions affecting growth rates.”

Simulations indicated there would be an on-farm gain of 20 per cent every four years, with heritability ensuring the faster growth would continue for generations.

Nick Robinson said overseas experience in aquaculture sectors such as salmon suggested commercialisation worked best if an independent company produced, improved and sold the genetically-enhanced seed stock.

“Doing this properly should be the company’s first priority and that would require competent, dedicated staff with national and international contacts.”

That way, all farms would have economically-attractive access to improved stock.

In the meantime, the next research priority should be to identify markers for disease resistance, he said.

Expect to sell more for less

THE world leaders in aquaculture growth are developing nations such as China, India, Vietnam and Thailand, Jochen Nierentz told Australasian Aquaculture 2006.

And the biggest percentage gains are being made by unlikely nations such as Myanmar and Iran, said the representative of Globefish, which is part of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization.

High oil prices that were tying up Thai shrimp boats and damaging other wild harvest fisheries posed no problem for aquaculture.

“Unlike wild fisheries, you can locate in the country that offers the best access security, development support and cost of production and is close to your consumer,” he said.

Despite these factors Jochen Nierentz sounded a cautious note on seafood pricing.

He said although competition from red meat and chicken had lessened because of consumer fear of mad cow disease and bird flu, seafood prices in the major markets of Japan and the United States had declined for the past seven years.

This decline could continue, he said, because price remained the number one consumer issue and the retail and food service sectors always sought more for less.

On the plus side, increasing aquaculture production had enabled the per capita seafood consumption of a growing global population to remain stable.

“The market price of retailers is a driving force,” Jochen Nierentz said, “but aquaculture is the future.”

Industry shooting itself?

‘WE really do a good job of beating up on ourselves, don’t we?” said Sydney Fish Market Managing Director Grahame Turk.

He was responding to claims from importer Harry Peters of Marine Product Marketing (MPM) that local seafood suppliers were damaging the Australian consumer trade by attacking imported seafood in the mass media.

“‘Fresh’ is the best thing you (aquaculturists) have to win over the local consumer,” Harry Peters said. “Attacking imports doesn’t do it.”

He said total Australian seafood demand was now double the combined output of the nation’s wild fisheries and aquaculture, meaning imports, worth $1.7 billion in 2004-05, were needed to meet the shortfall.

They came from overseas producers whose quality and safety standards were at least as good as Australia’s and, in some cases, better.

MPM’s next new import would be complete microwave meals - ‘and the quality is terrific’.

Harry Peters said aquaculture’s challenges in winning domestic market share were to:

“In the longer term I’m sure Australian aquaculture will reduce our need for imports,” he said, “but even so, much of your increased production will be high-value species aimed at export markets.”

ACF wants single authority

THE Australian Conservation Foundation (ACF) is seeking inter-government agreement for an Australian Oceans Act and an Australian Oceans Authority with enforcement power to control marine activities in state, territory and commonwealth waters.

ACF marine campaign coordinator Chris Smyth told Australasian Aquaculture 2006 that current federal law did not properly integrate resource allocation, management and conservation.

The ACF wants complementary state and federal legislation to give its proposed authority the power to control all human impacts affecting oceans, using ecologically sustainable, ecosystem-based principles.

It says the resulting regime would deliver nationally-consistent legislative protection, planning and management across all jurisdictions, including state and territory waters; although the states and the Northern Territory would retain their three nautical mile titles.Enforceable, ecosystem-based regional planning would become the legislative basis for a national oceans policy and the proposed authority would coordinate the selection processes for a ‘comprehensive, adequate and representative system’ of marine national parks across current boundaries.

The ACF and the Canberra-based National Environmental Law Association have published a 140-page discussion paper to support their case for integrated planning and enforcement.

He said assessment of fishmeal use under ecologically-sustainable development principles should extend to measuring the ecosystem effects in the waters where the meal species were caught.

The ACF and other non-government organisations were not opposed to aquaculture per se, he said, but they preferred it to be land-based.

As to allocating resource access according to the highest monetary values, Chris Smyth advised caution.

