33 results
Environment
PROJECT NUMBER • 2012-020
PROJECT STATUS:
COMPLETED

The influence of fish movement on regional fishery production and stock structure for South Australia's Snapper (Chrysophrys auratus) fishery

From 2007 onwards, South Australia’s snapper (Chrysophrys auratus) fishery underwent significant and unprecedented changes that impacted on the management of the fishery. This ultimately reflected our poor understanding of the movement behaviour of snapper and its consequences for...
ORGANISATION:
SARDI Food Safety and Innovation
TAGS
Social Science
Social Science
Recreational Fishing
Rac Sa
Population Dynamics
SPECIES
Snapper

Socio-ecological assessment of the ecosystems, industries and communities of Spencer Gulf

Project number: 2016-104
Project Status:
Completed
Budget expenditure: $150,000.00
Principal Investigator: Timothy M. Ward
Organisation: SARDI Food Safety and Innovation
Project start/end date: 31 Jul 2017 - 29 Apr 2019
Contact:
FRDC
TAGS
Stakeholder
Rac Sa
Ecosystem
Data
Aquaculture

Need

This project is a case study that addresses science needs identified in the National Marine Science Plan 2015, relating to:

i) systematic collection of environmental, social and economic baseline data;
ii) establishing a monitoring program to support effective management and conservation;
iii) incorporating social, economic and cultural data into marine assessments.

This socio-ecological assessment of Spencer Gulf is needed to evaluate and support future management of the gulfs ecosystems, industries and communities.

It will: i) improve current understanding of the web of interactions that drive patterns and trends in the Gulfs key ecological, economic and social feature and ii) help ensure that ecological, economic and social benefits from future use of the Gulf’s assets are balanced and maximised.

This assessment of Spencer Gulf is needed to build on progress towards 1) ecosystem-based management of the fishing and aquaculture sectors achieved through previous FRDC projects (see references in Goyder application attached) and 2) ecosystem-based management of the gulfs ecosystems, industries and communities (especially stakeholder engagement) achieved as part of the $2.5M industry-funded SGEDI.

Funding provided by FRDC and the Goyder Institute for Water Research are needed to ensure that momentum towards ecosystem-based management achieved through SGEDI previous projects is maintained during a period where the availability of additional industry funds is limited.

Objectives

1. Establish a time series of key indicators for monitoring the social, economic and ecological status of Spencer Gulf.
2. Establish online interactive maps of the environmental conditions, ecological assets, human activities and socio-ecological values of the gulf.
3. Undertake an integrated assessment of the status of the gulf’s socio-ecological systems.

Final report

Authors: Tanner J.E. Bailleul F. Bryars S. Doubell M. Foster N. Gaylard S. Gillanders B.M. Goldsworthy S. Huveneers C. James C. Jones A.R. Maher J. Nursey-Bray M. van Ruth P. and Ward T.M.
Final Report • 2020-12-04 • 3.63 MB
2016-104-DLD.pdf

Summary

Traditionally, management of marine activities has occurred on a sector-by-sector basis, with limited consideration of the interactions between different activities and users, or their cumulative impacts. There is increasing global recognition of the need for Integrated Management (IM) of the complex array of commercial and recreational activities that occur in marine environments, and their impacts on the socio-ecological assets that comprise these systems. An integrated monitoring program that includes social, economic and ecological indicators is an essential element of IM. 
This report collates existing information on the threats to the ecosystems of Spencer Gulf and its industries and communities.  Datasets that may provide a useful indicator for one or more assets or threats are collated.  The focus is on datasets for which there are available time-series data. Most existing monitoring programs are designed to assess the impacts of and/or manage individual activities, or to monitor particular species.  While we have identified a broad range of valuable data sets for Spencer Gulf (~170), we have also identified many gaps, and a number of data sets that are only collected sporadically, and for which there is no guarantee of continuation.
Overall, we have identified around 170 different data time-series that could be used as the basis for a suite of indicators of the overall social, economic and ecological status of Spencer Gulf, as well as numerous data gaps.  One challenge identified by this work is that a number of potentially important data sets are collected and reported at spatial scales that are not useful for examining the status of Spencer Gulf.  This data is either collected/reported at a statewide scale, or for terrestrially-based natural resources management regions.  The next step is be to consolidate the datasets collated here into a smaller subset that provide a useful and amenable set of actual indictors that can be utilised to monitor the status of the gulf and assess the impacts of the range of activities undertaken in it, going forward.  The collation of information undertaken in this report is an important steps towards undertaking an Integrated Ecosystem Assessment of Spencer Gulf.

