28 results
Environment
PROJECT NUMBER • 2010-001
PROJECT STATUS:
COMPLETED

Predicting the impacts of shifting recreational fishing effort towards inshore species

The project outputs have led to the following outcomes: 1. A model has been developed enabling reliable estimation of mortality of fish species that undertake size-related, unidirectional, offshore movements from age and length data. This new modelling approach is likely to be applicable to stocks...
ORGANISATION:
Murdoch University

Estimation of natural and fishing mortality using length composition data

Project number: 2003-041
Project Status:
Completed
Budget expenditure: $318,426.18
Principal Investigator: Norman G. Hall
Organisation: Murdoch University
Project start/end date: 28 Sep 2003 - 1 Sep 2008
Contact:
FRDC

Need

Sound estimates of natural and fishing mortality form the basis of fishery stock assessment and modelling. Without these data, the extent to which the spawning biomass has been reduced or the effectiveness of management measures in sustaining wild fish stocks cannot be determined. These estimates of mortality are crucial if the commonly-used reference points for fishing mortality and biomass are to be used in managing fisheries. Considerable advances have been made in obtaining estimates of mortality when data on the age composition of the annual catch are available. However, when there are only data on the length composition of the catches, analyses become more complex and the algorithms are not as well defined. Although information is usually available within the biological and fishery data that allows estimation of total mortality, the information on natural mortality must usually be obtained from empirical models that relate natural mortality to characteristics of the life history for other fish species or by estimating the relationship between total mortality and fishing effort, thereby obtaining an estimate of natural mortality by subtraction. Furthermore, there is a need to understand how natural mortality varies with size. Although the study of mortality deserves to be a primary focus of fishery research, it is difficult and thus often set aside. For many of Australia’s finfish stocks, there is a need to develop length-based methods to estimate mortality, which can be used to monitor the stock status of the recreational fisheries, and to obtain improved estimates of natural mortality that can be used in assessing sustainability. The project falls within FRDC’s Natural Resources Sustainability Program and is intended to increase and apply knowledge of stock assessment methods by developing methods of estimating mortality using length composition data which, compared with age composition data, are relatively inexpensive to collect.

Objectives

1. To develop methods for estimating natural, fishing and total mortality from length composition data and, in particular, to enable the following objectives to be achieved.
2. To estimate total mortality by applying Length Frequency Analysis (LFA) methods to length composition data.
3. To estimate total mortality by applying a length-based method of relative abundance analysis to length composition data from consecutive years.
4. To estimate natural mortality from the changes in length composition data that accompany a change in minimum legal length.
5. To estimate natural mortality using a length-based fishery model
6. To determine whether these length-based methods can be used to estimate a size-dependent (rather than constant) natural mortality.

Final report

ISBN: 978-0-86905-988-3
Author: Norm Hall
Final Report • 2017-09-29
2003-041-DLD.pdf

Summary

The objectives of this project were to develop length-based approaches for estimation of natural, fishing and total mortality, and to explore the application of these methods to the data from selected fisheries. The methods that were developed were essentially length-based versions of age-based approaches that are typically applied for stock assessment when appropriate and when representative age samples are available from either research or catch sampling. 
 
The study explored several methods to estimate mortality from length samples.  The simpler of these approaches assume that, as fishing mortality increases, fewer fish will survive to reach larger sizes.  Accordingly, the size composition becomes increasingly truncated at the right when fishing mortality increases.  Length FrequencyAnalysis and length-based catch curve analysis assess the extent to which the shape of the right-hand tail of the size distribution is reduced, and taking growth into account, use this information to estimate total mortality. The problem becomes more complicated, however, when annual recruitment varies. Relative Abundance Analysis attempts to track peaks and troughs in the length compositions in successive years, thereby identifying strong and weak year classes. By taking year class strength into account, the decline in the right-hand tail of the length distribution can be assessed more reliably, thereby improving the accuracy of the estimate of total mortality. An increase in minimum legal size allows smaller fish that would previously have been caught to survive and grow to the new minimum size.  If there are adequate data and the change in minimum size is sufficiently great, the change in the length compositions before and after the change in minimum size can be used to estimate the natural mortality. Finally, by analyzing the combined set of time series of fishery data, length and age samples, and attempting to track year classes through the catch-per-unit-of-effort, age-composition and length-composition data in successive years, it is possible to obtain estimates of both natural and fishing mortality. The precision of the estimates is dependent of the information content of the data, however.  This last analysis was extended to assess whether, for Tailor, there was evidence of length-dependent natural mortality.
 
The methods and software developed in this project were applied to length data for the Western Yellowfin Bream in Shark Bay, Tarwhine, Breaksea Cod, Dhufish, Snapper from NSW, Mud Crabs, King George Whiting, and Tailor.  The data for King George Whiting and Mud Crabs were found to be inappropriate for analysis using the approaches developed in this study. Although catch curve and relative abundance analysis produced highly inconsistent estimates of mortality for Breaksea Cod, reasonable and realistic estimates of mortality were produced for the other species. For Tailor, it was found that the assumption of constant natural mortality  resulted in a better fit of the fishery model than that which was obtained by using the length-dependent natural mortality assumption.
 