Victorian government figures, he said, suggested each little penguin on Phillip Island generated $50,000 in tourism revenue annually.

FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT: Chris Smyth,
email c.smyth@acfonline.org.au;
www.acfonline.org.au,
www.nela.org.au.

Rules for brave new world

IF world aquaculture production is to double four times as projected, stricter environmental controls will be imposed and must be accepted, counsels Viggo Halseth, Skretting’s Managing Director, Trout and Marine Species.

“Farmers will benefit from better performance, better disease management and societal acceptance,” he said.

NGOs - non-government organisations - would put their stamp on farming and industry should accept this.

“Better to work with them than fight them. We can benefit from those that want better performance.”

Openness, he said, would be essential, so “admit mistakes, don’t keep secrets from the community and document what you do”.

Food safety was a given, but - what is safe? More accurate analysis meant “you find everything”. Perception then became an issue, so defining legal residue limits was essential.

Food safety was also a fishmeal issue - fishmeal, he said, was the source of 90 per cent of persistent organic pollutants in farmed fish.

“We can clean the meal, but it would increase the price by 30 to 40 per cent.”

And fishmeal, Viggo Halseth said, already was a strategic raw material and dependency on it had to be reduced.

“When seafood landings from wild fisheries are down the fishmeal price now goes sky high.

“Feeding out more fish than you harvest – as is being done now – is not sustainable.

“We need to understand how much plant food our fish can eat and what the palatability issues are,” he said.

As for production, “predictable fry production is the basis of predictable year-round supply.

“And retailers want new species and the ability to provide fresh fish regardless of the weather.”

* Britain’s Fishmeal Information Network quoted the July price of Icelandic 70 per cent fishmeal pellets at $AUD2,000 to $AUD2,100 a tonne, more than double the price in April 2005.

The wrap

HEADLINE messages from Australasian Aquaculture 2006 were defined in a wrap-up session chaired by former FRDC Executive Director Peter Dundas-Smith. They are:

More rec education urged

FISHERIES managers must educate recreational fishers to raise their awareness and encourage them to fish responsibly, says Sheryn Prior, winner of the FRDC tertiary student prize for best oral and poster presentation at the ASFB conference held in Hobart.

She said managers should target infrequent, visiting fishers with information that included illustrations, biological information and current regulations - and make sure it was locally accessible.

Sheryn Prior reached these conclusions after studying recreational fishing and boating in 2005 on the Blackwood estuary in southwestern Western Australia, a relatively remote location that attracts fishers because of the quality of its yellowfin whiting Sillago schomburgkii and black bream Acanthopagrus butcheri.

For an honours degree at Murdoch University she interviewed recreational fishers on the Blackwood in all seasons to determine their:

Most, she said, were from towns in south-western WA and more than half lived within 200km of the estuary. Many angling parties were family groups, but most fishing respondents were men aged between 31 and 45 who said relaxation was their primary motive.

Tradesmen, professionals and retired farmers predominated. Permanent residents and caravanners who camped at the estuary for the summer fished more frequently than short-stay tourists. Many fishers said they also fished offshore and in other WA estuaries.

Catches on the Blackwood were dominated by yellowfin whiting and Australian herring.

Sheryn Prior said her results indicated that the number of fishers was about the same as had been recorded in a similar study in 1974-75, but that catches and catch per unit of effort had declined. She said a follow-up 12-month creel survey would allow a more rigorous comparison to be made with the results of the 1974-75 study.

Amongst the recreational anglers she found support for biodiversity conservation measures and fisheries regulations to be high, although compliance with size limits was poor.

She believes this was largely due to fishers’ inability to identify a number of species, particularly King George whiting, Australian salmon and snapper that inhabit the estuary as juveniles.

In light of this, she said, it was clear that educational initiatives were needed to raise awareness and improve behaviour.

Writing Larry right out

QUEENSLANDER Joe Coco put pen to paper to write the first verse of his life in the comfortable surrounds of a Melbourne hotel.

The former boilermaker, cane farmer and prawn farming pioneer, now aquaculture coordinator and teacher at the Tropical North Queensland TAFE in Innisfail, had travelled south to take part in the Advance in Seafood 2006 Leadership Program.

