34 results
Industry
PROJECT NUMBER • 2016-208
PROJECT STATUS:
COMPLETED

Waste to profit in urchin fisheries: developing business opportunities to ensure fishery sustainability and safeguard reef dependent fisheries from destructive urchin grazing

This report examines two potential applications of Longspined Sea Urchin (Centrostephanus rodgersii) via pitot scale trials; processing waste as an agricultural fertiliser and use as Southern Rock Lobster bait. The biochemical composition of Longspined Sea Urchin waste products was analysed, and the...
ORGANISATION:
University of Tasmania (UTAS)
Industry
PROJECT NUMBER • 2002-409
PROJECT STATUS:
COMPLETED

Pathogenic Vibrio parahaemolyticus in Australian oysters

This project was designed to produce a “snapshot” of the prevalence of the bacterium Vibrio parahaemolyticus in Australian oysters during March and April of 2002. V. parahaemolyticus occurs in two main forms: pathogenic and non-pathogenic. In the past 3 years there have been several...
ORGANISATION:
University of Tasmania (UTAS)

El-Nemo SE: extending the Redmap pilot to south east Australia: using citizen science for engagement and early indication of potential new opportunities

Project number: 2011-088
Project Status:
Completed
Budget expenditure: $60,000.00
Principal Investigator: Gretta T. Pecl
Organisation: University of Tasmania (UTAS)
Project start/end date: 5 Jul 2012 - 31 Oct 2012
Contact:
FRDC

Need

One of the major implications of climate change is the large-scale redistribution of species; as the environment changes, species shift in response to keep track of preferred environmental conditions.
This is happening faster in the ocean compared to land, and species are moving greater distances where the warming is greater (Chen et al 2011 Science) - such as the southeast of Australia.

To best respond to these changes we need to ensure 1/ we have an early indication of how species are shifting (what might be new opportunities?) and 2/ our industries and communities are aware of these changes and accepting of the science underpinning management responses. Redmap takes advantage of the collective observations and geographical area covered by fishers and divers to provide detailed, verifiable and low-cost observations of how and when our marine ecosystems are changing. Information collected can address key knowledge gaps in partnership with the southeast’s marine industries and coastal communities. Critically, it is also a valuable proven tool to promote awareness of climate change impacts. Range shifts is a concept which is tangible, visual and easily understood, in contrast with complicated computational projections or analyses which are not readily grasped (or indeed trusted) by the general community. Up to 80% of fishers do not believe climate change is occurring, or that it will affect their industry, yet given Australia approach of co-management it is absolutely critical that industry and community acknowledge climate change as a risk so they may better respond and adapt in a timely manner to the challenges ahead.

This project directly addresses high level objectives in the SEAP/DAFF deed, which are to:
• facilitate fishing and aquaculture sectors to make informed decisions on adapting to climate change; For example, as new species are reported to Redmap in a new jurisdiction, stakeholders will be able to consider the potential of future fishing opportunities.
• inform decisions on fisheries management arrangements to ensure they are responsive to a changing environment. For example, as new species are reported to Redmap in a new jurisdiction, fisheries managers will be able to review available data and consider the appropriateness of current management controls such as catch limits, closed seasons and size limits.

In terms of the existing DAFF deed milestones, this proposal clearly aligns with 'information products of climate change implications for the sectors'. It has demonstrated capacity to help increase awareness amongst the fishing and non-fishing community - increased awareness is a pre-requisite for effective stakeholder engagement and ultimately adaptation.

Objectives

1. Add VIC, NSW and SA material and species details to the Redmap website, make appropriate database connections and add VIC, NSW and SA scientists to the ghtings verification panel to ensure highest quality data.
2. Develop a facility where we can engage, inform and educate marine industries and communities in the southeast (using their own data) about marine climate change impacts and issues
3. Provide and test the framework allowing ecological monitoring of southeast coastal waters for observations of species shifting their geographical ranges.
4. Once deployed, utilise Redmap to increase awareness of climate change among SE marine industries, thereby indirectly improving adaptive capacity to respond constructively to climate change impacts.
Environment
PROJECT NUMBER • 2012-027
PROJECT STATUS:
COMPLETED

Determining when and where to fish: Linking scallop spawning, settlement, size and condition to collaborative spatial harvest and industry in-season management strategies

Spatially explicit harvest strategies employed in the southeast Australian commercial scallop fisheries aim to buffer against recruitment variation to increase both production and continuity between seasons. As part of these harvest strategies, biomass surveys determine areas to be opened the...
ORGANISATION:
University of Tasmania (UTAS)
Adoption
PROJECT NUMBER • 2017-049
PROJECT STATUS:
COMPLETED

