Knowledge of the winter/spring spawning patterns of Blue Mackerel and Australian Sardine is needed to underpin future assessment of these stocks and to underpin the ecologically sustainable development of pelagic fish resources off the East Coast of Australia.

Recent and robust estimates the population size of Blue Mackerel and Australian Sardine off the East Coast are needed to address community concerns regarding the potential ecological impacts of large scale fishing for small pelagic fishes off the East Coast.

Information on the egg distribution, reproductive parameters and spawning biomass of Tailor is needed to inform future management of this iconic recreational fishing species.

Understanding the combined roles of fishing effort and environmental factors in determining the distribution and abundance of target-sized sardines is essential to the sustainable, ecological and economical, development of the fishery.

In response to recent fluctuations in fish size and quality, the SASF seeks to increase the productivity and profitability of the fishery through the development and implementation of an industry-led, real-time monitoring system for optimising the size, quality and quantity of sardines harvested.

To address these needs industry must: 1) establish the skills and systems required to conduct real-time monitoring of fish harvesting, 2) obtain advice on the key oceanographic factors affecting sardine size distributions, 3) gain ongoing access to information on oceanographic conditions in near real-time and, 4) develop systems for linking spatial fishery performance with oceanographic conditions to optimize the size and quality of fish harvested.

Sardines are an undervalued species in South Australia, with the majority of the catch going for tuna feed for an average price of $0.72/kg. The industry has recognised the need to increase the value of the fishery, and that more of the catch has to be turned into value-added products for human consumption. In order to achieve this aim, it has targeted to use at least 10% of the TACC for value-adding.

Three of the licence holders have invested in equipment and processes to produce value-added products. However, individually these businesses are having limited success, struggling to adopt the technical and operational practices that are required to deliver safe, profitable products for human consumption markets both domestically and abroad. This project will provide technical expertise and experimental support to assist them in optimising raw materials, labour and equipment and to develop new products specifically for these markets.

There has been limited success in value-adding sardine products for human consumption in sardine fisheries in Australia. As a result, research has focussed on increasing the value of sardines but has not resulted in products being successfully test marketed/commercialised and evaluated. This is perhaps due to a disconnect in the supply chain between consumers, markets, distribution and processing. We now have the consumer/market intelligence to understand the barriers to sardine acceptability. We can develop products that will overcome these barriers and with the businesses already supplying into the human consumption markets, we have an identified route to market to commercialise and evaluate the success of these new products.

The project offers the opportunity for the three businesses to work together to achieve more than could be individually. They will benefit from the economies of scale that business partnerships have to ultimately deliver safe, profitable products to market for human consumption.

This project will contribute toward Seafood CRC Program 1B:

Output 1.7 "Smart processing technologies and practices"

Milestone 1.7.2
Application of innovative technologies for controlling spoilage to enhance shelf-life and marketability

Milestone 1.7.6
Harvest, post-harvest and processing practices evaluated and enhanced to maximise and protect quality attributes

Milestone 1.7.8.
Technology and capability to support innovation of new seafood products developed

This project fits into the CRC “smart processing” theme

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Global economic factors and market forces warrant the need for a significant portion of the SASF harvest to diversify from the domestic tuna feed market into higher value markets. This need is in part driven by the strength of the Australian dollar. Over the last 24 months the volume of relatively cheap imported feed has forced a significant decrease in the beach price of locally caught sardines, necessary so local catch can maintain market share. The strength of the dollar is forecast to remain high.

The South Australian Sardine Industry needs to diversify its market base and increase the portion of the annual catch that is value-added to offset the issues described above, and the associated risks of sustained low returns.

The marketability of South Australian sardines is negatively affected by high volume of the nightly catch and the limited capacity of most sardine vessels to adequately chill fish on board. There is a need to trial technology that will remove heat from fish immediately postharvest more efficiently than current practices. This will reduce spoilage and extend the shelf-life for value-added grade fish.

The implementation of post-harvest technologies such as flow-ice at the point of capture will assist the production of a higher quality product which, in turn, should increase the GVP of the SASF.

Provisions of the Commonwealth Environment and Biodiversity Conservation Act require strategic assessment and, if necessary, mitigation of the ecological effects of fishing, including trophic impacts.

The strategic assessment of the South Australian pilchard fishery identified the need to measure and minimize the impacts of the fishery
on the “broader ecosystem” and “to review the current ecological management objectives, management strategies and performance indicators”.

However, operational ecological performance indicators and mitigating strategies have not yet been established for any pelagic fishery in Australia, and there is no agreed scientific framework for establishing these tools.

In recognition of -
1) the high profile of the SA pilchard fishery (as Australia’s largest pelagic fishery);
2) the important ecological role of pilchards in the Flinders Current Ecosystem;
3) the high economic value and conservation significance of the region’s marine predators;
4) and the sophisticated (single-species) stock assessment procedures and management arrangements that have been established,
members of the South Australian pilchard fishery have identified the need to establish “world’s best practices” for managing the potential ecological impacts of the fishery. In response to this need, fishers have invested $620K to assess the role of pilchards in the Flinders Current Ecosystem and to begin to develop ecological performance indicators and reference points for their fishery.

Currently, there is no scientific framework to assess whether the management arrangements that have been established for the SA Pilchard Fishery are sufficiently conservative to ensure that fishery is managed according to the principles of ESD (i.e. that fishing does not significantly affect the status of other components of the ecosystem, Fletcher et al. 2002).

In recognition of the large data sets and extended timeframes that are needed to establish and assess ecological performance indicators and reference points for pelagic fisheries, members of the South Australian pilchard fishery have also agreed to invest a further $310K (cash) to support the additional ecological research that is outlined in this proposal.

This project addresses the pressing need to develop a scientific framework for establishing ecological performance indicators and reference points for pelagic fisheries. The focus on the SA pilchard fishery is necessary, as such a large and complex undertaking could only be contemplated in large and valuable fishery that has sophisticated stock assessment procedures and management arrangements in place, and can thus afford to allocate significant resources to support the establishment of an ecosystem-based management system.

This project is needed to refine the management plan for Australia’s largest fishery to include ecological perfomance indicators and reference points and to ensure that research and management systems for the fishery correspond with, or exceed, world’s best practice by incorporating scientifically-based approaches for assessing and, if necessary, mitigating, the fishery's potential trophic impacts.

Projects such as this are needed to maintain Australia’s position as the world leader in the ecosystem-based management of fisheries.