It was the middle of the night and he couldn’t sleep, because every time he closed his eyes he was back in his home town of Mourilyan, which seven days previously had been hit by Cyclone Larry.

On March 18 he had been part of a team that spent six hours setting up an aquaculture display forthe Johnstone Shire’s annual Feast of the Sensis.

About two o’clock the following afternoon he and his family spent a frantic two hours dismantling it as Cyclone Larry headed for the town.

“It nearly killed us, but we worked on adrenalin. I was then asked to help at TAFE to secure as much as possible.

That left the family no time to prepare at home and we were so buggered there was little energy to think straight and do things around the house even if we wanted to,” he said.

“The cyclone was a disaster. When I ventured out for the first time, I saw the towering chimney stack of the Mourilyan mill bent in half. Our house was to be without power for nearly three weeks.”

As the first week went by shock was setting in, said Joe, but he felt he needed to attend the leadership program ‘as a way of trying to bring things back to normal’.

But arrival in Melbourne the night before the program began triggered vivid memories of a scary encounter ‘and guilt that I could have the comforts of electricity and lovely cooked meals while my family couldn’t’. Hence the poem.

Since than, he says, he has offered his effort to individuals and organisations to say thank you to helpers on behalf of the Mourilyan community.

And he has used his new leadership skills to encourage his students to re-focus and complete their course and to help the community rebuild longer-term employment, especially in the aquaculture industry.

Innisfail TAFE has celebrated 10 years of offering the only aquaculture education of its kind north of Brisbane. Besides barramundi, the aquaculture course offers students the opportunity to breed prawns, eels and redclaw and get hands-on experience with crocodiles at a commercial farm.

Time is also dedicated to vocational placement, allowing students to get work experience that will open a door to full time employment at the end of the course. Enrolment for 2007 begins in February.

Satellites have an MPA role

SATELLITE remote sensing allows existing and proposed marine protected areas (MPAs) to be quickly and accurately assessed for their ability to protect surface species, according to a CSIRO study.

Tropical and pelagic ecosystem specialist Alistair Hobday says Australia’s existing MPAs only offer temporary protection for mobile surface species.

However, satellite measurement of sea surface temperature (SST) and colour (SSC) allows a fast and wide-ranging assessment to be made of an area’s suitability for surface species - particularly SSC, a proxy for chlorophyll and hence phytoplankton.

In a report to Environment Australia Alistair Hobday says SST or SSC may identify regions or hotspots important to pelagic species such as tuna, sharks, billfish, sea birds and marine mammals.

He says a historical baseline of surface characteristics derived from satellite data can be used to evaluate perturbations in surface waters. The impact of climatic shifts and variation and anthropogenic influences can then be assessed, and action taken.

For the study the CSIRO brought together nine years of SST satellite data and three years of SSC information to rapidly assess the historical surface environments of 12 Commonwealth MPAs and generate habitat definitions for their surface waters. The result, Alistair Hobday says, is:

Rapid assessment, he says, is crucial to quickly establish if regions can protect species or habitats. Identification and validation of region-specific vital signs such as temperature and productivity is also an important step in evaluating existing MPAs and establishing protocols for new ones.

High seas trawl ban?

AUSTRALIA has asked the United Nations for an immediate ban on bottom trawling in unmanaged areas of the high seas.

Under the Australian plan, RFMOs would have until December next year to take action.

For RFMOs currently under development, states would have until next July to “regulate fishing practices that have a destructive impact on vulnerable marine ecosystems” or a ban would apply. In areas without an RFMO, Australia wants an immediate ban on bottom trawling.

Australian Fisheries and Conservation Minister, Eric Abetz, said the immediate ban would apply to unmanaged areas of the high seas only. By constrast, trawling in Australia’s EEZ is already a highly regulated activity and is not affected by this policy. Australia is a world leader in sustainable fisheries and this motion highlights that. We want to ensure fishing is sustainable on high seas for the long-term, and we need sensible controls in place to achieve that.

