19 results

Gulf of Carpentaria King Threadfin (Polydactylus macrochir) - addressing the knowledge gaps to support assessment, management and sustainable harvest

Project number: 2023-199
Project Status:
Current
Budget expenditure: $1,410,230.52
Principal Investigator: Julie B. Robins
Organisation: Department of Primary Industries (QLD)
Project start/end date: 30 Sep 2024 - 29 Sep 2027
Contact:
FRDC
TAGS
Tagging
Stock Assessment
Recreational Fishing
Rac Qld
Harvest Strategy
SPECIES
King Threadfin

Need

The proposal addresses the key needs specified in FRDC investment opportunity on GoC KTF in an integrated manner, in consultation and collaboration with industry, by a team of people highly experienced in the science and logistical challenges of working in the GoC. The ‘Needs’ in the FRDC Call for R&D Investment Opportunities were (1) stock structure, including spatial and temporal connectivity between regions (i.e., movement and reproductive connectivity), (2) quantify life history information at regional scales relevant to stock assessment, and (3) factors influencing variation in the relationship between catch rate and population abundance.

The proposal addresses these knowledge gaps, which continue to bring uncertainty to the GoC KTF assessment and management. Further details are included in the Methods section.

It is critical that the inputs to the stock assessment, such as the spatial structure of the model, standardised catch rates, and life history parameters (e.g., temporal and spatial variation in growth rates, proportion mature-at-age, proportion mature-at-length) are representative of GoC stocks. Independent review of the latest KTF stock assessment (Campbell et al. 2024) concurs with this statement. Past research has included GoC samples of varying levels of spatial representativeness (Garrett et al. 1997; Welch et al. 2010; Newman et al. 2010; Moore et al. 2011; Moore et al. 2017) primarily due to due to logistical challenges. Despite the past research, there remains spatial and temporal uncertainty in how KTF populations function in this large tropical region, which has highly variable patterns in wet season rainfall and flood - the primary drivers of nutrient input to coastal GoC ecosystems.

Objectives

1. Evaluate the spatial stock structure and the connectivity and movement of King Threadfin between regions within the Gulf of Carpentaria to inform meta-population dynamics.
2. Quantify life history parameters of King Threadfin across regions within the Gulf of Carpentaria relevant to stock assessment and management.
3. Evaluate factors influencing the relationship between catch (rate) and population abundance to inform catch rate standardisation.

Fish LIGHT - Low impact gears and innovative harvest technologies

Project number: 2023-154
Project Status:
Current
Budget expenditure: $9,050,000.00
Principal Investigator: Samuel M. Williams
Organisation: Department of Primary Industries (QLD)
Project start/end date: 10 Mar 2024 - 19 Jun 2030
Contact:
FRDC
TAGS
Threatened Endangered Protected Species
Technology Transfer
Rac Qld
Innovation
Fishing Technology
SPECIES
Grey Mackerel
Barramundi

Need

This program of works supports the trial, implementation, and evaluation of innovative and alternative low-impact harvest technologies (fishing gears) within Queensland’s inshore fisheries (East Coast and Gulf of Carpentaria). The program will be developed in a way that supports an evidence-based approach to developing and trialling sustainable alternative commercial fishing gears, and be run in collaboration with relevant Government agencies and fisheries stakeholders.

Through the additional support of co-investment of $4.5 million by FRDC (in line with this application and the approved funds listed under project 2023-154), the program will be delivered in two stages across a six-year timeframe (up to a total investment of $9 million).

The fishing methods to be trialled as part of the first stage will range from exploring enhancements of existing low-impact gear types, through to trials of innovative harvest technologies. The alternative low-impact harvest technologies will first be trialled in order to demonstrate their triple bottom line credentials. After this, the second stage will support broader implementation and evaluation of commercial application over a three-year period.

The program of works will also explore additional opportunities to enhance the economic value and social profile of the fishery, to ensure that any new harvest technologies align with global best practice standards, product value adding to enhance profitability margins, and improvements in social acceptability.

Wild caught seafood also allows for a diverse mix of species that appeal to a range of consumers and seafood businesses. It is planned that this work will explore potential opportunities for market expansion.

