10 results

Developing automated data cleansing and validation processes for fisheries catch and effort data

Project number: 2017-085
Project Status:
Current
Budget expenditure: $397,750.00
Principal Investigator: Karina C. Hall
Organisation: Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development (NSW)
Project start/end date: 21 Dec 2017 - 29 Jun 2020
:

Need

During a recent national Fisheries Statistics Working Group meeting, data managers from all Australian states highlighted and discussed the likely high prevalence of inaccurate or fraudulent data supplied by fishers and accrued through data-entry errors. Current data quality control measures in each jurisdiction are largely heterogeneous, undocumented and often rely on manual checks by clerks or analysts that are labour intensive and costly and not routinely executed. Because many of these checks occur during manual data entry of paper-based records, these are likely to become obsolete as reliance on electronic reporting increases, with data entered directly by fishers through online portals or mobile applications.

There is a need to develop automated data cleansing and diagnostic procedures that can be applied post-hoc or retrospectively to large fisheries databases to detect and flag errors and outliers and provide subsets of reliable catch and effort data for stock assessments and other analyses. This project will contribute towards addressing these issues, by developing automated processes to routinely assess newly entered fisheries catch and effort data for errors, retrospectively quantify error rates in existing data and assess their likely influence on the outputs of stock assessment analyses. The outcomes will help improve the quality and accuracy of catch and effort data used in routine stock assessments, and in turn lead to more sustainable management of wild capture fisheries resources.

Objectives

1. Review existing data quality control and cleansing processes applied to fisheries catch and effort databases in all state and commonwealth jurisdictions.
2. Develop a suite of generic algorithmic and statistical approaches to detect and flag different error types (e.g., anomalous, missing and outlying values) in fisheries catch and effort relational databases.
3. Trial the above approaches with several case-study fisheries datasets to assess the performance of different data cleansing approaches, quantify error rates and types and assess the sensitivity of catch and effort statistics to these errors and outliers.
4. On the basis of the above findings, recommend a standard national approach for data cleansing and validation of fisheries catch and effort data.
5. Customise and integrate the generic approaches into NSW fisheries database systems to implement automated data cleansing processes.
6. Extend the results of the project to fishers and industry representatives to encourage greater accuracy in fisheries catch and effort data reporting.
Environment
Environment
Environment
PROJECT NUMBER • 2019-103
PROJECT STATUS:
COMPLETED

Strategic Planning Workshop for Yellowtail Kingfish Stock Assessment in South-Eastern Australia

The project facilitated cross-jurisdictional and cross-sectoral discussions on aspects of the Eastern Australia biological stock of Yellowtail Kingfish. Several knowledge gaps relating to biological and life-history parameters, as well as reliable data on the recreational fishery across all...
ORGANISATION:
Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development (NSW)
Environment

Improving and promoting fish-trawl selectivity in the Commonwealth Trawl Sector (CTS) and Great Australian Bight Trawl Sector (GABTS) of the Southern and Eastern Scalefish and Shark Fishery (SESSF)

Project number: 2019-027
Project Status:
Completed
Budget expenditure: $776,141.00
Principal Investigator: Matt K. Broadhurst
Organisation: Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development (NSW)
Project start/end date: 29 Jul 2020 - 29 Sep 2024
:

Need

It is very clear that fishing-technology research to improve resource harvesting is a priority need for the future sustainability of fish trawling in Australia. The issue is quite poignant, considering that over the past 15 years, there has been a massive reduction in the total number of trawlers in Australia, and lower profits among remaining operators struggling to remain viable. Innovative modifications and refinements to existing systems that improve selectivity and reduce environmental impacts and costs are an urgent priority to ensure economic viability. Such developments are difficult to achieve by individual fishers without quality research, development and extension that is adequately resourced.

More specifically, there is a clear need to maintain progress towards developing innovative, high-priority technological modifications to fish trawls in the CTS and GABTS that mitigate sustainability issues while maintaining target catches at existing levels. Equally important, ratified designs then need to be tested across fleets to encourage adoption and refinement as a precursor to eventual legislation. Ultimately, satisfying these needs will contribute towards improving the social licence and economic return of trawl fisheries in the SESSF, while helping to ensure their ongoing sustainability and address what remains one of the most controversial issues facing bottom trawling.

Objectives

1. Review the available domestic and international literature and data, and consult with a project stakeholder committee (comprising representatives of the CTS, GABTS, NSW PFA and AFMA) to prioritise modifications to be formally assessed for their utility in minimising bycatch, while maintaining target catches among trawls used in the CTS and GABTS.
2. Based on the outcomes of 1 above, assess the utility of existing and new modifications to trawls for minimising bycatch, while maintaining target catches in the CTS and GABTS.
3. By providing strong economic incentives through improved efficiencies, and via applied extension activities, encourage the wide-scale voluntary adoption and ongoing exploration of appropriate best-practice technologies that cumulatively reduce bycatches, while maintaining target catches in the CTS and GABTS.

Final report

ISBN: 978-1-76058-820-5
Author: Matt K Broadhurst
Final Report • 2024-11-18 • 21.33 MB
2019-027-DLD.pdf

Summary

This project sought to produce the first-ever review of technical options for improving fish-trawl selectivity around the planet and then use this information to address a deficit in experimental work quantifying the utility of industry-developed and new selective-gear modifications in the Commonwealth Trawl Sector (CTS) and Great Australian Bight Trawl Sector (GABTS) of the Southern and Eastern Scalefish and Shark Fishery (SESSF). The work was completed during a four-year collaboration (from September 2020) between the New South Wales Department of Primary industries (NSW DPI), Fishwell Consulting, the Australian Fisheries Management Authority (AFMA), Commonwealth Scientific and Industry Research Organisation (CSIRO), South East Trawl Fishing Industry Association (SETFIA) and the Great Australian Bight Industry Association (GABIA). Ultimately, by highlighting regional industry efforts and identifying and validating the benefits of new options to reduce one of the most controversial issues facing bottom trawling, the project contributes towards improving the social licence and economic return of trawl fisheries in the SESSF, and supports ongoing Australian research into technological solutions to ensure fishery sustainability.
Environment
Environment
Environment
PROJECT NUMBER • 2019-016
PROJECT STATUS:
CURRENT

Estimating the biomass of fish stocks using novel and efficient genetic techniques

This project represents the first detailed study exploring the relationship between eDNA concentrations and the biomass and/or abundance of some economically and ecologically important (primarily freshwater) fish species in Australia. The work was conducted over four-and-a-half-years as part of a...
ORGANISATION:
Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development (NSW)
SPECIES
Environment
PROJECT NUMBER • 2019-021
PROJECT STATUS:
CURRENT

Integrating recreational fishing information into harvest strategies for multi-sector fisheries

This interim report provides an update on workshops with recreational fishers, scientists and managers to investigate recreational fishing objectives for three stocks of recreational importance in NSW – Mulloway, Yellowtail Kingfish, and Snapper. The study forms part of a broader research...
ORGANISATION:
Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development (NSW)
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