Refreshed and refitted

QUEENSLAND’S premier research vessel Gwendoline May has been given a new lease of life through a major refit that is expected to increase her usefulness across a range of fisheries.

The 22 year old has new electronics, including two charting and bottom plotting systems, a reconfigured rear deck and Kortz nozzle steering coupled with a state-of-the art propeller. She can accommodate up to five researchers in addition to a crew of three.

Department of Primary Industries and Fisheries senior fisheries biologist Neil Gribble said the steering and propulsion upgrade would improve the Gwendoline May’s towing capability and reduce fuel consumption.

Her new-found versatility is expected to see her used beyond the prawn fishery, where she has been a familiar sight around the Great Barrier Reef and the Torres Strait, noted for her crew’s ability to navigate uncharted waters and reach sites that are difficult to access.

Pirates fined and freed

THE Australian Government has welcomed fines of $118,000 handed down against the master and fishing master of the toothfish pirate vessel Taruman, even though they are unlikely to be paid.

“The guilty finding, the $2m loss of the Taruman, the $1.5m loss of its illegally caught fish and loss of ongoing earnings is a significant economic blow for the poachers,” said Fisheries Minister Eric Abetz.

“However it is unfortunate that the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea prohibits professional fish poachers being jailed.”

The New South Wales District Court found the Cambodian-flagged Taruman’s master Enrique Dominguez and fishing master Dacruz Amoedo guilty of fishing illegally inside Australian waters near Macquarie Island more than a year ago.

Judge Stephen Norrish described the fines as academic after being told by the prosecution that if the pair left Australia within 28 days, as expected, there would be no way of enforcing them.

He said the two Uruguay-based Spaniards were not social thugs or professional criminals, but had made a considered decision that had been disastrous for themselves and others.

He also wished them a safe trip home. This and the ‘academic’ fines angered industry representatives and conservation advocates alike.

The Australian Conservation Foundation responded by calling for a ban on all fishing for toothfish.

Australian Fisheries and Customs officers from the patrol boat Oceanic Viking had boarded the longliner Taruman in September last year in international waters more than 700 nautical miles north of Macquarie Island and brought it to Hobart, where it remains.

Documents later indicated that 3.9t of its fish had been caught illegally in Australian waters within two or three days in June last year. Its catch of 143t of Patagonian toothfish has been sold.

Customs Minister Chris Ellison thanked the New Zealand Defence Force for providing photographic evidence of the Taruman fishing in Australian waters and the Cambodian Government for authorising its high seas boarding.

Government-to-government cooperation was essential in the fight against illegal operators in the Southern Ocean, he said.

The legal - totally allowable - toothfish catch in the Macquarie Island fishery has been set at 341t for 2006-07.

Tomorrow’s leaders

ELEVEN seafood industry representatives from four states and two territories have graduated from the National Advance in Seafood Leadership Development Program, funded by FRDC to help equip a new generation of leaders. They say they come away knowing the importance of credibility, the need to listen and understand, the knowledge that good leaders build great teams and the belief that they can now become involved and make a difference. This self-belief was reinforced by FRDC Executive Director Patrick Hone. “Make your own luck and never be afraid of failing,” he urged. The graduates, back, from left: Andy Baker, NSW; Heidi Mumme, NT; Scott Walter, Qld; Jonas Woolford, SA; Kate Milner, Vic; Daniel Grixti, Vic; Melanie Snar, SA. Front: Erik Poole, NSW; Helen Jenkins, Vic; John Mayze, Qld; Joe Coco, Qld. Nominations are being called for next year’s course, which will begin with a three-day session in Melbourne in April. MORE: Leading Industries Training Coordinator Kelly Tape, phone 0408 850 110;
email kelly@leadingindustries.com.au.

New hand at WINSC helm

HANDS-ON fisher Anne Whalley of Bundaberg has been elected National President of WINSC - the Women’s Industry Network, Seafood Communities.

She has 36 years’ experience in the seafood industry, beginning as a deckhand on her husband’s trawler, out of Lucinda in north Queensland, working the winter nights for tiger prawns, the summer days for banana prawns and line fishing for mackerel and reef fish in between.

