This report covers the activities projects 1996/341 and 1999/333 for the period 1996 to 2000.  In October 1999 AUSEAS along with the National Seafood Centre (NSC) and SeaQual were brought together under the umbrella name of Seafood Services Australia (SSA).

To avoid confusion, for the remainder of this report, the previous name of the service AUSEAS (Australian Seafood Extension and Advisory Service) has been replaced with the new title SSA.

The report begins with a review of current activities including: 

• industry inquiries and the SSA responses;
• consultancies;
• the preparation of the Australian Seafood Industry Directory;
• the sales of technical literature packages.

A discussion of the available information resources is then followed by promotional activities.  This is followed by a consideration of staffing issues including staff skills development to better service clients’ needs.

Finally, there is a discussion of planned new initiatives including development of a “one-stop shop” Internet site for the post-harvest fisheries sector.  This will allow clients to access a wide range of information held in the SSA databases including:  the bibliography of the technical information available through this service;  sources of assistance for industry development;  and a topical issues discussion line.  A special feature of this will be a series of technical advisory notes.

Keywords: Literature searches; Publications; Information; Advice; Research.

Based on logbook records the sand crab commercial pot fishery in Moreton Bay is worth in the vicinity of $2 million wholesale annually. Sand crabs are also taken as an incidental by-catch by otter trawlers and in addition Moreton Bay supports a substantial recreational fishery.

Sand crabs are caught throughout the year but fishing effort is greatest from October to June. Peak catches in the pot fishery occur during March and April when daily catch rates may exceed 3 legal males per pot. Gravid females are present throughout the year but the highest proportion of egg bearing females is found in the population during August and September. Peaks in mating activity occur in autumn and spring with recruitment of juvenile crabs commencing in November. The parasitic barnacle Sacculina granifera infects 3% of all sand crabs in Moreton Bay and a previously unreported microsporidian parasite is found in 0.7% of the population.

Tagging studies show that fishing effort and mortality of sand crabs is highly variable throughout the Bay. Recapture rates for different areas vary from 1% to 65% with an overall return rate of 14%. The pattern of tag returns does not indicate any ordered directional movement of crabs either into or out of the Bay.

Male and female sand crabs exhibit differences in preferred habitat. Large males are generally more abundant in deeper water, whereas females predominate in shallower water, particularly on the top of sand banks.

Management recommendations arising from the project work include a change in the method of sand crab measurement to the width at the base of the antero-lateral spines, lowering of the existing size limit, the introduction of a bag 1 limit for recreational fishermen and an abolition of the prohibition on taking females provided that suitable management conditions can be maintained.