Monitoring abalone juvenile abundance following removal of Centrostephanus and translocation

A new system of Abalone recruitment modules (ARMs) have proven to be successful in collecting juvenile abalone in Tasmanian waters. This design was subsequently transferred to the Eastern Zone, Victoria, where IMAS staff and Eastern Zone Abalone Industry Association (EZIZA) members installed ARMs at...
ORGANISATION:
University of Tasmania (UTAS)

Tasmania's Marine Atlas

Project number: 2019-111
Project Status:
Completed
Budget expenditure: $455,936.36
Principal Investigator: Myriam Lacharite
Organisation: University of Tasmania (UTAS)
Project start/end date: 31 Dec 2020 - 30 Dec 2023
Contact:
FRDC

Need

Marine spatial planning (MSP) has emerged in recent years as a tool for sea use management. However, MSP requires adequate and accurate information on the biophysical state and usage of the marine environment. Such data often exists, but generally not in a format which allows several data layers to be overlaid in order to identify potential conflicts/trade-offs.

Marine information management and data science are developing areas of research addressing how to easily access, collate and use multiple disparate sources of data to support marine ecosystem and resource management. Significant efforts are made to standardize the collection, reporting and open access to marine data in existing databases and platforms, but these platforms commonly use specific (and differing) sources and types of data. Challenges arise from disparities in spatiotemporal resolution, uncertainty in geographic positioning, diversity of data sources and types, lack of access, and often limited metadata standards within and across scientific disciplines. To address this problem, this project will identify, compile and standardize spatially-resolved datasets required for marine social-ecological system management for Tasmanian State waters. No new field-based data will be collected, although secondary analysis may create new datasets. Rather than duplicating effort, this project builds on accessible databases and platforms to provide recommendations on the availability and best practices of using marine data to support data-driven decision-making processes in Tasmanian waters.

Perhaps more importantly, this project will also compare various off-the-shelf tools to identify trade-offs at various scales and resolutions of interest. Currently, many off-the-shelf spatial multi-criteria decision-analysis tools and methods exist (e.g. Marxan, CommunityViz, SSANTO…). More have been developed for more specific uses (e.g. the Aquaspace tool - developed to plan trade-offs with aquaculture in Europe). Research is required to identify the most appropriate tools for use in identifying conflicts/trade-offs in Tasmanian waters, given the needs of decision-makers and the available data.

Finally, this project will provide planning for database longevity.

Objectives

1. Identify, collate and create database of available spatially-resolved environmental, resource use, and cultural heritage data for Tasmania’s state waters
2. Develop an interactive web-based mapping service to display and download Tasmania’s Marine Atlas data
3. Analyse and compare existing trade-off tool(s), to be used in conjunction with Tasmania’s Marine Atlas, for use in decision-making
4. Establish protocols for ongoing updates (automatic and manual) to, and management of, Tasmania’s Marine Atlas database

Final report

ISBN: 978-1-922708-81-6
Authors: Myriam Lacharité Helena Baird Maree Fudge Cecilia Villanueva
Final Report • 2024-10-01 • 1.80 MB
2019-111-DLD.pdf

Summary

Marine groups in Tasmania expressed a need to better understand the distribution of ocean uses, ecosystems and species in Tasmanian marine waters, and to make that information readily available to stakeholders. The Tasmania’s Marine Atlas project aimed to address this need by collating datasets relevant to marine resources and make this information available via a publicly available web-based mapping platform. 
The Tasmania’s Marine Atlas enables Tasmanian stakeholders to easily access relevant information on marine activities and ecosystems. The Atlas is designed for ease-of-use to foster opportunities for research through data discovery and data gaps, and facilitate engagement and extension with relevant stakeholders. The Atlas can support spatial planning to ensure fair access to the marine estate and the sustainable development of marine industries. The Atlas aims to appeal to a broad range of stakeholders and contains ocean literacy content to support engagement. 
It is expected several groups will benefit from the development of the Tasmania’s Marine Atlas, including the fisheries and aquaculture sectors, marine transport, recreational users, the Tasmanian Government, the general public, researchers and educators. 
The Tasmania’s Marine Atlas is a web-based mapping platform where users can easily access relevant datasets on the uses of Tasmania’s marine waters and its ecosystems. The platform connects to online databases and repositories from state and federal government agencies and research organisations (e.g., University of Tasmania, CSIRO). The platform is hosted by a front-end accessible website that also contains targeted science communication products meant to foster ocean literacy in Tasmania. The Tasmania’s Marine Atlas is now available at tasmarineatlas.org. 
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