Anne Whalley has been WINSC National Vice-president for the past two years. She was instrumental in incorporating the organisation in Queensland, where she is State Director; and has been President of the Bundaberg branch for the past six years.

Her immediate goals are to increase membership and ensure that members clearly understand and are committed to the goals of WINSC which, she notes, is “the only national organisation to represent any sector of the seafood industry since the demise of ASIC earlier this year”. Other national
office-bearers:

Secretary/Treasurer,
Julii Tyson, Administration and Marketing Director-at-large, Manager, Humpty Doo Barramundi, Northern Territory

NT Director Marianne St Clair, who is also NT President of Australian Women in Agriculture

WA Director Tanya Adams, experienced in seafood occupational health and safety and training

SA Director Karen Holder, replaces WINSC founding member and immediate national past-president Gloria Jones

NSW Director
Mary Howard, holds an Advanced Diploma in Aquaculture and is a strong campaigner for the Hawkesbury prawn fishery

WINSC seeks recommendations from industry partners to fill vacancies for directors in Tasmania and the Australian Capital Territory. For the future it
aims to:

Observer conference in BC

FISHERIES observers from around the world will get together for their fifth international conference in British Columbia, Canada, next year.

The four-day conference in the capital, Victoria, will begin on May 15. Organisers are calling for broad representation from the international fisheries community to address the major issues of:

The major themes will build on the results of the previous four conferences, with new developments highlighted. The conference will include presentation of papers, panel discussion and open discussion sessions and a poster session, with specialist workshops and meetings before and after.

Keynote speaker will be Martin Hall, who has headed head the tuna-dolphin program of the Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission since 1984.

His research on dolphin behaviour has been used in a program that is said to have reduced dolphin mortality in tuna purse seining by close to 99 per cent without affecting fishery productivity.

He has also developed a program to reduce sea turtle mortality that is being used in most eastern Pacific longline fisheries under the guidance of observers.

It’s decision time for WA

WESTERN Australia’s rocklobster fishers will decide next month whether they should begin a move from input controls to quota management.

The Western Rocklobster Council says it will be an informed decision, based on which option the fishery believes will deliver the best social and economic outcome. Sustainability of the nation’s biggest rocklobster fishery is ensured, it says, under either system.

The council’s discussion paper indicates that a pure quota system with fewer boats and fewer pots would deliver the greatest economic benefit, eliminating effort creep, reducing total pot lifts and improving catchability.

However it says industry consultation to date suggests the initial choice is between the present input system and a combination of quota with input controls - scenarios 1 and 3 in the accompanying table. The combined system it suggests, would see an accelerated departure of

But after this initial change the reduction in fishers and boats would slow and input controls could be removed progressively to allow fishers to maximise the flexible benefits of a quota system.

The Council’s modelling suggests the fishery would stabilise at between 250 and 350 boats, compared to the present 445 and that the resulting businesses would be structurally sound.Its discussion paper has also outlined a pure quota system (scenario 4) to demonstrate how this might evolve over time under scenario 3.

Retention of the existing input system would probably require a reduction of fishing effort, either by one per cent to two per cent each year, or by 10 per cent to 20 per cent every decade, to counter increasing fishing efficiency.

The Western Rocklobster Council says achieving the full economic benefits projected for quota management would depend on realising all underlying assumptions, such as better pot design, increased catching efficiency, price premiums and efficient use of fishers’ available capital.

It says fishers ultimately will have to decide whether the financial price of a management change and the increased costs of R&D and compliance it would deliver are outweighed by the projected longer term economic gain. The voting system will be weighted according to the number of fishing units held by participants and the results will form

the primary source of advice to be put to the WA fisheries minister early next year.

MORE: Steven Gill, Western Rock-lobster Council Executive Director, email lobster@wafic.org.au.

Final reports

FINAL reports on these recently-completed R&D projects are available from FRDC, or
the other source named. Principal Investigators’ summaries are free at www.frdc.com.au.

