9 results
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Environment

2023 EvokeAG bursary

Project number: 2022-110
Project Status:
Completed
Budget expenditure: $4,000.00
Principal Investigator: Helen T. Burvill
Organisation: Eastern Zone Abalone Industry Association (EZAIA)
Project start/end date: 31 Jan 2023 - 23 Mar 2023
Contact:
FRDC
TAGS
Training
Innovation
Education
Conference
Capacity Building
SPECIES
Sea Urchins

Need

Attend EvokeAg, pitch my idea and gain knowledge from other successful start ups in a forum that is encouraging to new ideas and concepts.
Future benefits would be to commercialize a new product that can utilise waste and provide an alternative commercial stream for a product that tends to go to landfill or used as fertiliser.

• EvokeAg ticket $1,100
• Accommodation: $1,200 (4 nights - allowing side event participation)
• Flights: $500
• Petrol / airport parking: $200 Armstrong Creek – Melbourne Airport (103 km each way) / $250 (allowing 5 days airport terminal parking)
• Taxis: $250
• Meals: $350

Total $3,860

Objectives

1. Attendance at EvokeAg 2023, Asia Pacific’s premier agrifood tech event in Adelaide, 21-22 February 2023
Industry
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PROJECT NUMBER • 2022-075
PROJECT STATUS:
COMPLETED

National Workshop to develop a regional collaborative plan to control the invasive Longspined Sea Urchin (Centrostephanus rodgersii)

The 2023 National Centrostephanus Workshop was convened by the Department of Natural Resources and Environment Tasmania. The workshop brought together 130 representatives from industry, government, research, Aboriginal communities, recreational fishing groups, and the community to: • Identify...
ORGANISATION:
Department of Natural Resources and Environment Tasmania (NRE TAS)
TAGS
Rac Vic
Rac Tas
Rac Nsw
Invasive Species
Climate Change
SPECIES
Sea Urchins
Industry
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PROJECT NUMBER • 2018-016
PROJECT STATUS:
COMPLETED

Improving data on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander marine resource use to inform decision-making

Through two national workshops, Indigenous community and agency representatives and researchers discussed issues around collecting, sharing and ownership of Indigenous fishing data. Challenges and opportunities were shared from all perspectives and expertise, knowledge and information came together...
ORGANISATION:
Department of Primary Industries and Regions South Australia (PIRSA)
TAGS
Wild Catch
Survey
Recreational Fishing
Rac Cmwth
Marine Park
SPECIES
Mulloway
Black Bream
Snapper
Australian Herring
Sand Whiting

Monitoring abalone juvenile abundance following removal of Centrostephanus and translocation

Project number: 2017-049
Project Status:
Completed
Budget expenditure: $67,916.04
Principal Investigator: Jaime McAllister
Organisation: University of Tasmania (UTAS)
Project start/end date: 28 Feb 2018 - 30 Nov 2018
Contact:
FRDC
TAGS
Reproduction
Rac Vic
Fisheries Management
Depredation
SPECIES
Blacklip Abalone
Sea Urchins

Need

Blacklip abalone remain cryptic for the first 5 to 7 years of life. This life history characteristic of abalone precludes accurate monitoring of the abundance cryptic size classes (juveniles and sub-adults), creating a significant gap in our understanding of abalone population health. This also creates challenges for determining effects on recruitment related to fishing pressure, environmental change, or catastrophic events such as storms, heat waves, or disease. It also creates a significant delay in documenting the effects of remedial actions such as TACC reductions, reseeding, or translocation. Currently determining the effect of a particular management outcome can only be determined 5 to 7 years after an event or management action, at which point attribution of the patterns observed to the event of interest can be difficult if other events have had an effect in that period.

Developing and implementing a repeatable method of determining the abundance of cryptic abalone year classes (2+ to 4+) to enable more timely determination of management actions or acute/chronic external events is a high priority for all Australian abalone fisheries. For the Victorian Eastern Zone Abalone Fishery, there is an urgent need to assess the efficacy of the translocation activities conducted as part of FRDC project 2014-224.

