PROJECT NUMBER
•
2022-201
PROJECT STATUS:
COMPLETED
ORGANISATION:
South Australian Northern Zone Rock Lobster Fishermen's Association
252 results
Identifying population connectivity of shark bycatch species in NT waters
Project number:
2020-036
Project Status:
Completed
Budget expenditure:
$66,430.00
Principal Investigator:
Sam Banks
Organisation:
Charles Darwin University (CDU)
Project start/end date:
3 Dec 2020
-
9 Dec 2021
Contact:
FRDC
This project is needed for three main reasons:
1. It directly addresses a NT RAC priority in the 2019 call for funding applications relating to improving sustainable yield estimates to inform stock assessment programs for undefined target species and protected species in the Offshore Net and Line Fishery. The project will support sustainable fishing practices for important commercial fisheries in the NT and the development of new commercial opportunities within these fisheries: The impacts of fishery activities on these species, either through bycatch or targeted harvest, are difficult to assess in the absence of information on population connectivity and stock structure.
2. The project will develop capacity for fisheries research and monitoring in NT waters. Genetics methods are widely applied to fisheries research and monitoring and training of an early career fisheries scientist in the application and interpretation of genetic data will be a key outcome of this project.
3. The project will provide key information to support the transition of these species from bycatch to a harvested byproduct species, including an evaluation of leading-edge genetic techniques in fisheries assessment and monitoring.
1. To develop population connectivity model for Whitecheek and Milk Shark
2. To develop capacity for research and monitoring of shark species within the Northern Territory
3. To evaluate the utility of genetic techniques in fisheries monitoring
Final report
ISBN:
978-1-922684-78-3 (Print), 978-1-922684-79-0 (Web)
Authors:
Sam Banks
Amy Kirke
Fernanda Alves
Grant Johnson and David Crook
Final Report
•
2024-10-01
•
1.08 MB
2020-036-DLD.pdf
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 coatesi]), which are caught as bycatch from commercial fisheries in the NT.
The aim of this study was to gain information on the genetic stock structure to inform the future management of these two species in the NT. This project was conducted in parallel with a PhD project investigating the biology and ecology of both species for applications to fisheries management. There is motivation by the NT Government to develop these two shark species into a commercial product. This project used genetic analysis to understand the patterns of connectivity of populations of these two shark species in NT waters and adjacent regions, including northern Western Australia and Papua New Guinea.
These two shark species that are captured as bycatch in the NT Demersal Fishery have the potential to be developed into a byproduct to add value to that fishery. A sustainable commercial harvest of these two species could greatly reduce the waste from fisheries, where they are currently abundant and caught in relatively large numbers. We address current knowledge gaps in biological information about populations of R. acutus and C. coatesi to inform the potential development of a byproduct fishery for these two species in the NT.
Genetic data from R. acutus and C. coatesi strongly suggest that each species exists as a single, highly connected population in the NT. Genetic differentiation among the sampling locations for each species was low, and genetic clustering analyses provided strong support for a single population of each species in the region. Sharks of both species captured within a single location (within 50 km of one another) were more genetically related than those further apart; however, this does not constitute evidence for multiple, spatially discrete populations of either species in NT waters. Preliminary applications of effective population size estimators were used, but further work is needed to determine if these can be used to indicate trends in abundance.
The immediate implications of our research are for fisheries scientists and managers. Our results indicate that these two shark species can be monitored and managed in the NT under the assumption that each species occurs as a single population in this region. Parasite and vertebral chemistry data collected as part of a PhD project conducted in parallel with this project suggest that, for C. coatesi, individuals may be resident within certain regions (eastern versus western NT waters) but the genetic data collected here suggest that, on a generational timescale, both species occur as highly-connected populations across in the NT region.
Our research has potential implications for commercial fishers, particularly from the NT Demersal Fishery. The information from our research will flow through to the industry by contributing to the information required to develop a byproduct fishery for the two species, by utilising bycatch and increasing economic return.
PROJECT NUMBER
•
2019-036
PROJECT STATUS:
COMPLETED
Implementation of dynamic reference points and harvest strategies to account for environmentally-driven changes in productivity in Australian fisheries
The need to adapt stock assessment methods and harvest strategies to explicitly and justifiably account for shifts in productivity has been recognised by the AFMA Resource Assessment Group for the Southern and Eastern Scalefish and Shark Fishery (SESSF), not least as a result of clearly evident...
ORGANISATION:
Pisces Australis Pty Ltd
PROJECT NUMBER
•
2020-004
PROJECT STATUS:
CURRENT
ORGANISATION:
University of Adelaide
PROJECT NUMBER
•
2017-231
PROJECT STATUS:
CURRENT
ORGANISATION:
Taylored Health and Safety Pty Ltd
PROJECT NUMBER
•
2017-082
PROJECT STATUS:
COMPLETED
Ensuring monitoring and management of bycatch in Southern Rock Lobster fisheries is best practice
Bycatch is an important issue in fisheries worldwide, with the impacts of fishing activities on non-targeted species and the wider marine environment receiving increasing public attention. Issues such as the potential wastage of resources through discarding of unwanted catch, ecological impacts on...
ORGANISATION:
University of Tasmania (UTAS)
SPECIES
PROJECT NUMBER
•
2023-039
PROJECT STATUS:
CURRENT
ORGANISATION:
Flinders University
SPECIES
PROJECT NUMBER
•
2018-168
PROJECT STATUS:
COMPLETED
Custom training and technical support for the fishery stock assessment software ‘stock synthesis’
This is a report on ‘stock synthesis’ software training by CSIRO. Noted are training outputs and learnings, together with an assessment of what role stock synthesis (SS) may play in Department of Agriculture and
Fisheries (DAF) fish stock assessments. Findings suggest SS could...
ORGANISATION:
Department of Primary Industries (QLD)
PROJECT NUMBER
•
2013-022
PROJECT STATUS:
CURRENT
ORGANISATION:
Greenfish Consulting Pty Ltd
SPECIES
PROJECT NUMBER
•
2016-254
PROJECT STATUS:
COMPLETED
ORGANISATION:
Mezo Research Sydney
View Filter
