37 results

Impact of management changes on the viability of Indigenous commercial fishers and the flow on effects to their communities: case study in NSW

Project number: 2010-304
Project Status:
Completed
Budget expenditure: $74,087.00
Principal Investigator: Stephan B. Schnierer
Organisation: Southern Cross University (SCU) Lismore Campus
Project start/end date: 30 Sep 2010 - 30 Sep 2011
Contact:
FRDC

Need

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.

Objectives

1. Case study of indigenous commercial fisheries focussing initially on NSW as a basis for a national study
2. Determine the number of indigenous commercial fishers in NSW
3. Estimate the percentage of commercial catch made available to indigenous communities for personal consumption.
4. Identify management changes likely to impact indigenous participation in commercial fisheries and how they will impact.
5. Develop strategies to ameliorate the impacts of management change on indigenous participation in commercial fisheries.

Final report

ISBN: 978-0-9874424-0-6
Author: Stephan Schnierer

Prawn and Crab harvest optimisation: a biophysical management tool

Project number: 2008-011
Project Status:
Completed
Budget expenditure: $299,901.00
Principal Investigator: Stephen Mayfield
Organisation: SARDI Food Safety and Innovation
Project start/end date: 30 Sep 2008 - 29 Sep 2010
Contact:
FRDC

Need

1) There is need to incorporate environmental data in understanding larval dispersal and stock-recruitment relationships for two major crustacean fisheries, prawns and blue crabs, in SG.
2) There is a need to identify regions critical for spawning and settlement success for prawns and blue crabs.
3) There is a need to develop optimal harvesting strategies for prawns during the pre-Christmas fishing period, to maximise catch and minimise the impact on future recruitment to the fishery.
4) There is a need to understand the effect natural variations in physical environmental parameters (including winds and tides) have on larval ecology and recruitment success for prawns and blue crabs in SG.
5) There is a need to develop tools to inform on the threat for major fishery resources from climate change by understanding impacts of temperature change on stock-recruitment relationships for these fisheries.

Objectives

1. Develop biological models for the reproductive and larval biology of prawns and blue crabs.
2. Develop a passive particle hydrodynamic model of Spencer Gulf.
3. Develop the base case physical/biological model for prawns and blue crabs. Conduct sensitivity studies for different scenarios of environmental conditions (e.g. water temperature, wind strength).
4. Determine scenarios to optimise the harvest of western king prawns during the early spawning season.

Developing targeted strategies for improving product quality through selected low value seafood supply chains

Project number: 2006-209
Project Status:
Completed
Budget expenditure: $325,270.00
Principal Investigator: Thomas Riley
Organisation: Western Australian Fishing Industry Council Inc (WAFIC)
Project start/end date: 29 Sep 2006 - 1 Jan 2011
Contact:
FRDC

Need

Surveys have identified a market absence and yet consumer demand for well-presented, well-priced, top quality fresh and frozen WA seafood products. The market value of WA seafood may be further enhanced by the development of high quality value-added convenience products. These products may be developed using innovative processing technologies that ensure that taste and texture quality equivalent to a fresh product are achieved. Documented attention to food safety and environmental issues should also be addressed as these have been identified in consumer surveys as of importance to the discerning purchaser. Such value-adding, resulting in an extended shelf-life, may also result in export opportunities not currently available to WA suppliers.

To modify current industry practices, and develop new processing protocols to meet these emerging markets, there is a need for species specific, whole of supply chain microbiological and biochemical research, aligned with product quality assessment. Low value seafood with generally short shelf-lives will be chosen as the target sectors to maximize the potential increase in profit by extending shelf-life or by developing new product lines.

There have been no investigations to identify specific spoilage organisms that are found on seafood along the WA coast. Virtually nothing is known about any of the microflora of WA marine species. In terms of finfish in other parts of Australia, cool water fish are generally spoiled by Shewanella putrefaciens and similar pseudomonads, but the situation in warm water species is less clear with Pseudomonas fragi having been reported. The occurrence of these on WA species is unknown, but without this knowledge it will not be possible to design appropriate preservation, storage and packaging strategies to deal with spoilage organisms.

Objectives

1. To complete microbiological, biochemical and temperature analyses of six seafood supply chains.
2. To determine the impact of specific spoilage organisms/products on product quality through the test supply chains.
3. To identify and validate supply chain intervention and/or value-adding protocols which improve shelf-life or enable the development of new products.

Maximizing the survival of bycatch released from commercial estuarine fishing gears in NSW

Project number: 2005-056
Project Status:
Completed
Budget expenditure: $346,654.46
Principal Investigator: Matt K. Broadhurst
Organisation: Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development (NSW)
Project start/end date: 29 Nov 2005 - 31 Dec 2008
Contact:
FRDC

Need

In NSW, inherent variation among the characteristics of different estuarine fisheries has resulted in a range of physical modifications designed to improve the selectivity of conventional gears. While some of these designs have been effective in reducing the bycatches of unwanted species by up to 95%, rates of reduction more commonly range between 30 and 70%. Such reductions have obvious benefits for the stocks of bycatch species. considering the magnitudes of bycatches in many estuarine fisheries, and especially those targeting prawns (i.e. often 1000s of fish per haul), it is apparent that despite the use of modified gears, in nearly all cases there still remains some capture and mortality of unwanted individuals.