Objectives

1. Test Tasmanian designed juvenile abalone collectors on Victorian Eastern Zone reef systems
2. Use juvenile collector methods to assess effect of translocation on population recovery
3. Consider broader application of juvenile collectors as a recruitment monitoring tool

Final report

ISBN: ISBN 978-1-925646-84-9
Authors: Jaime McAllister Sarah Pyke and Craig Mundy
Final Report • 2019-10-01 • 2.59 MB
2017-049-DLD.pdf

Summary

A new system of Abalone recruitment modules (ARMs) have proven to be successful in collecting juvenile abalone in Tasmanian waters. This design was subsequently transferred to the Eastern Zone, Victoria, where IMAS staff and Eastern Zone Abalone Industry Association (EZIZA) members installed ARMs at four sites with contrasting abalone populations: 1) healthy abalone reef subject to commercial abalone fishing, 2) previously healthy abalone reef that no longer supports abalone populations as it has been denuded by urchins, 3) a site that has been subject to urchin culls to improve abalone habitat but has not had any abalone translocated from elsewhere, and 4) a site that has been subject to urchin culls to improve abalone habitat and has had abalone translocated from elsewhere. After a 6-month deployment the ARMs incurred no major damage and had attracted juvenile abalone across a broad size range (9-91 mm SL) at all four sites. Overall there was a significant difference in abalone density between sites with the highest density recorded at the Petrel Point control site attributed mostly to the higher density of larger individuals (>25 mm SL). In contrast, remaining sites had lower but similar densities except for the Barren site which recorded no individuals larger than 45 mm SL. Small abalone (<25 mm SL) abundances were generally consistent and not significantly different across all four sites. These results demonstrate that both recent and historical spawning events have contributed to maintaining some level of recruitment in these areas, however, suggests there may be some disparity in the survival of recruits between sites.
Final Report • 2019-10-01 • 2.59 MB
2017-049-DLD.pdf

Summary

A new system of Abalone recruitment modules (ARMs) have proven to be successful in collecting juvenile abalone in Tasmanian waters. This design was subsequently transferred to the Eastern Zone, Victoria, where IMAS staff and Eastern Zone Abalone Industry Association (EZIZA) members installed ARMs at four sites with contrasting abalone populations: 1) healthy abalone reef subject to commercial abalone fishing, 2) previously healthy abalone reef that no longer supports abalone populations as it has been denuded by urchins, 3) a site that has been subject to urchin culls to improve abalone habitat but has not had any abalone translocated from elsewhere, and 4) a site that has been subject to urchin culls to improve abalone habitat and has had abalone translocated from elsewhere. After a 6-month deployment the ARMs incurred no major damage and had attracted juvenile abalone across a broad size range (9-91 mm SL) at all four sites. Overall there was a significant difference in abalone density between sites with the highest density recorded at the Petrel Point control site attributed mostly to the higher density of larger individuals (>25 mm SL). In contrast, remaining sites had lower but similar densities except for the Barren site which recorded no individuals larger than 45 mm SL. Small abalone (<25 mm SL) abundances were generally consistent and not significantly different across all four sites. These results demonstrate that both recent and historical spawning events have contributed to maintaining some level of recruitment in these areas, however, suggests there may be some disparity in the survival of recruits between sites.
Final Report • 2019-10-01 • 2.59 MB
2017-049-DLD.pdf