Project products

Article • 3.49 MB
2016-104-SPG Task 2 Industries & Communities Report.pdf

Summary

This report describes a new software platform - named 'Gulfview' - that was developed to allow stakeholders to efficiently access spatially-explicit information about the environmental characteristics, ecological assets, human activities, management arrangements and socio-economic values of Spencer Gulf. 
Map • 408.16 KB
2016-104-Spencer Gulf socio-ecological status.pdf

Summary

This map depicts the socio-ecological Status of Spencer Gulf 2019
Presentation • 2019-04-01 • 1.58 MB
2016-104-Goyder Presentation Gulfview.pdf

Summary

This presentation highlights the interactive software platform called Gulfview, which allows stakeholders to access spatially-explicit information about the environmental characteristics, ecological assets, human activities, management arrangements and socio-economic values of Spencer Gulf 
Presentation • 2019-04-01 • 3.33 MB
2016-104-Goyder Presentation SG socio-ecological status and recommendations.pdf

Summary

This presentation reports the socio-ecological assessment of the industries, communities and ecosystems of Spencer Gulf by:
• Collating existing data-sets
• Developing potential social, ecological and economic indicators
• Assessing status of the Spencer Gulf
• Identifying key knowledge gaps and other data limitations
• Recommending next steps
Presentation • 2019-04-01 • 2.47 MB
2016-104-Goyder Presentation SG Integrated Management.pdf

Summary

Why Spencer Gulf?
• increasingly crowded marine space
• gateway for SA’s agriculture, mining and energy sectors
• produces approximately half of SA’s seafood
• recreational hotspot and growing ecotourism
• important conservation values
• nationally recognised case-study for integrated management
• process needed to resolve conflict among user groups (fishers, conservation, miners, desalination plants)
• need a more efficient and transparent decision-making process

Informing the structural reform of South Australia's Marine Scalefish Fishery

Project number: 2017-014
Project Status:
Completed
Budget expenditure: $496,836.00
Principal Investigator: Jonathan Smart
Organisation: SARDI Food Safety and Innovation
Project start/end date: 30 Jun 2017 - 29 Jun 2020
Contact:
FRDC
TAGS
Wild Catch
Sustainability
Resource Access And Allocation
Recreational Fishing
Rac Sa

Need

South Australia’s Marine Scalefish Fishery (MSF) is currently undergoing a strategic review with the principal aim of restructuring the fishery in order to ensure its long-term sustainability and economic viability. The heterogeneous mixture of participants, fishing devices, licence conditions and regulations associated with this fishery makes the tasks of administering and managing it extremely challenging. These complexities intertwined within a highly dynamic fleet that is capable of shifting fishing effort amongst species and regions often alters the emphasis of its overarching management. Industry and Government are working collaboratively to address the inherent complexities of the fishery through firstly developing a mechanism to rationalise the fleet, then reforming its overall structure, and ultimately refining its future management. In order to optimise this structural reform, it is necessary to disentangle and understand the fleet dynamics of this extremely complex fishery. This project aims to explore the implications of strategic management options (e.g. regionalisation, licensing, ITQ’s and ITE’s) on the future structure and viability of the MSF, from resource sustainability, economic and social perspectives.

Objectives

1. To review the structure and function of multi-species, multi-gear fisheries around the world.
2. To disentangle the complexities of the South Australian commercial Marine Scalefish Fishery to describe long-term spatio-temporal trends in the composition, dynamics and socio-economic performance of the fishing fleet
3. To evaluate the possible strategic management options such as regionalisation, licensing, ITQs and ITEs on the future structure and viability of South Australia’s MSF
4. To determine the biological, economic and social 'carrying capacity' of the MSF across key regions of the fishery.

Final report

ISBN: 978-1-876007-43-0
Authors: Jonathan Smart Mike Steer Fred Bailleul David Hall Ian Knuckey Anders Magnusson Julian Morison Jon Presser and Jacki Schirmer
Final Report • 2022-09-27 • 29.96 MB
2017-014-DLD.pdf

Summary

This study was undertaken by the South Australia Research and Development Institute (SARDI) in collaboration with PIRSA Fisheries and Aquaculture, BDO EconSearch, the Marine Fishers Association (MFA), Fishwell Consulting and University of Canberra. This project guided the reform of South Australia’s commercial Marine Scalefish Fishery (MSF) by providing scientific advice and analyses to underpin its implementation. The MSF is a multi-sector, multi-gear and multi-species fishery, making any management reform a complex and difficult process. Both the sustainability of key stocks and commercial fishery’s economic performance have been deteriorating over a 20-year period; significantly influenced by fishery overcapitalisation. Simply put, there were too many fishers and not enough fish to support a vibrant and sustainable commercial fishery. This was addressed through the three ‘pillars’ of the reform: regionalisation, unitisation and rationalisation. These pillars were reflected in the reform with: 1) the creation of four new zones of management; 2) implementation of individual transferable quotas (ITQs) for appropriate ‘Tier 1’ stocks; and 3) rationalisation of the commercial MSF fleet by removing one third of licences through a voluntary licence surrender program (VLSP). These pillars were supported by research on the biological, economic and social carrying capacity of the fishery. The reform was implemented on 1 July 2021 resulting in a fishery that has regional management with appropriate output controls and a reduced fleet size.

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