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The negative impacts of lost fish traps ghost fishing are well documented and of concern to all parties involved with the sustainable harvest of seafood from the aquatic environment (Macfadyen et al 2009; Newman et al 2011; Vadziutsina & Rodrigo 2020). Essentially, lost fishing gears that continue to kill/harm fish represent an inefficiency in the fish production process, and in essence are a form of waste associated with the harvesting process, that ultimately reduces the yield and casts a bad light on the fishery itself. This project does not meet any specific FRDC priority in the current round, hence the lodgment under (Other), although because of what it attempts to address and minimise, it is likely to gain strong support from those concerned with appropriate management of fisheries i.e., minimising the wasteful use of renewable food resources at a time when there is a food crisis in the world, with parties including the FRDC, AFMA, ENGO's and the fishing industry.

Objectives

1. Quantification of fish trap (various designs) loss rates, both in the distant past and more recently, together with the main factors influencing the loss rate.

2. Quantification of how well “dumped” or unattended traps catch fish, together with the main factors affecting the performance (including the presence of trap disabling mechanisms).

3. Apply refinements* to fishing practices/gear to address loss rates and ghost fishing and assess performance (*utilising observations made in the first year of project).

4. Apply refinements to fishing activity reporting to assist with the management of effort creep, trap loss, and ascertaining appropriate harvest levels for the target species.

Pre feasibility for a zero emission fishing fleet - Prawn fishing case study

Project number: 2020-118

Project Status:

Completed

Budget expenditure: $12,000.00

Principal Investigator: Clayton M. Nelson

Organisation: Austral Fisheries Pty Ltd

Project start/end date: 9 May 2021 - 29 Nov 2021

Contact:

FRDC

SPECIES

Prawns

Need

Commercial in confidence. To know more about this project please contact FRDC.

Objectives

Commercial in confidence

Developing innovations with Australian wild catch fisheries

Project number: 2020-054

Project Status:

Current

Budget expenditure: $50,000.00

Principal Investigator: Clayton M. Nelson

Organisation: Austral Fisheries Pty Ltd

Project start/end date: 30 Jun 2020 - 30 Jun 2021

Contact:

FRDC

Need

Commercial in confidence. To know more about this project please contact FRDC.

Objectives

Commercial in confidence

Southern Ocean IPA (Austral Fisheries only) - Chemical profiling of Patagonian Toothfish (Dissostichus eleginoides) from the Heard Island and McDonald Islands fishery

Project number: 2019-145

Project Status:

Completed

Budget expenditure: $45,567.50

Principal Investigator: Rhys Arangio

Organisation: Austral Fisheries Pty Ltd

Project start/end date: 18 Jul 2020 - 29 Oct 2020

Contact:

FRDC

SPECIES

Patagonian Toothfish

Need

We have seen evidence of counterfeit versions of our Glacier 51 Toothfish brand being used in international markets. We want to be able to provide verifiable proof that the toothfish product carrying our label is in fact our fish, while at the same time be able to decipher where this counterfeit product is being sourced from. Source Certain International's (SCI), Source Connect program will aim to deliver the capacity to verify toothfish provenance to the specific area within the HIMI fishery or to prove that certain toothfish product is not from the HIMI fishery. If this succeeds, we may be able to map the chemical profile of toothfish globally, to help this issue more broadly. This process may also have additional scientific benefits with regard to stock structure and movement, but we will not know the potential of this until initial samples are analysed.

Objectives

1. Establish that there are sufficient markers determinable for Patagonian Toothfish to construct the TSW Trace® profile (fingerprint).

2. Establish if there are any limitations as to where on the fish the sample of flesh required for analysis needs to be collected to build the appropriate reference database and in turn, how does this limit the scope of any in-market investigation.

3. Investigation the application of Source Certain's technology to map the fishery and potentially enable the discrimination and hence verification of tooth fish flesh to a discrete provenance location, a zone within the fishery.

PROJECT NUMBER • 2019-094

PROJECT STATUS:

COMPLETED

Southern Ocean IPA - variation to 2018-124: Science to support Australia's Southern Ocean Fisheries 2018-2020. Addition of printing of the Kerguelen Plateau Science Symposium II papers compilation

ORGANISATION:

Austral Fisheries Pty Ltd

TAGS

Symposium

Resource Assessment

Resource Access And Allocation

Policy

Oceanography

SPECIES

Patagonian Toothfish

PROJECT NUMBER • 2018-218

PROJECT STATUS:

COMPLETED

Southern Ocean IPA - variation to 2018-124: Science to support Australia's Southern Ocean Fisheries 2018-2020. Addition of Heard Island Patagonian Toothfish 2019 Stock Assessment Review

ORGANISATION:

Austral Fisheries Pty Ltd

TAGS

SPECIES

By-catch assessment and ecological interactions in Heard Island and McDonald Islands Fisheries

Project number: 2015-036

Project Status:

Completed

Budget expenditure: $140,000.00

Principal Investigator: Martin Exel

Organisation: Austral Fisheries Pty Ltd

Project start/end date: 28 Sep 2015 - 23 Mar 2016

Contact:

FRDC

TAGS

Rac Cmwth

Need

Commercial in confidence. To know more about this project please contact FRDC.

Objectives

Commercial in confidence

People Development Program: FRDC emerging leader governance scholarship - Martin Exel

Project number: 2008-322.11

Project Status:

Completed

Budget expenditure: $5,914.55

Principal Investigator: Martin Exel

Organisation: Austral Fisheries Pty Ltd

Project start/end date: 14 Jun 2011 - 14 Jul 2012

Contact:

FRDC

TAGS

Need

Industry organisations need to build their capacity to meet future challenges and opportunities. Building the skills and confidence for industry to influence is one aspect of capacity that the people development program aims to address through this project, providing opportunity to influence is another.

There is a need for coordinated delivery of opportunities to develop governance capability in the fishing
industry and and to promote opportunitites to foster diversity through succession planning within industry committees and boards. There is also a need to provide additional opportunities for those people who participate in the AICD program to observe effective boards in action.