Summary

A new system of Abalone recruitment modules (ARMs) have proven to be successful in collecting juvenile abalone in Tasmanian waters. This design was subsequently transferred to the Eastern Zone, Victoria, where IMAS staff and Eastern Zone Abalone Industry Association (EZIZA) members installed ARMs at four sites with contrasting abalone populations: 1) healthy abalone reef subject to commercial abalone fishing, 2) previously healthy abalone reef that no longer supports abalone populations as it has been denuded by urchins, 3) a site that has been subject to urchin culls to improve abalone habitat but has not had any abalone translocated from elsewhere, and 4) a site that has been subject to urchin culls to improve abalone habitat and has had abalone translocated from elsewhere. After a 6-month deployment the ARMs incurred no major damage and had attracted juvenile abalone across a broad size range (9-91 mm SL) at all four sites. Overall there was a significant difference in abalone density between sites with the highest density recorded at the Petrel Point control site attributed mostly to the higher density of larger individuals (>25 mm SL). In contrast, remaining sites had lower but similar densities except for the Barren site which recorded no individuals larger than 45 mm SL. Small abalone (<25 mm SL) abundances were generally consistent and not significantly different across all four sites. These results demonstrate that both recent and historical spawning events have contributed to maintaining some level of recruitment in these areas, however, suggests there may be some disparity in the survival of recruits between sites.
Final Report • 2019-10-01 • 2.59 MB
2017-049-DLD.pdf

Summary

A new system of Abalone recruitment modules (ARMs) have proven to be successful in collecting juvenile abalone in Tasmanian waters. This design was subsequently transferred to the Eastern Zone, Victoria, where IMAS staff and Eastern Zone Abalone Industry Association (EZIZA) members installed ARMs at four sites with contrasting abalone populations: 1) healthy abalone reef subject to commercial abalone fishing, 2) previously healthy abalone reef that no longer supports abalone populations as it has been denuded by urchins, 3) a site that has been subject to urchin culls to improve abalone habitat but has not had any abalone translocated from elsewhere, and 4) a site that has been subject to urchin culls to improve abalone habitat and has had abalone translocated from elsewhere. After a 6-month deployment the ARMs incurred no major damage and had attracted juvenile abalone across a broad size range (9-91 mm SL) at all four sites. Overall there was a significant difference in abalone density between sites with the highest density recorded at the Petrel Point control site attributed mostly to the higher density of larger individuals (>25 mm SL). In contrast, remaining sites had lower but similar densities except for the Barren site which recorded no individuals larger than 45 mm SL. Small abalone (<25 mm SL) abundances were generally consistent and not significantly different across all four sites. These results demonstrate that both recent and historical spawning events have contributed to maintaining some level of recruitment in these areas, however, suggests there may be some disparity in the survival of recruits between sites.
Final Report • 2019-10-01 • 2.59 MB
2017-049-DLD.pdf

Summary

A new system of Abalone recruitment modules (ARMs) have proven to be successful in collecting juvenile abalone in Tasmanian waters. This design was subsequently transferred to the Eastern Zone, Victoria, where IMAS staff and Eastern Zone Abalone Industry Association (EZIZA) members installed ARMs at four sites with contrasting abalone populations: 1) healthy abalone reef subject to commercial abalone fishing, 2) previously healthy abalone reef that no longer supports abalone populations as it has been denuded by urchins, 3) a site that has been subject to urchin culls to improve abalone habitat but has not had any abalone translocated from elsewhere, and 4) a site that has been subject to urchin culls to improve abalone habitat and has had abalone translocated from elsewhere. After a 6-month deployment the ARMs incurred no major damage and had attracted juvenile abalone across a broad size range (9-91 mm SL) at all four sites. Overall there was a significant difference in abalone density between sites with the highest density recorded at the Petrel Point control site attributed mostly to the higher density of larger individuals (>25 mm SL). In contrast, remaining sites had lower but similar densities except for the Barren site which recorded no individuals larger than 45 mm SL. Small abalone (<25 mm SL) abundances were generally consistent and not significantly different across all four sites. These results demonstrate that both recent and historical spawning events have contributed to maintaining some level of recruitment in these areas, however, suggests there may be some disparity in the survival of recruits between sites.
Final Report • 2019-10-01 • 2.59 MB
2017-049-DLD.pdf

