4
results
 array:3 [
  0 => "+"
  1 => "+"
  2 => "/project-search"
]
People
 array:3 [
  0 => "4225"
  1 => "5009+5416+5412+5411+5410+5125"
  2 => "/project-search"
]
Blank

Determination of the impacts of direct harvest of coral species in northern Australia

Project number: 2019-070
Project Status:
Current
Budget expenditure: $360,000.00
Principal Investigator: Michael Usher
Organisation: Department of Industry Tourism and Trade
Project start/end date: 31 May 2020 - 20 Aug 2023
Contact:
FRDC
TAGS
Rac Nt
Harvest Strategy
Biology
Aquarium

Need

Australia’s aquarium fisheries are high value (GVP >$20 million), small scale fisheries that rely on exporting CITES listed corals for profitability and viability. The Australian government requires fisheries collecting and exporting these species to demonstrate that their harvest is sustainable under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC Act) in order to meet Australia's obligations under CITES.
In the absence of empirical evidence, precautionary harvest limits are set on all coral species, and monitored and reported by NT Fisheries to the Commonwealth Department of Environment and Energy (DoEE), to fulfil EPBC requirements. Increased global demand for valuable coral species presents an opportunity for licenced fishers to develop new and existing international markets. However, in order to increase harvest limits, evidence is required to reinforce that the harvest and subsequent export will not have a detrimental effect on the population status of the species (CITES non-detriment finding). Any supporting non-detriment finding must be corroborated with new empirical evidence on the impacts of harvesting corals.
The FRDC project ‘Establishing baselines and assessing vulnerability of commercially harvested corals across northern Australia’ (FRDC 2014-029) (currently underway) attempts to address some of these issues including taxonomy, abundance and distribution of key coral species but fails to address the long-standing concern of the impacts of coral harvesting. Understanding and quantifying the impacts of harvesting coral has the potential for providing the greatest benefit to industry. The specific need is to investigate the extent of recovery (or not) of key species of Scleractinian (hard) corals harvested at the level of individual colonies over an appropriate temporal scale.
Members of the A12 Aquarium display fishery are supportive of this project and will be actively involved in assisting with data collection. This project directly addresses the NT Research Advisory Committee priority ‘Impact of harvesting key species of Scleractinian (hard) corals in the Northern Territory’.

Objectives

1. Establish a monitoring program involving commercial fishers to determine the impacts of harvest on key coral species.
2. Improve the accuracy of coral species identification through the development of an NT identification guide.
3. Assess reproductive modes, and establish rates of recruitment for commercially important Northern Territory corals.

Where should I farm my oysters? Does natural Cadmium distribution restrict oyster farm site selection in the Northern Territory?

Project number: 2018-005
Project Status:
Current
Budget expenditure: $123,272.00
Principal Investigator: Matthew Osborne
Organisation: Department of Industry Tourism and Trade
Project start/end date: 10 Feb 2019 - 29 Sep 2022
Contact:
FRDC
TAGS
Rac Nt
Quality
Indigenous
Husbandry
Food Safety
SPECIES
Oysters

Need

RD&E that addresses critical hurdles to Aboriginal capacity and enterprise development (e.g. quality assurance strategies) have been identified as priority areas of the NT RAC and the Indigenous Reference Group (IRG). NT Fisheries has been conducting research to support Aboriginal aspirations to establish tropical oyster farms in the Northern Territory (NT).

Heavy metals have been a longstanding concern as an impediment to the development of a tropical oyster industry. Cadmium (Cd) bioaccumulates in the tissue of oysters, and unlike E. coli or toxic algae, has a long depuration period. As a result Cd levels are a major determining factor on the saleability of farmed tropical oysters. McConchie, D.M & Lawrance, L.M (1991) and FRDC Project 2012-223 identified high Cd concentrations, which varied considerably across locations and water depth, in blacklip oysters (Saccostrea echinata) at location in Shark Bay, WA and South Goulburn Island, NT respectively. Following these projects naturally occurring heavy metals have been a presumed barrier to the establishment of an oyster industry in the NT, due predominantly to the exceedance of Cd trigger levels in the Food Standards Australia and New Zealand (FSANZ).

However, recent testing on market sized oysters farmed on long line trials at Pirlangimpi on Tiwi Islands have not shown high heavy metal concentrations and complied with the FSANZ. This suggests that Cd exceedance may not be an issue in all locations. We propose a multi-location survey of blacklip oyster (Saccostrea echinata) heavy metal concentrations across the NT to identify the best locations for commercialisation of this emerging aquaculture species. With the aim of identifying locations, like Pirlangimpi, that could produce oysters that comply with the Food Standards Australia and New Zealand (FSANZ). The results are needed to inform the development of a NT tropical oyster industry and the establishment of a NT shellfish quality assurance program.

Objectives

1. Map the distribution and concentration of Cadmium in wild blacklip oysters across the Northern Territory.
2. Aboriginal communities better understand the role of shellfish quality assurance programs and the implications of Cadmium on oyster farming.
3. Risks associated with Cadmium are better understood and inform the development of a NT Shellfish Quality Assurance Program.
4. Knowledge is shared and retained through Aboriginal participation in the research project.
View Filter

Research

Category

Product Type

Species

Organisation