Objectives

1. Undertake gear trials with clear monitoring and assessment of gear performance against economic, ecological (including SOCI interactions) and social indicators.
2. Evaluate different gear trial pathways to understand the cost benefit trade-offs, timeframes and identify principles for success
3. Identify attitudinal, behavioural, and contextual factors affecting the adoption and perception of the alternative gear, and design and implement interventions to alleviate this.
4. Support developmental fishery implementation and optimisation of gears and business models to ensure long-term sustainability.
5. Understand the market and consumer preferences associated with caught combination of new gears and undertake optimisation of post-harvest processes and business models to support profitability.
6. Develop forums and communication materials to support responsible innovation and knowledge transfer for and across Australian community, and with a focus on commercial fisheries and key rightsholders and stakeholders
Environment

Determining the spatial distribution and abundance indices for Moreton Bay Bugs, Thenus parindicus and Thenus australiensis in Queensland to improve stock assessment and management

Project number: 2020-020
Project Status:
Completed
Budget expenditure: $596,710.00
Principal Investigator: Matthew McMillan
Organisation: Department of Primary Industries (QLD)
Project start/end date: 31 Aug 2020 - 30 Mar 2023
Contact:
FRDC
TAGS
Wild Catch
Survey
Stock Assessment
Rac Qld
Fishing Gear
SPECIES
Bugs

Need

Moreton Bay bugs (Scyllarid lobsters) are a commercially important fished resource in northern Australian coastal waters. About 600 tonnes of bugs is reported in logbooks annually, valued at about $15 million (~$25/kg) nationally. About 90% of the catch is taken in the Queensland east coast otter trawl fishery (QECOTF) (https://www.fish.gov.au/report/154-MORETON-BAY-BUGS-2018).

Historically, Moreton Bay bugs were retained as byproduct of prawn and scallop trawling, but over time their popularity and price have increased and they have become increasingly targeted by fishers. In recent years in the Queensland scallop fishery, the scallop catch has declined and fishers have targeted bugs to such an extent that their catch value now exceeds that of the scallops.

Quantifying the fishing effort targeted at bugs and differentiating it from the prawn and scallop effort is challenging. This complicates the estimation of reliable catch rate time series that can be used as an index of abundance for each group (i.e. bugs, prawns, scallops).

Despite their high value, Queensland has not previously undertaken a stock assessment of Moreton Bay Bugs, beyond yield-per-recruit analyses. This is largely because the Bug catch is composed of two species, reef bugs (Thenus australiensis) and mud bugs (Thenus parindicus) which are not differentiated by fishers in the logbook data. Mud bugs are the smaller of the two species and generally occur in depths of 10–30 m, while the larger reef bug generally occurs in depths of 30–60 m. Although there is some spatial separation of the species it is not possible to breakdown the catch of each from the logbook data alone.

This project aims to examine and define the spatial distribution of the two bug species. By surveying and sampling bugs, and examining seafloor properties, we hope to predict and map the distribution of each species. Once clear distinctions are made, we plan to use all available data on catch rates and gear technology used by the fleet, to derive standardised catch rate time series for each species, which can be used as indices of abundance for improved management and assessment.

Objectives

1. Implement a state-wide crew member program to obtain detailed photographic records of Moreton Bay bug catches, to assist with determining the species composition and distribution of catches.
2. Undertake a stratified survey of bug catch rates, species composition and seafloor properties in the main trawl fishing grounds off Townsville.
3. Use all available data sources to model, predict and map the spatial distribution of the two species of Moreton Bay bugs along the Queensland coast.
4. Produce long-term standardised catch rates for each bug species that can be used as an index of abundance for stock assessment and management.

Final report

ISBN: 978-0-6456352-1-8
Authors: McMillan M.N Leahy S.M. Daniell J. Louw N. Roberts E.M. Wickens M. Hillcoat K. O’Neill M.F
Final Report • 9.51 MB
2020-020-DLD.pdf

Summary

We report on the first comprehensive investigation into the spatial distribution of Moreton Bay Bugs within the Queensland East Coast Otter Trawl Fishery. This research was a collaboration between the Queensland Department of Agriculture and Fisheries and James Cook University, applying interdisciplinary approaches to successfully model habitat preferences of the two Moreton Bay Bug species and map their distributions along Queensland’s east coast. Historic catch records were then split according to each species’ spatial distribution. From these records, standardised catch rates were produced as indices of abundance for each species for use in future stock assessments of the Moreton Bay Bug fishery.

