SCRC: SCRC Abalone Research Forum
SCRC: Seafood CRC Research Travel Grant: Targeted meetings with key research providers and industry personnel in the UK relevant to CRC projects 2011/703 and 2011/735
Research to support the development of a Tasmanian Sardine Fishery
Tactical Research Fund: managing inshore stocks of southern rock lobster for a sustainable fishery
There is clearly a concern in the Tasmanian lobster industry about the status of inshore component of the stock. Catch has declined in a number of areas, despite improvements in catch rates. In the Northeast, catch is at record lows, but CPUE has remained stable, which is a possible indicator of hyper-stability or false stability. The apparent stability in catch rates occurs because aggregations containing a major proportion of the population are fished down, as the fleet moves from one area of good catch rates to the next, resulting in a serial depletion of the aggregations, which is masked by the apparent stability in the fishing block. This can result in a very sudden decline in biomass once the entire block is depleted, posing a serious and immediate risk to the inshore component of the stock. There are two potential sources of this problem. Firstly, the scale of the current assessment model, of eight inshore areas (64m) and three offshore areas (>64m) is not be fine enough to detect localised changes in the CPUE or biomass. Secondly there are changes in fishing practices that have increased effort on inshore stocks, and it is unclear whether the extra effort in these practices is adequately recorded in estimates of CPUE. There has been a recent increase in potting effort, commonly referred to as double night fishing, whereby fishers set and haul their pots twice a night, compared to the standard practice of emptying pots once at dusk and/or once during the day. Currently we have no data on the composition of the catch in double night shots, and what proportion of captured lobsters are handled and released, and in fact what consequence this handling has on the overall health of the fishery.
Final report
Tactical Research Fund - Empowering Industry: energy audit of prawn trawler with auxiliary sail power
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.
Final report
Tactical Research Fund: Nutrient and phytoplankton data from Storm Bay to support sustainable resource planning
Knowledge of changing environmental conditions and productivity as a result of climate change is essential for adaptive management. In addition to direct applicability to fisheries and aquaculture in southern Tasmania, this information will have numerous important applications to other industries and stakeholders in the broader catchment.
CSIRO and TAFI have established a program (INFORMD- Inshore network for observation and regional management: Derwent-Huon) to guide multiple use coastal zone development and management. Storm Bay is an integral component of the INFORMD region and a priority is to understand both the short term (climate variability) and long-term (climate change) drivers of productivity in the region and link these to production of fisheries and aquaculture. CSIRO have a project investigating novel observing technologies (NOTe) to characterize the Derwent to shelf environment and TAFI will fund a charter vessel to monthly sample water column environmental variables, and support the CSIRO observing system. Thus an opportunity exists to obtain nutrient and productivity data in the Storm Bay region in a very cost-effective manner by collaborating with the existing research program.
Important background information is that the East Australian Current is predicted to penetrate further south causing significant warming and decreased productivity. Previous work (Harris et al 1991) showed that the nutrient status of waters clearly indicated the influence of the EAC, and primary producers indicated the productivity of the region, demonstrating the potential for Storm Bay to act as an indicator of productivity for Southern and Eastern Tasmania. Such information is important to understanding changes in fisheries and aquaculture production and, as a consequence, to assist with developing climate change adaptive management strategies.
This project also provides an opportunity for FRDC to invest in a project that will have significant influence on multiple use management in Australia.
Final report
This project has provided preliminary data on environmental conditions in Storm Bay that is assisting managers and marine industries to better understand effects of climate change and climate variability on fisheries and aquaculture in the region, including changing currents and primary productivity. This information is being used to inform the development of climate change adaptive management strategies for commercial and recreational fisheries and for the potential expansion of salmon aquaculture into Storm Bay. The environmental characterisation of Storm Bay is also supporting planning in the region, by providing baseline data and data for projects modelling the bay’s water circulation and ecosystem dynamics. This information will support the development of multiple use management plans for the region.
Keywords: Climate variability, Storm Bay, water quality, productivity, offshore salmon aquaculture