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Tropical fish traps – addressing ghost fishing impacts and refinements to catch reporting/sampling

Project number: 2022-164
Project Status:
Current
Budget expenditure: $150,000.00
Principal Investigator: John Wakeford
Organisation: Austral Fisheries Pty Ltd
Project start/end date: 31 May 2023 - 31 May 2025
Contact:
FRDC

Need

The negative impacts of lost fish traps ghost fishing are well documented and of concern to all parties involved with the sustainable harvest of seafood from the aquatic environment (Macfadyen et al 2009; Newman et al 2011; Vadziutsina & Rodrigo 2020). Essentially, lost fishing gears that continue to kill/harm fish represent an inefficiency in the fish production process, and in essence are a form of waste associated with the harvesting process, that ultimately reduces the yield and casts a bad light on the fishery itself. This project does not meet any specific FRDC priority in the current round, hence the lodgment under (Other), although because of what it attempts to address and minimise, it is likely to gain strong support from those concerned with appropriate management of fisheries i.e., minimising the wasteful use of renewable food resources at a time when there is a food crisis in the world, with parties including the FRDC, AFMA, ENGO's and the fishing industry.

Objectives

1. Quantification of fish trap (various designs) loss rates, both in the distant past and more recently, together with the main factors influencing the loss rate.
2. Quantification of how well “dumped” or unattended traps catch fish, together with the main factors affecting the performance (including the presence of trap disabling mechanisms).
3. Apply refinements* to fishing practices/gear to address loss rates and ghost fishing and assess performance (*utilising observations made in the first year of project).
4. Apply refinements to fishing activity reporting to assist with the management of effort creep, trap loss, and ascertaining appropriate harvest levels for the target species.
Industry
PROJECT NUMBER • 2021-083
PROJECT STATUS:
CURRENT

Developing the tools and articulating the value proposition for genomic selection in Pacific Oyster selective breeding

To understand the opportunities and value in carbon neutral certification for the Australian oyster industry, FRDC and Oysters Australia commissioned NineSquared Pty Ltd to outline the current policy climate, pathways to certification and knowledge gaps limiting opportunity...
ORGANISATION:
Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies (IMAS) Hobart
Industry
PROJECT NUMBER • 2017-018
PROJECT STATUS:
COMPLETED

Improving survival and quality of crabs and lobsters in transportation from first point of sale to market.

Eastern rock lobsters, spanner crabs and mud crabs command a high price when supplied to the market as live product. Being aquatic animals, the demands to retain maximum quality and liveliness through the supply chain are challenging. Once taken from water, these crustaceans are subject to...
ORGANISATION:
Department of Primary Industries (QLD)
Blank
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)
Environment
PROJECT NUMBER • 2020-036
PROJECT STATUS:
COMPLETED

Identifying population connectivity of shark bycatch species in NT waters

Charles Darwin University and the Northern Territory (NT) Department of Industry, Tourism and Trade (DITT) Fisheries Division used genetic data to investigate the population structure of two small tropical shark species (Milk Shark [Rhizoprionodon acutus] and Australian Blackspot Shark [Carcharhinus...
ORGANISATION:
Charles Darwin University (CDU)
Environment
PROJECT NUMBER • 2017-109
PROJECT STATUS:
COMPLETED

Development of Fish Health Indicators for the Gladstone Harbour Report Card

As the link between land and sea environments, estuaries are complex ecosystems vulnerable to human impacts, which directly and indirectly affect plants and animals, including fish. Fish are key biological indicators of environmental contamination, as they are water breathers, common in aquatic...
ORGANISATION:
CQUniversity (CQU) Gladstone