Project products

Paper • 8.09 MB
2020-020-Louw et al 2024 FISHRES.pdf
Paper • 1.38 MB
2020-020-McMillan et al 2024 RFBF.pdf
Paper • 1.72 MB
2020-020-McMillan et al 2024_HYDROBIO.pdf
Environment
PROJECT NUMBER • 2019-062
PROJECT STATUS:
CURRENT

Knowledge to improve the assessment and management of Giant Mud Crabs (Scylla serrata) in Queensland

Researchers from the Department of Agriculture and Fisheries (DAF) Queensland, CQUniversity (CQU) and the Department of Primary Industries (DPI) NSW Fisheries are collaborating on a Fisheries Research and Development (FRDC) co-funded research project on mud crab populations in Queensland. The...
ORGANISATION:
Department of Primary Industries (QLD)
TAGS
Wild Catch
Tagging
Reproduction
Rac Qld
Rac Nsw
SPECIES
Mud Crabs
Environment

Custom training and technical support for the fishery stock assessment software ‘stock synthesis’

Project number: 2018-168
Project Status:
Completed
Budget expenditure: $77,220.00
Principal Investigator: Michael F. O'Neill
Organisation: Department of Primary Industries (QLD)
Project start/end date: 31 Mar 2019 - 29 Jun 2020
Contact:
FRDC
TAGS
Wild Catch
Training
Sustainability
Stock Assessment
Software

Need

The Queensland Government Department of Agriculture and Fisheries (DAF) aims to manage fisheries utilising the best available science taking into account environmental, economic, social and cultural impacts.
Through the Government’s Sustainable Fisheries Strategy (SFS, 2018–2020), plans are actioned to establish regular stock assessments (ongoing annually or at least every two years) to provide the science for assessing key fishery stocks against reference points.
To conduct regular stock assessments of finfish, Fisheries Queensland and the SFS expert panel have directed DAF staff to investigate the use of off-the-shelf stock-assessment models. This recommendation is for delivery of recurring information to support fishery harvest strategies; and followed a review to support the use of common stock assessment methods and models (FRDC Research Code: 2014-039; http://www.frdc.com.au/media-and-publications/fish/fish-vol-26-3/skills-shortage-forecast-for-stock-assessments). This proposal is to progress Qld’s adoption of FRDC recommendations and research: project 2014-039.
DAF’s training needs are by 31st May 2019.
The aim for this training is to build stock assessment systems for DAF and help support similar national needs in Australia.

Objectives

1. DAF scientists to learn SS methodology and assumptions.
2. After 5-day course, DAF scientists to be proficient in the use of SS software with R
3. Produce 3–4 updated DAF finfish stock assessments through the 5-day course
4. Publish on success, outputs and findings of SS
5. Improve speed on future reassessments of fish stocks

Final report

ISBN: 978-0-7345-0464-7
Authors: M. F. O’Neill R. Lovett P. Bessell-Browne S. Streipert G. Leigh A. Campbell A. Northrop J. Wortmann F. Helidoniotis W.-H. Yang M. Holden and S. French.
Final Report • 2020-02-01 • 2.75 MB
2018-168-DLD.pdf

Summary

This is a report on ‘stock synthesis’ software training by CSIRO. Noted are training outputs and learnings, together with an assessment of what role stock synthesis (SS) may play in Department of Agriculture and
Fisheries (DAF) fish stock assessments. Findings suggest SS could potentially assess 50–60% of the fish species currently listed for Queensland stock assessment.
Reports on SS herein represent initial views after training. SS views may change in time with individuals, and with more use and learnings of the software.
Industry

Assessing the spawning characteristics and reproductive biology of Pearl Perch (Glaucosoma scapulare) in Queensland

Project number: 2018-074
Project Status:
Completed
Budget expenditure: $376,154.78
Principal Investigator: Matthew J. Campbell
Organisation: Department of Primary Industries (QLD)
Project start/end date: 31 Mar 2019 - 30 Dec 2021
Contact:
FRDC
TAGS
Sustainability
Stock Assessment
Reproduction
Rac Qld
Migration
SPECIES
Pearl Perches

Need

This project addresses the national research priority "Ensuring that Australian fishing and aquaculture products are sustainable and acknowledged to be so", identified by FRDC as part of their RD&E Plan for the period 2015-2020. Further, this project addresses a research priority listed in FRDC's April 2018 Competitive round call for Expressions of Interest "To gain a better understanding of the spawning aggregations and dynamics of pearl perch". This project also addresses a Fisheries Queensland’s priority identified in their 2017 Monitoring and Research Plan "Research into lifecycle characteristics of pearl perch".

Outputs from a recent stock assessment suggested that the pearl perch stock, which extends southwards into New South Wales waters, is transitional depleted and stock recovery is necessary. This requires an improvement in egg production achievable through the protection of spawning animals. Knowledge of the pearl perch’s spawning dynamics would enable fishery managers to make evidence-based decisions regarding the harvest strategies that increase egg production and, therefore, build the stock biomass. For example, should patterns of pearl perch spawning aggregations be located, like those of the confamilial West Australian dhufish (belonging to the same taxonomic fish family), spatial closures could be employed to protect these aggregations. Similarly, temporal closures are currently used to avoid excessive fishing mortality on coral trout spawning aggregations and similar protection for pearl perch may be appropriate if spawning is timed to coincide with certain biological or seasonal cues. A thorough understanding of these spawning dynamics of the pearl perch is necessary to inform management of the species.