Summary

A new system of Abalone recruitment modules (ARMs) have proven to be successful in collecting juvenile abalone in Tasmanian waters. This design was subsequently transferred to the Eastern Zone, Victoria, where IMAS staff and Eastern Zone Abalone Industry Association (EZIZA) members installed ARMs at four sites with contrasting abalone populations: 1) healthy abalone reef subject to commercial abalone fishing, 2) previously healthy abalone reef that no longer supports abalone populations as it has been denuded by urchins, 3) a site that has been subject to urchin culls to improve abalone habitat but has not had any abalone translocated from elsewhere, and 4) a site that has been subject to urchin culls to improve abalone habitat and has had abalone translocated from elsewhere. After a 6-month deployment the ARMs incurred no major damage and had attracted juvenile abalone across a broad size range (9-91 mm SL) at all four sites. Overall there was a significant difference in abalone density between sites with the highest density recorded at the Petrel Point control site attributed mostly to the higher density of larger individuals (>25 mm SL). In contrast, remaining sites had lower but similar densities except for the Barren site which recorded no individuals larger than 45 mm SL. Small abalone (<25 mm SL) abundances were generally consistent and not significantly different across all four sites. These results demonstrate that both recent and historical spawning events have contributed to maintaining some level of recruitment in these areas, however, suggests there may be some disparity in the survival of recruits between sites.
Final Report • 2019-10-01 • 2.59 MB
2017-049-DLD.pdf

Summary

A new system of Abalone recruitment modules (ARMs) have proven to be successful in collecting juvenile abalone in Tasmanian waters. This design was subsequently transferred to the Eastern Zone, Victoria, where IMAS staff and Eastern Zone Abalone Industry Association (EZIZA) members installed ARMs at four sites with contrasting abalone populations: 1) healthy abalone reef subject to commercial abalone fishing, 2) previously healthy abalone reef that no longer supports abalone populations as it has been denuded by urchins, 3) a site that has been subject to urchin culls to improve abalone habitat but has not had any abalone translocated from elsewhere, and 4) a site that has been subject to urchin culls to improve abalone habitat and has had abalone translocated from elsewhere. After a 6-month deployment the ARMs incurred no major damage and had attracted juvenile abalone across a broad size range (9-91 mm SL) at all four sites. Overall there was a significant difference in abalone density between sites with the highest density recorded at the Petrel Point control site attributed mostly to the higher density of larger individuals (>25 mm SL). In contrast, remaining sites had lower but similar densities except for the Barren site which recorded no individuals larger than 45 mm SL. Small abalone (<25 mm SL) abundances were generally consistent and not significantly different across all four sites. These results demonstrate that both recent and historical spawning events have contributed to maintaining some level of recruitment in these areas, however, suggests there may be some disparity in the survival of recruits between sites.
Final Report • 2019-10-01 • 2.59 MB
2017-049-DLD.pdf

Summary

A new system of Abalone recruitment modules (ARMs) have proven to be successful in collecting juvenile abalone in Tasmanian waters. This design was subsequently transferred to the Eastern Zone, Victoria, where IMAS staff and Eastern Zone Abalone Industry Association (EZIZA) members installed ARMs at four sites with contrasting abalone populations: 1) healthy abalone reef subject to commercial abalone fishing, 2) previously healthy abalone reef that no longer supports abalone populations as it has been denuded by urchins, 3) a site that has been subject to urchin culls to improve abalone habitat but has not had any abalone translocated from elsewhere, and 4) a site that has been subject to urchin culls to improve abalone habitat and has had abalone translocated from elsewhere. After a 6-month deployment the ARMs incurred no major damage and had attracted juvenile abalone across a broad size range (9-91 mm SL) at all four sites. Overall there was a significant difference in abalone density between sites with the highest density recorded at the Petrel Point control site attributed mostly to the higher density of larger individuals (>25 mm SL). In contrast, remaining sites had lower but similar densities except for the Barren site which recorded no individuals larger than 45 mm SL. Small abalone (<25 mm SL) abundances were generally consistent and not significantly different across all four sites. These results demonstrate that both recent and historical spawning events have contributed to maintaining some level of recruitment in these areas, however, suggests there may be some disparity in the survival of recruits between sites.
Final Report • 2019-10-01 • 2.59 MB
2017-049-DLD.pdf