The analyses that were undertaken in this study demonstrated that the length-based approaches, while less precise and reliable than age-based methods, had potential for use in stock assessment. This is particularly the case for recreational fisheries, for which length samples are likely to be more readily available than age samples.
 
Environment
PROJECT NUMBER • 2008-102
PROJECT STATUS:
COMPLETED

Tactical Research Fund: Assessing alternative fishing seasons for red-legged banana prawns in the Joseph Bonaparte Gulf and future directions for collaborative research for NPF Industry Pty Ltd

To enhance its profitability, NPF Industry Pty Ltd needs to develop its capacity to gather key stock status data for each of its stocks so that simple bio-economic models can be developed and used to assess and potentially optimize the value of component NPF stocks. The NPF Industry Pty Ltd needs...
ORGANISATION:
Murdoch University

Tactical Research Fund: Reducing dolphin bycatch in the Pilbara Finfish Trawl Fishery

Project number: 2008-048
Project Status:
Completed
Budget expenditure: $149,853.00
Principal Investigator: Neil Loneragan
Organisation: Murdoch University
Project start/end date: 21 May 2008 - 30 Jun 2010
Contact:
FRDC

Need

The bycatch of dolphins and other protected/listed species in the PFTIMF has been recognised as being too high by the WA Minister of Fisheries and the Department of Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts. In 2005, the Minister wrote to industry participants expressing his concern for the “…real or perceived lack of adequate action being undertaken to address this serious bycatch issue…”. He indicated that he was prepared to close the fishery to protect the industry’s reputation should progress not be made. Semi-flexible exclusion grids reduced the dolphin catch rate by almost 50% in 2006, but the Minister has stated that further reductions are necessary if the fishery is to continue.

In 2007, the need for a renewed approach to resolving the PFTIMF bycatch issues were further highlighted in reports from DoF to DEWHA and the Draft Bycatch Action Plan: There are significant differences in bycatch reporting between trips with and without independent observers on board; Observer coverage was set at a minimum 22% to gain data that would prove statistically robust, but only 19% was achieved in the first half of 2007; Temporal/spatial data on bycatch has been collected, but the data has proven inconclusive or has not been analysed in detail; A deck-mounted electronic observer system designed to replace on-board observers has proven unsuitable thus far; and, bycatch continues.

There are both biological and political needs for an immediate effort to further reduce bycatch. Common themes to successful implementation of bycatch reduction include: Collaborations between industry, scientists and resource managers; Pre- and post-implementation monitoring; and, compliance via enforcement and incentives. This project has been designed to conform to these themes and to meet the need of assisting industry in moving from ‘Interim Managed’ to ‘Managed’ fishery status and fulfilling the requirements of the EPBC Act.

Objectives

1. Reducing the risk of encounter - Reduce the potential for interaction between dolphins and the PFTIMF through an examination of fine scale spatial, seasonal and daily data on fishing effort and dolphin interactions
2. Reducing the risk of capture, if encountered - Reduce the chance of harm and mortality to dolphins if interactions do occur by evaluating
a) net designs and dolphin behaviour, and, b) exclusion devices, alternative net designs and the effective operations of the nets

Final report

ISBN: 978-0-86905-926-5
Author: Neil Loneragan
Environment
PROJECT NUMBER • 1999-154
PROJECT STATUS:
COMPLETED

Determining biological characteristics of the champagne crab (Hypothalassia armata) for management purposes

During recent years, commercial trap fisheries have developed for the champagne and crystal crabs in deep waters off the lower west and south coasts of Western Australia. Thus, data on crucial aspects of the biology of these species were required to enable plans to be developed for conserving their...
ORGANISATION:
Murdoch University
Communities
PROJECT NUMBER • 2016-034
PROJECT STATUS:
COMPLETED

Golden fish: evaluating and optimising the biological, social and economic returns of small-scale fisheries

This project investigates recreational and commercial fisher motivations for using a fishery and the beliefs, attitudes and perceived benefits of aquaculture-based enhancement programs and other management options. It also determines the total economic value for recreational fishing for Blue Swimmer...
ORGANISATION:
Murdoch University
Environment
PROJECT NUMBER • 2005-063
PROJECT STATUS:
COMPLETED

Development of an ecosystem approach to the monitoring and management of Western Australian fisheries

Diversity and ecosystem-based indicators were calculated for commercial finfish fisheries from 1976 to 2005 for the West Coast, South Coast, Gascoyne, Pilbara and Kimberley bioregions. The ecosystem-based indices, which detect changes in the species composition of the food web within the ecosystem,...
ORGANISATION:
Murdoch University
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