120 results

Capability and Capacity: International Artificial Reef Study Tour

Project number: 2024-051
Project Status:
Current
Budget expenditure: $30,000.00
Principal Investigator: James Florisson
Organisation: Recfishwest
Project start/end date: 21 Feb 2025 - 29 Apr 2025
Contact:
FRDC
TAGS
Capacity Building

Need

Study tour participants will travel to various locations around the Gulf of Mexico to meet with Petroleum Industry members, as well as regulators. The purpose is to gain an understanding of the decommissioning landscape and regulatory environment around the Rigs-to-Reefs program, including any new policy developments. Amongst this, personnel will visit some of the offshore infrastructure in the Gulf of Mexico (GoM).

There will also be an opportunity to meet with local stakeholders, other regulators and the local seafood industry to understand their views on the Rigs-to-Reefs program and the impact on their fishing experiences. As a community organisation and regulator, this would be very insightful and provide immense value to Recfishwest and DPIRD respectively. In addition, it will have national application to the seafood industry and assist fisheries in becoming a major stakeholder in the $50B emerging Australian decommissioning industry.

Following the study tour, Recfishwest and DPIRD personnel will attend the 12th International Conference on Artificial Reefs and Related Aquatic Habitats (CARAH) in Santa Marta, Colombia. This international conference focuses on the study, development, and management of artificial reefs and aquatic habitats. These collectives typically bring together researchers, practitioners, and policymakers from around the world to share knowledge, present research findings, and discuss best practices.

These conferences aim to enhance collaboration, and attendees usually include marine biologists, ecologists, oceanographers, and representatives from non-government organisations and government agencies.

There is a great opportunity at CARAH for Recfishwest personnel to present on the outcomes of FRDC Project 2021-055 and extend upon FRDC Project 2014-005 by sharing Recfishwest’s own experiences in the artificial reef space. Sharing artificial reef knowledge from Australia will help to foster good working relationships at the international level and may contribute towards shared goals of sustainable fisheries management.

Objectives of the project include:
1. Gather knowledge and experiences of projects, assets and Rigs to Reefs policy and research outcomes in the Gulf of Mexico.
2. Meet with United States regulators to learn about the management of offshore oil and gas operations and alternative decommissioning. Identify risks to Government and marine environment from leaving decommissioned infrastructure in situ and potential mitigation measures.
3. Meet with stakeholders and end-users to get a local view on decommissioning.
4. Gather knowledge on international policy, legislative frameworks, research and management with regards to artificial reefs and aquatic habitats.
5. Share knowledge and experience from an Australian context.
6. Create a network of international artificial reef experts, including the establishment of an international artificial reef committee.
7. Bring this knowledge and these connections back to Australia to grow community and regulator capacity around artificial reefs and assist with alternative decommissioning opportunities and policy development.

Energy use and carbon emissions assessments in the Australian fishing and aquaculture sectors: Audit, self-assessment and guidance tools for footprint reduction

Project number: 2020-089
Project Status:
Completed
Budget expenditure: $98,500.00
Principal Investigator: Robert A. Bell
Organisation: Blueshift Consulting
Project start/end date: 21 Feb 2021 - 23 Jul 2021
Contact:
FRDC
TAGS
Efficiency
Climate Change

Need

As identified in the EOI scope and from previous FRDC and other research, there are multiple needs for further information on energy use and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the Australian fisheries and aquaculture sectors (F&A).
Firstly, at the top-level, a national account of these sector’s performance is necessary to provide a clear determination of the overall F&A contribution within the Agriculture, Forestry & Fishing Industry classification (AFF Industry) classification within National Inventory Data. The AFF Industry is second largest emissions sector and there is a need to disaggregate the F&A sector from the broader agricultural data, and to also develop industry baselines against which further performance can be measured (and potentially benchmarked against other sectors).
Second, there is a need for sub-sectors (specific managed fisheries or industry groups) as well as individual companies to be able measure, assess and then potentially manage their own energy use and emissions.
Finally, once companies, subsectors and the F&A sectors have data, there is a need for education and tools to assist them to improve energy efficiency and profitability, lower emissions and related risks but also importantly how to create positive engagement with stakeholders, particularly customers becoming more discerning in product selection based on carbon footprint, to maintain competitiveness in consumer protein selection decision-making.

Objectives

1. Program 1: Establish energy use and GHG profile of Australian F&A sectors
2. Program 2: Develop and self-assessment tool for Australian F&A sectors energy efficiency and GHG
3. Program 3: Develop a toolbox and examples for emissions reduction opportunities in the fisheries & aquaculture sectors

Final report

ISBN: 978-0-646-86114-2
Author: Robert A. Bell
Final Report • 2022-05-31 • 2.58 MB
2020-089_DLD.pdf

Summary

This project is the first examination of the total carbon emissions of the Australian fishing and aquaculture (F&A) sectors and component seafood production industries. To date, some work had been done on energy consumption and efficiency improvements, but the carbon emissions of the Australian F&A sectors had never been calculated.
 