Summary

A new system of Abalone recruitment modules (ARMs) have proven to be successful in collecting juvenile abalone in Tasmanian waters. This design was subsequently transferred to the Eastern Zone, Victoria, where IMAS staff and Eastern Zone Abalone Industry Association (EZIZA) members installed ARMs at four sites with contrasting abalone populations: 1) healthy abalone reef subject to commercial abalone fishing, 2) previously healthy abalone reef that no longer supports abalone populations as it has been denuded by urchins, 3) a site that has been subject to urchin culls to improve abalone habitat but has not had any abalone translocated from elsewhere, and 4) a site that has been subject to urchin culls to improve abalone habitat and has had abalone translocated from elsewhere. After a 6-month deployment the ARMs incurred no major damage and had attracted juvenile abalone across a broad size range (9-91 mm SL) at all four sites. Overall there was a significant difference in abalone density between sites with the highest density recorded at the Petrel Point control site attributed mostly to the higher density of larger individuals (>25 mm SL). In contrast, remaining sites had lower but similar densities except for the Barren site which recorded no individuals larger than 45 mm SL. Small abalone (<25 mm SL) abundances were generally consistent and not significantly different across all four sites. These results demonstrate that both recent and historical spawning events have contributed to maintaining some level of recruitment in these areas, however, suggests there may be some disparity in the survival of recruits between sites.
Final Report • 2019-10-01 • 2.59 MB
2017-049-DLD.pdf

Summary

A new system of Abalone recruitment modules (ARMs) have proven to be successful in collecting juvenile abalone in Tasmanian waters. This design was subsequently transferred to the Eastern Zone, Victoria, where IMAS staff and Eastern Zone Abalone Industry Association (EZIZA) members installed ARMs at four sites with contrasting abalone populations: 1) healthy abalone reef subject to commercial abalone fishing, 2) previously healthy abalone reef that no longer supports abalone populations as it has been denuded by urchins, 3) a site that has been subject to urchin culls to improve abalone habitat but has not had any abalone translocated from elsewhere, and 4) a site that has been subject to urchin culls to improve abalone habitat and has had abalone translocated from elsewhere. After a 6-month deployment the ARMs incurred no major damage and had attracted juvenile abalone across a broad size range (9-91 mm SL) at all four sites. Overall there was a significant difference in abalone density between sites with the highest density recorded at the Petrel Point control site attributed mostly to the higher density of larger individuals (>25 mm SL). In contrast, remaining sites had lower but similar densities except for the Barren site which recorded no individuals larger than 45 mm SL. Small abalone (<25 mm SL) abundances were generally consistent and not significantly different across all four sites. These results demonstrate that both recent and historical spawning events have contributed to maintaining some level of recruitment in these areas, however, suggests there may be some disparity in the survival of recruits between sites.
Final Report • 2019-10-01 • 2.59 MB
2017-049-DLD.pdf