There is a need, therefore, to: (1) collect relevant biological information pertaining to the spawning dynamics of pearl perch, (2) supplement current information with fishery-independent data to better define temporal and spatial spawning patterns over the entire extent of the species’ distribution, and (3) identify areas likely to support spawning aggregations, if any, and to assess the movement to and from these spawning aggregations.

Objectives

1. Assess the temporal and spatial trends in the reproductive biology of pearl perch
2. Determine the movement of spawning pearl perch using both conventional and acoustic tagging methods
3. Identify areas, if any, that support spawning aggregations and determine the relative importance of these aggregations to the sustainability of the pearl perch stock

Final report

Author: Matthew Campbell
Final Report • 2023-11-27 • 5.62 MB
2018-074-DLD.pdf

Summary

Assessing the spawning characteristics and reproductive biology of Pearl Perch (Glaucosoma scapulare) in Queensland 

Barramundi origins: determining the contribution of stocking to the Barramundi catch on Queensland's east coast

Project number: 2018-047
Project Status:
Completed
Budget expenditure: $261,776.73
Principal Investigator: Susannah Leahy
Organisation: Department of Primary Industries (QLD)
Project start/end date: 31 Oct 2018 - 31 Jan 2021
Contact:
FRDC
TAGS
Stock Assessment
Rac Qld
Mortality
Modelling
Husbandry
SPECIES
Barramundi

Need

This EOI was developed to address the priority, listed by Queensland RAC in the November 2017 Call for Applications, "To Determine the Proportion of Queensland East Coast (Marine and Estuarine)
Wild Barramundi Catch that is of Hatchery Origin"

- Since 2010 at least 4 million barramundi fingerlings have been released into impounded waterways, coastal lagoons, rivers (and estuaries) of Queensland

- the number of barramundi released annually varies between ~330,000 (2010) and ~794,000 (2015)

- whilst stocked fingerlings may suffer high mortality rates, stocked barramundi do migrate downstream and are caught in the wild-harvest commercial net fishery

- the magnitude of the contribution of stocking to the Queensland east coast population of barramundi is unknown

- this problem has limited quantitative stock assessment of barramundi on the Qld east coast

- DNA parentage analyses is a way to unequivocally identify hatchery origin barramundi and has been developed and validated for barramundi at JCU but it relies on having genotypes of the hatchery broodstock and is expensive per fish

- to be useful for a stock assessment any method needs to be able to be applied over multiple years to provide a time series of data, preferably hind-casting using the historic otolith collections maintained by Fisheries Queensland

- the aim of this project is to develop a cheap and effective method to identify the contribution of stocked fish to current and historic catches (via the Fisheries Queenlsand's otolith collections) to support stock status reporting and quantitative stock assessment

Objectives

1. To develop a near infrared spectroscopy model that can distinguish between wild origin and hatchery origin barramundi
2. To develop an otolith chemistry model that can distinguish between wild origin and hatchery origin barramundi
3. To compare the results from the models developed in #1 and #2 against an established method (genetics) to distinguish between wild and hatchery origin fish in wild caught barramundi
4. To evaluate and complete a cost-benefit analysis of the approaches developed

Final report

ISBN: 978-0-7345-0474-6
Authors: Leahy SM Jerry DR Wedding BBC Robins JB Wright CL Sadekov A Boyle S Jones DB Williams SM McCulloch MT Grauf S Pavich L McLennan M Sellin MJ Goldsbury J Saunders RJ
Final Report • 2022-02-24 • 5.66 MB
2018-047-DLD.pdf

Summary

Researchers from Queensland’s Department of Agriculture and Fisheries, James Cook University, and the University of Western Australia tested a range of otolith-based and genetic methods to identify hatchery-born from wild-born Barramundi. The project took place in the Dry Tropics region, where extensive historical and ongoing impoundment stocking (release of hatchery-born Barramundi into freshwater bodies) may be contributing to the downstream wild-capture marine and estuarine fishery. Fish samples were collected from the commercial and recreational wild-capture marine and estuarine fishery in 2019 and 2020, following the major Townsville floods in February 2019. The team identified a cost-effective means of using trace elements in fish otoliths to reliably distinguish hatchery-origin from wild-origin fish, measure the contribution of stocked fish to the wild population, and assess the sustainability of the wild-capture fishery.
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