27 results
Environment

Northern pelagic fish stock research

Project number: 1983-049
Project Status:
Completed
Budget expenditure: $0.00
Principal Investigator: Shirley Jeffrey
Organisation: CSIRO Oceans and Atmosphere Cleveland
Project start/end date: 28 Dec 1984 - 31 Dec 1984
Contact:
FRDC

Objectives

1. Obtain biological data on population dynamics of pelagic resources of shark, mackerel and tuna in northern Aust waters
2. use data to more effectively manage Taiwanese fishery which is supported by these resources
3. examine potential for increased Aust participation

Final report

Author: Shirely Jeffrey
Final Report • 2017-09-29 • 14.92 MB
1983-049-DLD.pdf

Summary

In 1982, CSIRO applied to the Fishing Industry Research Trust Account for funding of a joint biological investigation of northern Australian pelagic fish stocks. At that time these stocks supported a Taiwanese surface gill-net fishery based on sharks, tunas and Spanish mackerel.

During the 1970's the total annual catch taken by the Taiwanese fishery from the area between northern Australia and Papua New Guinea averaged about 25,000 tonnes live weight. With declaration of the Australian Fishing Zone (AFZ) in 1979 the fishery came under Australian jurisdiction and management measures were introduced. Simple yield estimating procedures based on the commercial catch data were used to derive an annual quota of 7,000 tonnes processed weight (about 10,000 tonnes live weight). The quota was assumed to be set at a conservative level of the potential yield. However, the only information available on the stocks at this time was some limited data on species composition together with preliminary data on size and sex distributions and reproduction of some of the shark species obtained by sampling the commercial catch through the AFZ observer program. Little information was available from inshore waters not fished by the Taiwanese and nothing was known about stock structure or the population dynamics of the main species that would allow a more scientifically defensible position to be adopted on the existing exploitation rate.

This study was initiated because of mounting government concern over the lack of research into the fishery, and because of increasing interest by industry in Australian exploitation of the resource. The program was a joint undertaking between CSIRO, the Commonwealth Department of Primary Industry and the State Fisheries of Queensland, Western Australia and the Northern Territory. The program aimed to provide information on the stock structure, migration, age and growth, recruitment and mortality of the principal species, and to examine the yield potential of the stocks and the potential for increased Australian participation in the fishery. It was particularly important to know whether the target species comprised single stocks or a number of discrete stocks across northern Australia. This information has implications for management of the foreign and domestic fisheries.

Environment
PROJECT NUMBER • 1990-009
PROJECT STATUS:
COMPLETED

Development and use of the egg production method to assess the biomass of orange roughy off eastern Tas

Orange roughy is one of Australia's most valuable finfish However, its aggregating behaviour during spawning, slow growth, and longevity render it vulnerable to over-exploitation. Some stocks in New Zealand are at extremely low levels after only ten years of exploitation. Good management is vital...
ORGANISATION:
CSIRO Oceans and Atmosphere Cleveland
Environment
PROJECT NUMBER • 1986-087
PROJECT STATUS:
COMPLETED

Northern shark tagging study

In 1982, CSIRO applied to the Fishing Industry Research Trust Account for funding of a joint biological investigation of northern Australian pelagic fish stocks. At that time these stocks supported a Taiwanese surface gill-net fishery based on sharks, tunas and Spanish mackerel. During the 1970's...
ORGANISATION:
CSIRO Oceans and Atmosphere Cleveland
Environment
PROJECT NUMBER • 1991-032
PROJECT STATUS:
COMPLETED

A comparison of otolith microchemistry and genetic techniques for evaluation of stock structure of the jackass morwong Nemadactylus macropterus

Four different techniques for determining the stock structure of a marine fish species were compared, using as a subject the jackass morwong. The four techniques examined were allozyme analysis, mitochondrial DNA analysis and two techniques based on measuring the composition of otoliths ('ear...
ORGANISATION:
CSIRO Oceans and Atmosphere Cleveland
Environment
PROJECT NUMBER • 1989-013
PROJECT STATUS:
COMPLETED

Causes of decline in stocks of commercially important prawns in the Northern Prawn Fishery

The following report is a description of the two FIRTA projects (85/85 & 89/13) which examined recruitment processes in penaeids at Albatross Bay in the northeastern Gulf of Carpentaria over the years 1985 to 1992. The aim of the first of the two projects was to identify the main factors which...
ORGANISATION:
CSIRO Oceans and Atmosphere Cleveland
View Filter

Research

Organisation