In Australia’s National Greenhouse Accounts, emissions from the F&A sectors are currently included within the aggregated ‘agriculture, forestry and fishing’ segment. This segment is the third largest in Australia’s inventory, and the ‘fishing industry’ data is overwhelmed within the large, aggregated datasets of these combined sectors and therefore often unintentionally overlooked.
 
However, measuring the carbon footprint of the F&A sectors was a complicated task that required an account of all the emissions generated directly and indirectly by the sectors. This included fuel burnt directly to power fishing vessels, to purchased electricity, refrigeration emissions and the emissions from services and products bought from external suppliers such as bait and aquaculture feed. The study measured the carbon emissions and energy use of Australia’s largest F&A producer industries, which together constitute about 82% of Australia’s domestic seafood production by gross value of production (GVP). While some of the other industries that make supply chain inputs to the F&A sectors are discussed (such as aquaculture feeds and fishing bait), the project focus is on the Australian seafood primary producers.
 
The information is a vital step in providing a competitive advantage for seafood as a low- emissions protein. Seafood consumers are increasingly wanting to know the stories behind the products they’re buying, including efforts by fishers and farmers to reduce their carbon footprint. It also highlights how seafood production may need to adapt in the future. 
 
As part of the project work, three GHG emissions calculator tools were developed to help fishers and farmers better understand what drives their GHG emissions and how to measure them. And once they have been measured, what can be done to better manage emissions, and utilise the information in their operations and customer discussions.
 
The project has identified five recommendations and opportunities for government departments and agencies to update and improve their GHG emissions reporting methodologies for the fishing and aquaculture sectors.

Project products

Technology • 2022-05-31 • 1.81 MB
2020-089_Greenhouse Gases Emissions Calculator Tool_Aquaculture_Offshore_Tool_v1.0.xlsx
Technology • 2022-05-31 • 1.80 MB
2020-089_Greenhouse Gases Emissions Calculator Tool_Aquaculture_Onshore_Tool_v1.0.xlsx
Technology • 2022-05-31 • 1.88 MB
2020-089_Greenhouse Gases Emissions Calculator Tool_Fisheries_Tool_v1.0.xlsx
Environment
Industry
People

Whale entanglement mitigation program – understanding whale population dynamics, entanglement dynamics and gear modifications to reduce entanglements in WRL gear

Project number: 2021-091
Project Status:
Current
Budget expenditure: $750,000.00
Principal Investigator: Jason How
Organisation: Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development (DPIRD) Hillarys
Project start/end date: 31 Mar 2022 - 31 Mar 2025
Contact:
FRDC
SPECIES
Western Rock Lobster

Need

Whale entanglement in fishing gear has posed a major threat to the Western Rock Lobster (WRL) industry over the last decade. Adverse media attention has to date been avoided, but 2020 saw the first entangled whale appear dead on a WA beach entangled with gear from the state's fisheries. Similarly, several "public" rescues were undertaken of entangled whales which is extremely dangerous. Attempts to disentangle whales has led to the death of responders previously in both Canada and New Zealand. Such events have the capacity to provide a significant threat to the activities of the WRL industry through erosion of their social license.
A program to direct entanglement mitigation research over the next four years will increase the strategic focus of research and increase the efficiency of the application and granting process, thus leading to a more rapid implementation of outcomes into the management of the fishery. Critically, broad dissemination of the outcomes of these project will assist in creating a more resilient social license. This will be important when adverse media attention is focused on the industry as the result of either the death of a whale or responder attempting to disentangle the whale.

Objectives

1. Understand the inter-annual shifts in the humpback whale migration along the WA coast
2. Determine the dynamics and WRL gear involved in humpback whale entanglements
3. Determine the population size of the Western Australian (Stock D) humpback whale population.
4. Investigate novel mitigation measures to minimise entanglements in WRL gear.
5. Support WRL gear disentanglement operators through provision of equipment and new technologies.
Environment
PROJECT NUMBER • 2018-131
PROJECT STATUS:
CURRENT

Storm Bay Observing System: Assessing the Performance of Aquaculture Development

In Tasmania, farming of Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar L) has developed rapidly since the first trials in 1985 and has grown progressively to the current 60,000 tonnes produced in 2020.. Salmon farming in open sea cages produces organic and inorganic wastes which have the potential to impact the...
ORGANISATION:
University of Tasmania
TAGS
Sustainability
Storm Bay
Modelling
Habitat
Fisheries Management
SPECIES
Atlantic Salmon
Industry
PROJECT NUMBER • 2019-106
PROJECT STATUS:
COMPLETED

Minor use permit for oxytetracycline in non-salmonid finfish

There are no registered or permitted antimicrobial products approved by the Australian Pesticide and Veterinary Medicine Authority (APVMA) for treatment of bacterial infections in finfish. This project developed an application for a minor-use permit (MUP) for the use of oxytetracycline (OTC) to...
ORGANISATION:
University of Adelaide
TAGS
Vaccine
Trade
Toxin
Resource Access And Allocation
Health And Safety
SPECIES
Mulloway
Snapper
Yellowtail Kingfish
Cobia
Silver Perch
Industry
Environment
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