Novel fishery independent, biological and economic-processing methods to underpin expansion of Australia's fastest growing fishery, the Western Rock Octopus
Project number:
2023-052
Project Status:
Current
Budget expenditure:
$650,260.00
Principal Investigator:
Lachlan Strain
Organisation:
Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development (DPIRD) Hillarys
SPECIES
The Western Rock Octopus fishery has become Australia’s fastest growing fishery, with a 5-year average growth of 50% per annum between 2017 and 2022. Despite this expansion, there are still significant gaps in knowledge and practice that do not allow this fishery to grow and develop in an optimum sustainable and socio-economic manner. This project will fill the information gaps and develop pro-active management and economic policy settings that facilitate a comprehensive development of the fishery to its natural capacity. It meets FRDCs two main outcomes of the 2020-2025 R&D plan; growth for enduring prosperity, best practices and production systems, and also meets Enabling Strategy IV: Building capacity and capability.
1. Quantify species mix, growth, population connectivity, and reproduction of the unexplored South Coast and deep-water West Coast stocks of Octopus djinda.
2. Develop and test an octopus trap mounted camera system as fishery independent survey tool for density, bycatch, habitat, and environmental data.
3. Develop a bioeconomic model for octopus fishery management and expansion in Australia.