Summary

A new system of Abalone recruitment modules (ARMs) have proven to be successful in collecting juvenile abalone in Tasmanian waters. This design was subsequently transferred to the Eastern Zone, Victoria, where IMAS staff and Eastern Zone Abalone Industry Association (EZIZA) members installed ARMs at four sites with contrasting abalone populations: 1) healthy abalone reef subject to commercial abalone fishing, 2) previously healthy abalone reef that no longer supports abalone populations as it has been denuded by urchins, 3) a site that has been subject to urchin culls to improve abalone habitat but has not had any abalone translocated from elsewhere, and 4) a site that has been subject to urchin culls to improve abalone habitat and has had abalone translocated from elsewhere. After a 6-month deployment the ARMs incurred no major damage and had attracted juvenile abalone across a broad size range (9-91 mm SL) at all four sites. Overall there was a significant difference in abalone density between sites with the highest density recorded at the Petrel Point control site attributed mostly to the higher density of larger individuals (>25 mm SL). In contrast, remaining sites had lower but similar densities except for the Barren site which recorded no individuals larger than 45 mm SL. Small abalone (<25 mm SL) abundances were generally consistent and not significantly different across all four sites. These results demonstrate that both recent and historical spawning events have contributed to maintaining some level of recruitment in these areas, however, suggests there may be some disparity in the survival of recruits between sites.
Final Report • 2019-10-01 • 2.59 MB
2017-049-DLD.pdf

Summary

A new system of Abalone recruitment modules (ARMs) have proven to be successful in collecting juvenile abalone in Tasmanian waters. This design was subsequently transferred to the Eastern Zone, Victoria, where IMAS staff and Eastern Zone Abalone Industry Association (EZIZA) members installed ARMs at four sites with contrasting abalone populations: 1) healthy abalone reef subject to commercial abalone fishing, 2) previously healthy abalone reef that no longer supports abalone populations as it has been denuded by urchins, 3) a site that has been subject to urchin culls to improve abalone habitat but has not had any abalone translocated from elsewhere, and 4) a site that has been subject to urchin culls to improve abalone habitat and has had abalone translocated from elsewhere. After a 6-month deployment the ARMs incurred no major damage and had attracted juvenile abalone across a broad size range (9-91 mm SL) at all four sites. Overall there was a significant difference in abalone density between sites with the highest density recorded at the Petrel Point control site attributed mostly to the higher density of larger individuals (>25 mm SL). In contrast, remaining sites had lower but similar densities except for the Barren site which recorded no individuals larger than 45 mm SL. Small abalone (<25 mm SL) abundances were generally consistent and not significantly different across all four sites. These results demonstrate that both recent and historical spawning events have contributed to maintaining some level of recruitment in these areas, however, suggests there may be some disparity in the survival of recruits between sites.
Final Report • 2019-10-01 • 2.59 MB
2017-049-DLD.pdf

Summary

A new system of Abalone recruitment modules (ARMs) have proven to be successful in collecting juvenile abalone in Tasmanian waters. This design was subsequently transferred to the Eastern Zone, Victoria, where IMAS staff and Eastern Zone Abalone Industry Association (EZIZA) members installed ARMs at four sites with contrasting abalone populations: 1) healthy abalone reef subject to commercial abalone fishing, 2) previously healthy abalone reef that no longer supports abalone populations as it has been denuded by urchins, 3) a site that has been subject to urchin culls to improve abalone habitat but has not had any abalone translocated from elsewhere, and 4) a site that has been subject to urchin culls to improve abalone habitat and has had abalone translocated from elsewhere. After a 6-month deployment the ARMs incurred no major damage and had attracted juvenile abalone across a broad size range (9-91 mm SL) at all four sites. Overall there was a significant difference in abalone density between sites with the highest density recorded at the Petrel Point control site attributed mostly to the higher density of larger individuals (>25 mm SL). In contrast, remaining sites had lower but similar densities except for the Barren site which recorded no individuals larger than 45 mm SL. Small abalone (<25 mm SL) abundances were generally consistent and not significantly different across all four sites. These results demonstrate that both recent and historical spawning events have contributed to maintaining some level of recruitment in these areas, however, suggests there may be some disparity in the survival of recruits between sites.
Final Report • 2019-10-01 • 2.59 MB
2017-049-DLD.pdf

