19 results
Environment
PROJECT NUMBER • 2016-023
PROJECT STATUS:
COMPLETED

Sentinel sensors: revolutionising our understanding and management of the estuarine environment

This study, undertaken by CSIRO Oceans and Atmosphere, examines the usefulness of mussels as sentinels for environmental change using a novel biosensor. This project measured the vital signs of heart rate and behaviour in sentinel animals, as they respond to multiple and interacting changes in the...
ORGANISATION:
CSIRO Oceans and Atmosphere Hobart
Environment
PROJECT NUMBER • 2003-002
PROJECT STATUS:
COMPLETED

Spatial interactions among juvenile southern bluefin tuna at the global scale: a large scale archival tag experiment

Results have increased our confidence in the recruitment index based on the aerial survey in the Great Australian Bight (GAB) by confirming that the timing and duration are ideal, that the majority of juvenile SBT are likely to return to the GAB each summer, and that based on current evidence it is...
ORGANISATION:
CSIRO Oceans and Atmosphere Hobart
Industry

Developing techniques for enhancing prawn fisheries, with a focus on brown tiger prawns (Penaeus esculentus) in Exmouth Gulf

Project number: 1999-222
Project Status:
Completed
Budget expenditure: $612,622.32
Principal Investigator: Neil Loneragan
Organisation: CSIRO Oceans and Atmosphere Hobart
Project start/end date: 26 Jun 2000 - 1 Feb 2006
Contact:
FRDC

Need

Prawn fisheries throughout Australia are intensively fished and some have shown signs of overfishing. In some cases, the current stocks of prawns are now lower than those which would produce maximum yields. The enhancement of Australian penaeid prawn fisheries has the potential to be a useful management tool to increase fishery yields, rebuild over-exploited stocks, and reduce fluctuations in catch due to variable recruitment. Stock enhancement also has the ability to improve the management of fisheries by collecting more precise information about the biological characteristics of the stock (e.g. survival and growth, production in nursery grounds, migration pathways and factors affecting fluctuation in populations).

Prawn stocks can vary greatly from year to year because of environmental fluctuations and this leads to highly variable catches. Fishery managers must therefore adopt conservative harvest strategies to prevent fishers from reducing stocks to dangerous levels in years when recruitment is low. However, the harvesting and processing sector tend to be on average, over-capitalised, in order to cope with years of high recruitment. Enhancement of prawn stocks through releasing juvenile prawns has the potential to reduce fluctuations in stocks. It provides a possible way of adjusting the catching and processing capacity to more stable levels of prawn stocks, which would reduce the need for over-capitalisation.

For stock enhancement to be successful, the biology and ecology of the target animal must be thoroughly understood (including the production of the postlarvae/juveniles, environmental requirements, carrying capacity, and all factors that contribute to mortality), and methods must be available to monitor and assess the success of the releases. Much ecological information for stock enhancement is now available for many commercially important species of penaeid prawn in Australia, and novel approaches to tagging prawns (e.g. stable isotopes, rare alleles and reporter genes), release strategies, and assessment of carrying capacity are being developed. However, the utility of stock enhancement as a management tool for Australian fisheries, particularly prawns, has not been assessed.

The feasibility study of Exmouth Gulf has shown that it is an ideal fishery in which to evaluate the effectiveness of stock enhancement for Australian prawn fisheries. It also found that the enhancement of tiger prawns in Exmouth Gulf is potentially viable and that the risks of introducing disease and affecting the genetic composition of the wild population are likely to be low and manageable. Before proceeding to commercial scale releases, it is important to establish techniques for such releases on a smaller scale. Prawn fisheries throughout Australia are intensively fished and some have shown signs of overfishing. In some cases, the current stocks of prawns are now lower than those which would produce maximum yields. The enhancement of Australian penaeid prawn fisheries has the potential to be a useful management tool to increase fishery yields, rebuild over-exploited stocks, and reduce fluctuations in catch due to variable recruitment. Stock enhancement also has the ability to improve the management of fisheries by collecting more precise information about the biological characteristics of the stock (e.g. survival and growth, production in nursery grounds, migration pathways and factors affecting fluctuation in populations).

The farm production of prawns in arid environments, where evapouration rates are high and freshwater is scarce, has not been attempted in Australia. However, there are proposals for this to take place in the Exmouth Gulf region (Cape Sea Farm). The results from our proposed research in Exmouth Gulf will provide new information on the production of juvenile prawns at much higher densities than previously attempted in Australia. We anticipate the development of successful techniques that would be suitable for a broad range of environments, apart from the arid conditions at Exmouth Gulf.

The M.G. Kailis Group of companies has demonstrated it’s commitment to this project by advancing funds ($23, 000) to commence work on the project before July 1999. The beneficiaries of stock enhancement would be expected to contribute to the costs of research and monitoring, and ultimately pay for the enhancement at commercial scales. Therefore, stock enhancement must be cost-effective and a cost-benefit analysis using a bioeconomic model, is an essential part of any enhancement project. The bioeconomic model developed during the feasibility study (FRDC 98/222) will be revised as the results of the current proposal become available. It will then be used to assess the commercial viability of large scale enhancement and optimise the design of the experimental enhancement (Stage 3). The results of the feasibility study suggest that it would be possible to enhance the tiger prawn fishery in Exmouth Gulf by about 100 t with releases of about 7 to 10 million juveniles.

Objectives

1. Minimise the costs of producing large numbers of juvenile prawns through research on techniques to intensively grow larvae to juvenile prawns (1 g), and developing methods of harvest, transport and release
2. Maximise the possibility of the success of releasing juvenile prawns in the environment by surveying the critical nursery habitats of brown tiger prawns in Exmouth Gulf (including the juvenile prawns and their predators)
3. Ensure that the cost and success of prawn enhancement can be rigorously evaluated by developing release protocols and monitoring strategies, and by refining the bioeconomic model developed in Stage 1
4. Minimise the risks of large changes in the genetic composition of the tiger prawn stocks and introducing disease to the wild population
Environment
PROJECT NUMBER • 2010-741
PROJECT STATUS:
COMPLETED

Seafood CRC: synopsis of Amoebic Gill Disease (AGD) research to date and review/recommendation of future AGD related R&D directions including the development of a vaccine for AGD

The major outcome of this project was the development of a 2011 R&D strategy by the TSGA. This included a list of R&D priorities for 2011, including AGD related research, and a specific list of areas of interest for 2011. Subsequent to this the TSGA received 7 project proposals pertaining to...
ORGANISATION:
CSIRO Oceans and Atmosphere Hobart
Environment
PROJECT NUMBER • 2016-039
PROJECT STATUS:
COMPLETED

Putting potential environmental risk of Australia's trawl fisheries in landscape perspective: exposure of seabed assemblages to trawling, and inclusion in closures and reserves

This project implemented the first national spatial approach to quantifying the exposure of mapped seabed assemblages to the footprints of all demersal trawl fisheries that operate on the mainland continental shelf and slope of Australia, as well as their spatial protection in areas permanently...
ORGANISATION:
CSIRO Oceans and Atmosphere Hobart
Environment
PROJECT NUMBER • 2003-075
PROJECT STATUS:
COMPLETED

Designing, implementing and assessing an integrated monitoring program for the NPF: developing an application to stock assessment

For more than a decade the Northern Prawn Fishery assessments have indicated that the tiger prawn resource is overexploited. Deriso’s1 (2001) review of the tiger prawn assessment supported this conclusion and also drew attention to the high level of uncertainty in the assessment. Deriso...
ORGANISATION:
CSIRO Oceans and Atmosphere Hobart
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