Modelling suggests marine protected areas are of limited use in the management of quota fisheries, reports Principal Investigator Colin Buxton of the Tasmanian Aquaculture and Fisheries Institute. For biodiversity conservation, he says, management in accordance with ecologically sustainable development principles offers a potentially better outcome than no-take MPAs. He said a study of Tasmania’s 10 year old Maria Island MPA showed rocklobster numbers had increased, at the expense of their prey. There had been a 30 per cent decline in urchins - possibly the first Tasmanian evidence of cascading ecosystem effects related to protection from fishing - and a sharp decline in abalone.

Case studies in three Western Australian fisheries have shown the value of a dynamic model that allows fisheries managers to allocate resources between commercial and recreational fishers on a long term, ‘socially optimal’ basis by analysing trends in key socio-economic variables. Principal Investigators Bob Linder, Paul McLeod and John Nicholls of Economic Research Associates say that following the case studies, WA’s allocation advisory committee took the model and its results into account in determining policy for allocation of access to the state’s abalone. They say the model’s benefit is its ability to provide insights into likely future direction of socially optimal allocations, thus allowing managers to make decisions that will stand the test of time.

Survival of stocked freshwater fish can be increased as much as 10-fold by using the validated results of this project, says Principal Investigator Michael Hutchison of the Queensland Department of Primary Industries and Fisheries. The fish in question are golden perch, silver perch, Australian bass and barramundi stocked in impoundments. A manual distributed to recreational organisations and fisheries managers as far south as Victoria specifies impoundment conditions, stocking sizes, release timing and methods and predicts likely predator behaviour. Copies may be downloaded from http://www2.dpi.qld.gov.au/far/13291.html.

The success of a multi-species environmental management system (EMS) that won two state awards for the Moreton Bay Seafood Industry Association has inspired other grassroots fishers along the Queensland coast to develop their own EMS schemes. Principal Investigator Daryl McPhee of the University of Queensland says a powerful change of attitude underpins the Moreton Bay story, transforming a tradition of conflict and resistance to change among competing fishers and fisheries into a culture of unity, common goals and performance planning - and winning community approval in the process. As a result, he says, fishing groups from Mackay, Rockhampton, Bowen and Bundaberg have been EMS-motivated and Moreton Bay’s blueprint is now available for fisheries in other Australian states and beyond.

Recfish Australia has established its R&D priorities for stock enhancement, re-stocking and stock recovery in a document available at www.info-fish.net. Principal Investigator Bill Sawynok said Recfish now wanted researchers to develop appropriate project proposals.

South Australia’s juvenile Spencer Gulf prawns and King George whiting may be at risk from the organo-chloride insecticide chlorpyrifos used in broad-acre agriculture in the region. Principal Investigator Brian Williams of the University of Adelaide said tests showed that prawns were the more sensitive to the pesticide, but whiting juveniles accumulated it at 150 times the background rate, which might pose a threat to their predators. The study also found significant soil concentrations of 2,4D-like herbicide and a consequent potential for wind-blown dust to contaminate the intertidal zone. A proposal to develop a database of pollutant sources was abandoned because of landowners’ concerns over responsibility for persistent pesticides.

The Australian wild-harvest abalone industry is holding workshops to consider developing an accredited quality system and cohesive marketing strategies after being told in this study by consultant David McKinna that its marketing is a mess (see R&D News 14.1). Principal Investigator Michael Tokley of the Abalone Council Australia says if the resulting recommendations are endorsed by individual state organisations a levy will be struck to fund market development and promotion. The McKinna report is at www.frdc.com.au.

Australia has a greatly expanded knowledge of diseases present in its abalone following a survey of wild and farmed stocks across five states. A database has been developed, diagnostic resources have been expanded and an electronic atlas of diseases and pathology has been compiled as a diagnostic guide. Principal Investigator Judith Handlinger of the Tasmanian Aquaculture and Fisheries Institute said the survey found a new haemocyte parasite in wild Bass Strait abalone capable of infecting at least 50 per cent of a population that now should be considered a potential translocation risk.

