109 results
People
PROJECT NUMBER • 2008-306
PROJECT STATUS:
COMPLETED

Building economic capability to improve the management of marine resources in Australia

This project includes the following appendices and videos:2008-306 Appendix C Individual FRDC Student Reports.pdf2008-306 Appendix D Student publications.pdf2008-306 Appendix E Student Project Videos.pdfAnna Farmery talks about her research - [video]Peggy Schrobback talks about her...
ORGANISATION:
University of Tasmania (UTAS)

Tactical Research Fund - Empowering Industry: energy audit of prawn trawler with auxiliary sail power

Project number: 2011-229
Project Status:
Completed
Budget expenditure: $14,680.00
Principal Investigator: Giles A. Thomas
Organisation: University of Tasmania (UTAS)
Project start/end date: 2 Oct 2011 - 10 Jun 2012
Contact:
FRDC

Need

Commercial fishing is one of the most energy intensive food production methods today and the Australian industry consumes approximately 205 million litres of diesel fuel per annum. The fishing industry needs to radically improve the energy efficiency of its operations primarily due to the rising cost of fuel and its effect on operating margins. The recent rapid increase in cost of diesel has reduced margins to such a low level that it is rapidly becoming uneconomical for operators to continue to trade. This has significant flow-on effects down the whole production-processing-retail chain.

In addition there is a global need to reduce the emissions of oxides of nitrogen (NOx) and carbon dioxide (CO2) from fossil fuel combustion. The global fisheries industries emit annually more than 130 million tonnes of CO2 into the atmosphere.

Trawling is a very energy intensive fishing method, for example Australian prawn trawlers incur fuel costs of approximately 35% of total production costs. The use of alternative auxiliary powering systems, such as sails, has the potential to radically reduce fuel consumption by a combination of providing supplementary propulsive thrust and reducing vessel motions and consequent drag.

Several fishers in Australia have installed sails onto their vessels with the aim of reducing fuel consumption, but no investigations have been conducted to ascertain the effect the auxiliary systems actually have on fuel consumption, performance and costs. The results from an energy audit on such a vessel would provide valuable information to other fishers on the benefits, or otherwise, of fitting such a system to their vessel.

The need for this work was highlighted by the results from recent FRDC sponsored energy audits of fishing vessels. The 1st International Symposium on Energy Efficiency in Fishing was held in May 2010 and clearly emphasised the need for continuing RD&E in this area.

Objectives

1. Energy audit (level 2) on prawn trawler fitted with auxiliary sail system.
2. Collect data on effect of use of sail system on fuel consumption in varying environmental conditions.
3. Analyse energy audit data to determine effect of sail system on fuel consumption.
4. Disseminate information on effect of sail auxiliary power system to owners and operators of fishing vessels.

Final report

ISBN: 978-1-86295-676-6
Author: Giles Thomas
Adoption
PROJECT NUMBER • 2006-302
PROJECT STATUS:
COMPLETED

Australian Society for Fish Biology Conference and Workshop 2006 - cutting edge technologies in fish and fisheries science

The FRDC provided funding to support the organisation and hosting of the 2006 Australian Society for Fish Biology (ASFB) conference and workshop on cutting-edge technologies in fish and fisheries science. This funding was matched by sponsorship from a range of government, university and...
ORGANISATION:
University of Tasmania (UTAS)
Industry
PROJECT NUMBER • 2011-201
PROJECT STATUS:
COMPLETED

Implementing a spatial assessment and decision process to improve fishery management outcomes using geo-referenced diver data

Fishing activity was captured across 53,852 one Hectare hex grid cells across Tasmania. A total of 113,164 diving hours were recorded across 125,536 individual fishing events (Table 1). Between 2012 and 2016, the Tasmanian Geo-Fishery Dependent Data (GFDD) program captured between 85 % and 90 % of...
ORGANISATION:
University of Tasmania (UTAS)
Environment
PROJECT NUMBER • 2001-042
PROJECT STATUS:
COMPLETED

Development of the tools for long term management of the giant crab resource: data collection methodology, stock assessment and harvest strategy evaluation

The project has developed tools for low cost assessment of the giant crab resource across southern Australia. Stock assessment and management response is now increasingly based on biomass estimates from this project. Risk of poor management decisions is thus reduced, which...
ORGANISATION:
University of Tasmania (UTAS)
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