42 results
Environment

Tactical Research Fund: Incorporation of predictive models of banana prawn catch for MEY-based harvest strategy development for the Northern Prawn Fishery

Project number: 2011-239
Project Status:
Completed
Budget expenditure: $58,000.00
Principal Investigator: Rik C. Buckworth
Organisation: CSIRO Oceans and Atmosphere Hobart
Project start/end date: 13 May 2012 - 29 Nov 2012
Contact:
FRDC

Need

Under Commonwealth harvest policy, fisheries are to be managed to maximise economic performance. Most Commonwealth fisheries have/ are developing harvest strategies based on an MEY target and TAC controls. Following Ministerial Direction, the NPF is to adopt an ITQ management system from mid-2012. This transition requires: 1.reliable methods for predicting the total sustainable, available catch; and, 2, understanding of the economics of the fishery, providing for setting total allowable catches (TACs) that maximise value rather than catch. This project addresses these components. Unlike the NPF tiger prawn fishery, the fishery for common banana prawns (CBP), in which annual catches vary dramatically, has not been amenable to assessment and predictive modelling, as recruitment varies markedly with environmental conditions.

Fishermen have known for many years that banana prawns catches depend upon rainfall. Considerable research has explored the ecology behind this e.g. relationships between rainfall and catches of CBP, (Vance et al. 1985), emigration of CBP from estuaries as salinity decreases (Staples 1980, Staples and Vance 1986, Vance et al. 1998), temperature and wind (Vance et al. (2003)) and the effect of fishing effort (Venables and Poloczanska 2006). Venables et al. (2011) explored the feasibility of predicting the fishery-wide potential annual catch for CBP. In a manner suitable for TAC-development, it uses information available before the fishery begins each year. The second component follows the successful incorporation of economic objectives into the harvest strategy for tiger and endeavour prawns (Dichmont et al. 2008) and would redress the lack of suitable techniques for TAC-setting for CBP, as noted in FRDC 2007-018 (Dichmont et al. 2010). The process is relatively simplified in this case, as there is no large interdependence in the fishery and economic modelling entailed.

Objectives

1. Investigate the use of robust statistical methods to stabilise and improve the performance of the catch prediction model of Venables et al. (2011) against historical catches
2. Calculate estimates of uncertainty for the catch prediction model
3. Investigate retrospective and prospective analyses, examining how the predictive models would have performed in recent years, including 2012.
4. Investigate refinements to the spatial scale and other structural aspects of the model
5. Develop economic indicators of dependence between catch and price, and price elasticity for banana prawns
6. Develop an MEY analysis for the common banana prawn fishery
Environment
PROJECT NUMBER • 2014-204
PROJECT STATUS:
COMPLETED

Implications of current spatial management measures on AFMA ERAs for habitats

In this project, CSIRO researchers implemented the first Australia-wide spatial approach to quantifying the exposure of mapped seabed assemblages to the footprints of Commonwealth demersal trawl fisheries, as well as their spatial protection in areas closed to trawling. These outputs are assisting...
ORGANISATION:
CSIRO Oceans and Atmosphere Hobart
Environment
PROJECT NUMBER • 2009-024
PROJECT STATUS:
COMPLETED

Mapping the distribution and movement of gulper sharks, and developing a non-extractive monitoring technique, to mitigate the risk to the species within a multi-sector fishery region off southern and eastern Australia

This two year project provided the science to support the development of a management strategy for three gulper sharks species (genus Centrophorus) being assessed for threatened species listing. Their listing represented one of the most urgent environmental challenges to the South East Scalefish and...
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

Tactical research fund: Industry based size-monitoring and data collection program for albacore tuna in the ETBF

Project number: 2008-075
Project Status:
Completed
Budget expenditure: $39,009.00
Principal Investigator: Jessica H. Farley
Organisation: CSIRO Oceans and Atmosphere Hobart
Project start/end date: 30 Nov 2008 - 29 Jun 2009
Contact:
FRDC

Need

Dramatic increases in the catch of albacore occurred in the ETBF in 2006 as several domestic longliners switched from targeting broadbill swordfish to albacore tuna landing the catch in Mooloolaba. These high catches were maintained in 2007, and given that localised depletion of albacore has been observed in several Pacific island nations, it raised concerns about the long-term sustainability of the fishery and highlighted the pressing need to implement a Harvest Strategy. Industry have stated that albacore is now an important component of the economic viability of the fleet.

To determine target reference levels for albacore consistent with the Commonwealth Harvest Strategy Policy, data are required on the size composition of the catch, size/age-at-maturity, growth rates, fecundity and mortality (Campbell et al., 2007). A feasibility study (AFMA 2006-826) specifically identified “the need to revise the size monitoring protocols for albacore, and potentially other target species, to ensure that this important input data stream for the ETBF harvest strategy is providing a consistent and unbiased sample of the size structure of the commercial catch over time”. In addition, the study identified the need to collect substantially more biological samples and undertake research on direct ageing and reproduction to address key biological uncertainties for albacore in the region. In August 2007, the WCPFC Scientific Committee re-iterated the priority for biological information on albacore and noted that this work has "strong assessment implications with wide-spread benefits to a number of fisheries active in the WCPO".

Acknowledging this, the ETMAC identified the collection and analysis of data (including size, sex composition and biological data) for the ETBF as its highest priority. In addition, the ETMAC explicitly identified the determination of life-history parameters and improved stock assessments for albacore tuna as a High Priority project. This proposal addresses both these high priority research areas.

Objectives

1. Design and implement, in consultation with Industry, a practical, cost-effective industry-based monitoring program for obtaining representative sized data for albacore in the ETBF.
2. In collaboration with SPC, develop a biological sampling program to ensure that unbiased estimates of biological parameters for albacore are also obtained for the southwest Pacific region.
3. Collect biological samples (otoliths, spines, gonads & muscle tissue) from at least 500 albacore caught in the ETBF in 2008/09.

Final report

ISBN: 9781921605123
Author: Jessica Farley
Environment
PROJECT NUMBER • 2004-024
PROJECT STATUS:
COMPLETED

Variation in banana prawn catches at Weipa: a comprehensive regional study

Since about the year 2000 there have been very low catches in the Weipa Region of the Northern Prawn Fishery (NPF); these low catches were different to other areas of the NPF where they continued to fluctuate around long-term means and continued to fall within predicted levels. Industry and managers...
ORGANISATION:
CSIRO Oceans and Atmosphere Hobart
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