SCRC: Postdoctoral Research Fellow (SARDI) Quality
SARDI has strong capability in seafood physiology, seafood engineering and new product development but limited technical capability in the area of post-harvest finished product quality and quality management systems. This role will fill this capability gap and provide process and product quality improvements (e.g. freezing and shelf life extension activities) which should translate rapidly into improvements in industrial processes.
Projects where support in the maintenance of product quality would provide significant value include:-
- Research, develop and trial of new abalone products in China. This new position will provide the technical resource to the project to translate the quality criteria (customer requirements) into improvements of processing, packaging, product storage and transport through the distribution chain.
- Successful Sardines, This position will provide the necessary support to assist in the maintenance of product quality, particularly through the processing environment as well as in the implementation and ongoing application of HACCP and quality systems.
The post-doc will be expected to work closely with CRC industry participants to develop research projects to support the current market and product development research projects in program 2.
SCRC: SCRC RTG 1.6 – Research training, National Institute of Health Sciences, Japan (Damian May, SARDI)
SRL IPA: assessing the feasibility of spatial management in the South Australian Northern Zone Rock Lobster (Jasus edwardsii) fishery
The primary needs in relation to this work are:
1. To assess the level of stock abundance in regions outside the main fishery areas, in deep water and the far west regions of the fishery.
2. To assess the economic feasibility of fishing in these areas.
3. To assess the biological characteristics of lobsters taken in deep water and the far west, including maturity of females and length frequency.
4. To assess the survival and condition of lobsters taken, in processing and transport.
Final report
The Northern Zone rock lobster fishery of South Australia is extensive covering an area of approximately 207,000 km2. As a result, number of spatial management options are currently being considered which focus on the far-west and deep-water regions of the fishery. Currently, levels of commercial exploitation in both these areas are low compared to eastern and inshore areas. For example, in the 2011/12 fishing season only 12 t (4%) of the 307 t total catch came from the far-west, while just 29 t (9%) came from >90 m depth.
Despite low levels of total catch, catch rates (kg of legal lobster/potlift) in both regions are high compared to eastern and inshore areas. In the far-west at least, this is influenced by a larger mean lobster size compared to eastern regions, presumable due to faster growth rates. While higher, catch rates trends from 1970-2011 in both far-west and deep-water regions are comparable to other regions in the fishery. In particular, catch rates in both areas declined simultaneously with eastern regions from 1999 to 2008 suggesting that the abundance of lobsters in the far-west and deep-water is driven by common recruitment patterns to the rest of the zone.
The far-west region is close to the western limit of Jasus edwardsii distribution within Australia with pre-recruit (undersized) abundances in this area the lowest in the zone suggesting that the region is recruitment limited. The size of maturity in far-west regions is substantially higher than the minimum legal size which again reflects faster growth rates. This is offset somewhat by the fact that few lobsters close to legal size are found within the commercial catch. However, if exploitation rates are increased in far-west regions, given that size limits are set in part to protect immature females, higher size limits may need to be considered under a spatial management regime. Alternatively, a male only fishery may be considered during specific months in line with management rules for J. edwardsii fisheries in Victoria and Tasmania. Data to estimate size of maturity in deep-water sites are limited in South Australia.