Summary

A new system of Abalone recruitment modules (ARMs) have proven to be successful in collecting juvenile abalone in Tasmanian waters. This design was subsequently transferred to the Eastern Zone, Victoria, where IMAS staff and Eastern Zone Abalone Industry Association (EZIZA) members installed ARMs at four sites with contrasting abalone populations: 1) healthy abalone reef subject to commercial abalone fishing, 2) previously healthy abalone reef that no longer supports abalone populations as it has been denuded by urchins, 3) a site that has been subject to urchin culls to improve abalone habitat but has not had any abalone translocated from elsewhere, and 4) a site that has been subject to urchin culls to improve abalone habitat and has had abalone translocated from elsewhere. After a 6-month deployment the ARMs incurred no major damage and had attracted juvenile abalone across a broad size range (9-91 mm SL) at all four sites. Overall there was a significant difference in abalone density between sites with the highest density recorded at the Petrel Point control site attributed mostly to the higher density of larger individuals (>25 mm SL). In contrast, remaining sites had lower but similar densities except for the Barren site which recorded no individuals larger than 45 mm SL. Small abalone (<25 mm SL) abundances were generally consistent and not significantly different across all four sites. These results demonstrate that both recent and historical spawning events have contributed to maintaining some level of recruitment in these areas, however, suggests there may be some disparity in the survival of recruits between sites.

Fisheries biology of short-spined sea urchins (Heliocidaris erythrogramma) in Tasmania: supporting a profitable harvest and appropriate management

Project number: 2017-033
Project Status:
Current
Budget expenditure: $262,870.10
Principal Investigator: John P. Keane
Organisation: University of Tasmania (UTAS)
Project start/end date: 30 Jun 2017 - 30 Dec 2019
Contact:
FRDC
TAGS
Workforce
Sustainability
Stock Assessment
Stakeholder
Seaweed
SPECIES
Sea Urchins

Need

Urchins have been fished in Tasmania since the 1980s, yet no significant research since a basic morphological description of the reproductive cycle in the 1970s has been conducted to support fisheries management. Spatial and habitat variability in urchin growth rates, maximum sizes and size at maturity across key harvesting regions are unknown.

There is a need to understand the drivers of seasonal and spatial variability in roe quality to maximise returns of ‘A-grade’ roe in order to maximise industry probability. Variability in urchin roe coupled with competitive catch limits is leading to localised concentration in effort and subsequently catch caps being reached or areas being heavily exploited before roe has reached its highest quality or optimal recovery. This is decreasing product value and fishery profits.

The lack of information on the biology, population structure and roe characteristics of the urchin not only continues to hinder the value of the wild fishery in Tasmania but also the capacity to manage it.

There are regions where high concentrations of barren forming urchins are present and are not targeted by the wild fishery due to poor roe quality. Trials of Norwegian technologies to enhance roe quality of these urchins are being planned as a part of international trials. Gonad (roe) development and waste generation need be assessed in order to manage the developing industry, as well as to optimise feed-regimes ahead of moving to full commercialisation. Successful urchin farming will facilitate the expansion of the urchin industry, allow for diversification in the oyster industry given recent outbreaks of POMS and assist salmon growers move into IMTA practices.

There is strong support from managers and industry for the proposed research that will guide the future profitability of the fishery and inform its management. The TasRAC has identified this as a high priority project. DPIPWE is bound by the Living Marine Resources Management Act 1995 to ensure that fisheries are managed in a sustainable manner. However, the Department has had to adopted a precautionary approach in management due to the lack of scientific knowledge on the species.

Objectives

1. Assess Heliocidaris resource status and fisher perceptions on management and factors influencing roe quality
2. Assess regional and habitat variability in size at maturity and growth in Heliocidaris and the appropriateness of current size limits.
3. Determine biological and environmental drivers of roe quality.
4. Quantify roe enhancement and waste production of Heliocidaris fed on natural and formulated feeds
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Organisation