Reagents and diagnostic procedures have been developed to detect and identify Red Sea bream iridovirus, an exotic viral pathogen capable of attacking many marine finfish. Although unreported here to date, Principal Investigator Mark Crane of the Australian Animal Health Laboratory says the ability of the virus to cause significant losses in aquaculture is a threat to marine farming.

Studies suggest Australia’s seal numbers are doubling every 10 years, but modelling suggests that while their prey species decline accordingly, some commercial fish species actually increase. So says Principal Investigator Catherine Bulman of the CSIRO, reporting the development of food web - trophic - models of the continental shelf and upper slope in the South East Fishery off eastern Bass Strait. She says the area’s phytoplankton and primary productivity not only is big enough to support its modelled ecosystem - it also could easily have support the ecosystem that existed there early last century, when the area’s fish were largely unexploited by humans.

Research fishing indicates that crystal crabs - Chaceon bicolour in the Albany zone off the Western Australian south coast could support a fishery of between 56t and 108t a year. Principal Investigator Ben Chuwen of Denmark WA said the crabs were caught in commercial quantities from depths of 400m to 900m at a mean rate of 1.6kg per trap lift. But the bycatch included a significant number of giant crabs, two-thirds of them undersize; indicating a species overlap that would have to be factored into management plans.

A code of practice trialled in the winter trawl fishery for blue grenadier off western Tasmanian appears to have halved seal mortalities, says the Bureau of Rural Sciences. Principal Investigator Richard Tilzey said a forward facing, top-hatch exclusion device was the best performer to date in allowing seals to leave midwater trawls unharmed. He said the problem animals appeared to be a small, uncompromising sub-set of Australian fur seals that had become habitual foragers from fish trawls.

Maritime atlas is online

A NATIONAL maritime atlas linking fishing at sea with community and commercial activity ashore has been described as a powerful tool for marine and coastal planning.

The FRDC-funded Atlas of Australian Marine Fishing and Coastal Communities is the second in the Marine Matters series initiated by the National Oceans Office. It was produced by the Bureau of Rural Sciences with additional support from the Australian Department of the Environment and Heritage and state and territory fisheries agencies. Its maps show:

A complementary set of online resources, databases and mapping tools at www.brs.gov.au/fishcoast allows users to do their own detailed mapping and analysis, using up to 21 socio-economic indicators for coastal communities.

Online users also may create maps factoring in up to 700 fish species and eight fishing methods and link them to regional gross value of production.

“The atlas illustrates how people depend on our oceans for a variety of products,” said Australian Fisheries Minister Eric Abetz.

“This information is of value and interest to a great many Australians, governments and institutions.”

Free hard copies may be ordered at http://affashop.gov.au. Electronic versions may be downloaded from www.brs.gov.au/fishcoast.

In the know

Know something we should know? tell Julie on 02 6285 0415, or email julie.haldane@frdc.com.au.

Australia the ESD leader

AUSTRALIA is leading the world in implementing an ecosystem approach to fisheries management, according to the head of FRDC’s ESD Subprogram.

Rick Fletcher said international reaction to a paper he presented in Norway highlighted Australia’s lead.

At the International Conference on Implementing the Ecosystem Approach to Fisheries 180 delegates from 38 countries reviewed concepts and issues associated with developing and attempting to apply an ecosystem approach.

Rick Fletcher said the risk management-based process at the heart of the FRDC subprogram’s national ESD framework was recognised by participants as the only sensible way forward.

“It was clear from some other talks and out-of-session discussions that many countries have been unable to progress an ecosystem approach because they have been caught trying to understand all the complexities of their ecosystems - for which there will never be enough information - before they move ahead.”

By contrast, he said, papers presented on the Australian ESD framework made it clear they should begin the process by working on the highest risk factors and that it doesn’t work without proper governance and management.

These papers included one on the use of the Australian system in south-west Africa and another from Australian Fisheries Management Authority Managing Director Richard McLoughlin on the AFMA experience.

Rick Fletcher said the high level of interest in Australia’s pragmatic approach, combined with a warning not to let scientists run the agenda for what essentially was a management process, was likely to see many countries turn to the methods and tools on the FRDC subprogram website.

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