14 results
Environment
PROJECT NUMBER • 2018-034
PROJECT STATUS:
COMPLETED

Effects of climate change and habitat degradation on Coral Trout

Fishes are at considerable risk from changing environmental conditions because they are, for most part, unable to regulate their body temperature. Exposure to high temperatures may therefore compromise critical biological functions, resulting in reduced performance, fitness and ultimately survival....
ORGANISATION:
James Cook University (JCU)
TAGS
Stock Assessment
Recreational Fishing
Rac Qld
Population Dynamics
Oceanography
SPECIES
Coral Trouts
Environment
Environment
Industry

Physical oceanographic influences on Queensland reef fish and scallops

Project number: 2013-020
Project Status:
Completed
Budget expenditure: $170,000.00
Principal Investigator: Tony J. Courtney
Organisation: Department of Primary Industries (QLD)
Project start/end date: 23 Jun 2013 - 29 Mar 2015
Contact:
FRDC
TAGS
Wild Catch
Stock Assessment
Recreational Fishing
Rac Qld
Oceanography
SPECIES
Ballot's Saucer Scallop
Redthroat Emperor
Coral Trouts

Need

There is a strong need for Queensland fishery managers to obtain a better understanding of key physical oceanographic influences on target species of commercial and recreational fisheries.

Tropical cyclones have been associated with reef fish catch rates. Coral trout (Plectropomus leopardus) catch rates typically fall after a major cyclone, while those of red throat emperor (Lethrinus miniatus) rise (see “Background” above). The effects on catchability can last several years. While the exact causal mechanism is not known, it is thought to be related to water temperature.

Nutrient-rich cold water eddies, which break from the East Australian Current and move westward onto the Queensland continental shelf are likely to affect the spat settlement, growth, abundance and catch rates of saucer scallop (Amusium balloti). Understanding these relationships may lead to improved management, assessment and forecasting of catch in these fisheries, and it may also lead to improved acceptance of quantitative stock assessment results by industry.

This proposal differs from previous abiotic studies because it focuses more on offshore, oceanic influences, rather than coastal rainfall and flow data.

Objectives

1. Review recent advances in the study of physical oceanographic influences on fisheries catch data, and describe the major physical oceanographic features that are likely to influence Queensland reef fish and saucer scallops.
2. Collate Queensland’s physical oceanographic data and fisheries (i.e., reef fish and saucer scallops) data.
3. Develop stochastic population models for reef fish and saucer scallops, which can link physical oceanographic features (e.g., sea surface temperature anomalies ) to catch rates, biological parameters (e.g., growth, reproduction, natural mortality) and ecological aspects (e.g. spatial distribution).

Final report

ISBN: 9780734504500
Final Report • 2015-06-17 • 13.67 MB
2013-020-DLD.pdf
Environment

FRDC-DCCEE: effects of climate change on reproduction, larval development, and population growth of coral trout (Plectropomus spp.)

Project number: 2010-554
Project Status:
Completed
Budget expenditure: $400,000.00
Principal Investigator: Morgan S. Pratchett
Organisation: James Cook University (JCU)
Project start/end date: 23 Dec 2010 - 29 Jun 2013
Contact:
FRDC
TAGS
Wild Catch
Reproduction
Population Dynamics
Oceanography
Life History
SPECIES
Coral Trouts

Need

This research is critical to the National Climate Change Adaptation Research Plan, and addresses several of the information needs and research gaps identified under sectoral sub-themes of i) Aquaculture, ii) Commercial and recreational fishing, iii) Conservation management, and iv) Tourism and recreational uses.

Specifically this study:
i) addresses the severity of likely impacts of climate change on coral trout, which are the No. 1
commercial and recreational fisheries species caught within coral reef waters, and account for 41% of
wild-caught fish in Queensland waters;

ii) will predict spatial and temporal changes in the fisheries production of coral trout populations across the Great Barrier Reef, which is critical for spatial zoning of fisheries closures and assessing the immediacy of required intervention;

iii) identifies environmental tolerances of coral trout, especially during highly sensitive larval stages,
which impacts natural recruitment of wild populations, and grow-out of juveniles in open aquaculture
systems, which is necessary for further development of coral trout production;

iv) explores ontogenetic changes in the habitat requirements of newly-settled, juvenile and sub-adult
coral trout, thought to rely on habitat structure provided by good coral growth. If so, this will help to
establish coral reef habitats of high conservation priority, and

v) significantly advances understanding of climate impacts on coral reef fishes, which are critical for both fisheries and tourism industries on the Great Barrier Reef, currently worth in excess of $6 billion to the Australian economy.

