A better understanding of the impacts of environmental drivers on the population dynamics and abundance of key fishery species can inform flexible management decisions that pre-empt both risks of overfishing under adverse environmental conditions and opportunities for increased harvest under favourable conditions. This is increasingly important as shifting environmental dynamics drive geographical shifts in fish stocks.

This project will identify environmental variables influencing the abundance of three priority fishery species, quantify those relationships to enhance their stock assessment models, and develop a forward projection tool to inform adaptive management of each fishery. Target species - Spanner Crabs, Snapper and Pearl Perch – were selected based on key interest to management of fisheries in Queensland and NSW. Some associations between these species and certain abiotic environmental factors are already known, but there is yet to be a rigorous and comprehensive approach to this work, with the explicit goal of incorporating abiotic influences into Queensland and NSW stock assessments.

The project has three key objectives: (1) Find indices of association between measures of abundance and key environmental drivers; (2) Use these indices to enhance the existing stock assessment model for each species; and (3) Enable forecasting of environmentally driven fluctuations in targeted species’ abundance, including enhancing Management Strategy Evaluations (MSEs).

In particular, environmental correlates will be valuable to fisheries managers by: (a) reducing the uncertainty in biomass estimates, (b) explaining fluctuations in abundance, and (c) characterising what is a “bad year” for each species. Such information can be incorporated into MSEs.

The “Queensland Sustainable Fisheries Strategy 2017-2027” identifies several challenges to fulfilling its mission of ensuring the sustainability of fisheries and the economic viability of fishing sectors. The first of these is “gaps in monitoring and research, which limit the ability to make timely, evidence-based decisions”. This project will close some of these gaps and assist in formulating measures for promoting stock recovery and adaptive management.

Industry producers and processors have identified that crabs and lobsters suffer quality deterioration
during transportation, which then results in downgrading and consequent price reduction. As lobsters and crabs are highly sought products, losses incurred through current handling chains cause significant waste of this valuable resource. In NSW eastern rock lobster, mud crab and spanner crab resources are fully fished and hence, full revenue return can only be gained by mitigating the wastage occurring.

It is known that quality loss in crustaceans is often caused by stress imposed along the supply chain. To reduce the likelihood of downgrading of product, there is a need to undertake an examination of the handling and transport issues pertinent to various landing ports, distribution chains and market sales points. Identification of specific stress factors and where they occur most severely will enable development of specific mitigation measures for Industry implementation.

The need for the research was noted in the NSW FRAC research priorities, 2016.

The proposed project responds to QFRAB Research Priority IV – Improve the relevance and quality of the data collected to underpin effective science based management of Queensland fisheries.

Traditionally fisheries data moved in a single direction, with fishers collecting data that are used by researchers and managers to manage fishers’ activities within sustainable long-term goals. Historically this was a sound system that informed the management of fisheries and enabled the development of suitable management objectives and tools (input and output controls).

A paradigm shift has occurred with contemporary fisheries data being utilised for multiple purposes other than QDAFF core business management and includes conservation objectives (EPBC Act), marine spatial planning, third party accreditation's, impact assessments and resource allocation. Not surprisingly, the quality and relevance of data collected is increasingly being questioned by all stakeholders. Given this notable shift in the interest and demands on fisheries data, it is timely that new and novel data and data collection methods are investigated, and existing systems are reviewed and improved to better meet contemporary needs. Further, increasing distrust of fisheries data by stakeholders is a significant hurdle in monitoring, assessing and managing fisheries. Concerns about the accuracy of commercial logbook data and catch estimates derived from recreational diary and phone surveys persist. Options for empowering all fishery stakeholders in the design of collection methods, data ownership and utility of data beyond core business requirements need to be explored to improve data quality and stewardship, and confidence in assessments/analyses that utilise these data.

Indigenous commercial fishers* (ICF) make up a small percentage of commercial fishers in NSW. They are usually small operators that;

(i) derive a personal income, and

(ii) many cases, supply some catch for local indigenous community consumption.

The NSW Indigenous Fisheries Strategy 2002 emphasized the importance of indigenous participation in the commercial fishing sector. A workshop conducted with ICF in 2003 identified obstacles to ongoing and future participation in the sector. Several issues were identified see 'A Draft Discussion Document and Action Plan. Developing the participation of Indigenous people in commercial fishing. A Report commissioned by NSW Fisheries '. One of the main issues identified was;

'The gradual and continuing decline of Aboriginal commercial fishers in the industry means loss of an accessible and appealing employment base for Aboriginal communities'.

To date little has been done to address the decline and recent communication with some ICF, particularly in far northern NSW, indicate that it is continuing. ICF indicate that ongoing changes to management approaches in NSW are making it even more difficult for them to stay now then previously.

There is an urgent need to analyse the possible impacts of new management changes (structural readjustment in NSW - see the Pyrmont Pact) on indigenous participation in commercial fisheries and to develop revised strategies that seek to maintain the existing levels and where possible increase indigenous involvement in commercial fisheries so as to address (i) and (ii) above.

*Here we are talking about indigenous participation in commercial fisheries, not cultural fisheries.

In his assessment of the Queensland spanner crab fishery for exemption from the export controls of the EPBC Act, the Federal Environment and Heritage Minister recommended that arrangements for joint monitoring and assessment of the shared stock of spanner crabs be made, with a view to eventual co-management. This process needs to be addressed before the next Commonwealth review of the fishery in five years’ time. While the development of complementary management arrangements is ultimately a core-business function of the two State governments, the evaluation of existing monitoring and assessment paradigms and the synthesis of a common reference point-setting process clearly requires significant collaboration between scientists, modellers and statisticians.

A workshop involving scientists and fishery managers from Queensland and NSW was held recently (27 September ’02) to examine collaborative options with regard to research and management in the spanner crab fisheries. The meeting agreed that there is a need to conduct simultaneous field trials of the two States’ monitoring surveys, to determine their relative cost-effectiveness as fishery-independent measures of stock abundance. The broad principles of such an exercise were agreed to, and details of the experimental design were fleshed-out at another meeting of research collaborators in NSW in late November.

Previous work aimed at estimating growth rates in spanner crabs has yielded highly divergent results, and none has provided a reliable estimate of age at recruitment. It is essential that this knowledge-gap is bridged because an estimate of age at recruitment is crucial to the successful development of age-based assessment models. Ideally such a model, tuned with the LTMP fishery-independent survey data, would replace the simplistic CPUE regression-based model.

While the fishery-independent spanner crab monitoring programme will overcome hyperstability problems inherent in the commercial statistics, it still requires the use of commercial gear, and is therefore subject to the same problems of variable catchability. These are presumably related to behavioural cycles of the crabs, habitat patchiness, and the effects of environmental factors such as water temperature. The impact of these factors on catchability needs to be investigated if survey and commercial CPUE data are to be interpreted correctly and the assessment process significantly improved.