Objectives

1. To assess sensitivities of coral trout to climate-related changes in temperature and seawater chemistry, during fertilisation and early larval development
2. To test the effects of increasing temperature and ocean acidification on growth, condition, behaviour and survivorship of early post-settlment coral trout
3. To test for spatial variation in sensitivities to increasing temperatures for coral trout in three distinct sectors along the Great Barrier Reef
4. To measure coral-dependence at different ontogenetic stages, to test whether coral trout will be adversely affected by climate-induced bleaching and coral loss

Development of an individual transferable catch quota model for the Coral Reef Fin Fish Fishery of the Great Barrier Reef

Project number: 2004-030
Project Status:
Completed
Budget expenditure: $476,940.00
Principal Investigator: Richard Little
Organisation: James Cook University (JCU)
Project start/end date: 14 Jan 2005 - 29 Oct 2008
Contact:
FRDC
TAGS
Sustainability
Resource Enhancement
Recreational Fishing
Population Dynamics
Individual Transferable Quota
SPECIES
Redthroat Emperor
Coral Trouts

Need

One of the major research priorities of QFIRAC, REEFMAC, QFS, GBRMPA, and other fisheries' stakeholders of the GBR concerns the need to develop innovative approaches for determining the sustainability of the fisheries for the exploited reef fish species, particularly the major target species of the GBR Coral Reef Fin Fish Fishery, common coral trout and red throat emperor. This need has become even more pronounced with the recent release of the management plan for the fishery, which is largely dependent upon an Individual Transferable catch Quota (ITQ) system and the impending GBRMPA Representative Areas Program (RAP). A model involving complex effort dynamics associated with an extensive system of "no-take" areas and a significant recreational harvest (e.g., unlike the SE Trawl Fishery) that provides a framework for setting appropriate Total Allowable Catches (TACs) and evaluating their impacts has yet to be developed.

This proposal, therefore, arose in response to major concerns for the sustainability of the GBR Coral Reef Fin Fish Fishery. It addresses directly QFIRAC's key R&D priorities in sustainability assessments by developing innovative assessment methodologies, sustainability indicators for target species in commercial fisheries, and using a Management Strategy Evaluation (MSE) approach. The "standard" approach to providing management advice for fisheries managed using ITQs involves, for each target species, fitting a population dynamics model to data collected for large geographic areas and calculating catch limits according to pre-specific decision rules (such as F0.1). However, this approach is likely to fail to achieve the management objectives for the GBR Coral Reef Fin Fish Fishery because it ignores spatial heterogeneity in population structure and the multi-species and multi-sector nature of the fishery. Also, the data typically required to apply these methods is not available for the GBR Coral Reef Fin Fish Fishery. In addition, little is known about the bioeconomic impacts and sophisticated effort dynamics associated with an ITQ managed multi-species, multi-sector fishery such as the GBR Coral Reef Fin Fish Fishery.

Consequently, we propose to extend the MSE framework developed as part of the CRC Reef Effects of Line Fishing (ELF) Project and other related FRDC funded projects (1997-124, 1998-131, 2001-020). Results from this project will inform stakeholders and decision makers about the bioeconomic trade-offs associated with a variety of alternative rules for setting TACs. This is exactly the type of information required as the basis for the selection of monitoring strategies and decision rules. This project, therefore, will provide a management tool by which appropriate TACs can be evaluated given alternate harvest strategies related to effort displacement caused by the RAP and the significant recreational harvest.

Objectives

1. To extend the existing MSE framework for the GBR Coral Reef Fin Fish Fishery so that management controls evaluated can include catch limits implemented as Individual Transferable Quotas.
2. To evaluate the likely effects on the sustainability of common coral trout and red throat emperor of regional shifts in catch distributions in response to spatial closures and potential displacement of fishing effort associated with the GBRMPA Representative Areas Program.
3. To evaluate alternative management strategies for common coral trout and red throat emperor in the Coral Reef Fin Fish Fishery of the Great Barrier Reef in terms of the trade-offs among the objectives of the commercial, recreational and charter fisheries.

Final report

ISBN: 9.78E+12
Author: Richard Little
Final Report • 2009-09-24
2004-030-DLD.pdf
Environment
PROJECT NUMBER • 2003-019
PROJECT STATUS:
COMPLETED

National Strategy for the Survival of Released Line Caught Fish: investigating survival of fish released in Australia’s tropical and subtropical line fisheries

Experiments were conducted in northern, central and southern Queensland to investigate the effects of hook design and size on the incidence of hooking injury, and the effects of a number of factors, including barotrauma-treatment method, on post-release survival rates of a suite of key...
ORGANISATION:
James Cook University (JCU)
TAGS
Wild Catch
Tagging
Survey
Recreational Fishing
Fishing Gear
SPECIES
Redthroat Emperor
Spangled Emperor
Saddletail Snapper
Crimson Snapper
Red Emperor
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