To augment the post-release survival of unwanted bycatch throughout nearly all of NSW estuarine fisheries (including those involving static gears, where no BRDs have been developed), ancillary options within the second category of input controls (listed above in B2) need to be investigated. The sorts of modifications that warrant examination include, defined soak times for gears, devices to limit predation on discarded bycatch, netting materials in codends that reduce damage to bycatch, the use of gloves to handle bycatch, and the utility of separating target and bycaught species in water after capture.

The majority of these operational and/or post-capture handling procedures have NOT been examined, but have the potential to significantly reduce the remaining impacts of commercial fishing gears on non-target species and sizes in NSW’s estuaries. This is one of the main research priorities detailed in the Fishery Management Strategy for the NSW Estuary General Fishery and comprises a key category within the 2004-2007 Strategic Research Plan for Fisheries, Aquaculture and Aquatic Conservation in NSW. Quantification of the utility of this category of input controls would also have benefit and application throughout all other coastal fisheries in Australia.

The research will form the basis of a PhD candidature. This approach is justified because (i) the work is new and there is sufficient intellectual content to support a PhD student, (ii) there is a paucity of researchers with higher degrees working in the applied fields of gear technology and bycatch mitigation in Australia and (iii) previous, similarly-structured FRDC projects (e.g. 93/180 and 2001/031) have resulted in successful PhD candidatures by project staff. Specifying a PhD candidature formalizes what would already occur if funding was sought for a Fisheries Technician, but at approx. 1/3 the cost, while attracting a substantial in-kind contribution from affiliated institutions (the National Marine Science Centre and University of New England).

Objectives

1. To identify deleterious operational procedures and post-capture handling practices and quantify their effect on the immediate and short-term survival of unwanted, discarded bycatch throughout NSW s estuarine fishing gears.
2. To examine simple, but appropriate, operational and/or handling practices that improve the immediate and short-term post-capture survival of unwanted bycatches.
3. To determine the most appropriate strategies from (2) and assist commercial fishers and managers in their implementation, adoption and eventual legislation.

Final report

Development of stock allocation and assessment techniques in WA blue swimmer crab fisheries

Project number: 2001-068
Project Status:
Completed
Budget expenditure: $514,757.00
Principal Investigator: Lynda Bellchambers
Organisation: Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development (DPIRD) WA
Project start/end date: 22 Jul 2001 - 22 Mar 2006
Contact:
FRDC

Need

Specifically the ongoing management and development of WA commercial and recreational crab fishing requires:
1. A fishery independent method to assess annual variation in pre-fishery recruitment strengths to enable variations in catch data due to effort or technology changes to be distinguished from environmental variations in recruit survival. This will also enable the strength of the recruitment to be predicted in advance, which may allow for a pro-active management approach to be adopted.
2. Improved methodologies for estimating stock abundance and size from newly surveyed areas using developmental fishing (e.g. Shark Bay Developmental fishery), to enable more rapid assessment and allocation of fishing areas.
3. The validation of the allocation model adopted in Cockburn Sound and Geographe Bay, based on differential size limits and commercial effort control, and the associated development of low cost recreational catch monitoring systems to assess ongoing variations to catch shares. These data complement the more detailed data collected from creel surveys as it focuses on the key recruitment periods. An allocation model that allocates the catch between the commercial and recreational sectors, 5/8:3/8 respectively, is currently in place for Cockburn Sound. Therefore it is important that a cost effective annual monitoring program is available to confirm its success.
4. To collect baseline data on currently unfished stocks of blue swimmer crabs to allow comparisons between ongoing developmental fisheries and established fisheries. This provides an opportunity to collect data on the fishery from commencement and to examine any changes caused by fishing pressure.
5. An assessment of the applicability of the SA model for blue swimmer crabs to WA commercial catch data from longstanding fishing such as is available for Cockburn Sound is required, to enable the ongoing stock assessment of the WA blue swimmer crab fisheries for annual ESD reporting.
6. The development of a dedicated blue swimmer crab database to record ongoing commercial catches and data from exploratory fishing permitted during the life of the project.

Objectives

1. To determine if the abundance of juveniles can be used to predict the relative strength of the subsequent recruitment of the adults of this species into the fishery.
2. To develop low cost annual recreational catch monitoring methods for resource allocation adjustments.
3. To assess the relative impacts of minimum size and fishing effort controls on the resource shares in Cockburn Sound and Geographe Bay.
4. To work with industry to collect baseline data on unfished stocks of blue swimmer crabs by developmental fishing, which is necessary to set initial catch limits, in selected areas along the coast of Western Australia.
5. To provide an assessment for the Shark Bay developmental fishery, based on commercial fishing and tagging data, as a means of developing methods for rapid assessment of new areas.

Final report

ISBN: 1-877098-77-9
Author: Lynda Bellchambers

Quantification of changes in recreational catch and effort on blue swimmer crabs in Cockburn Sound and Geographe Bay

Project number: 2001-067
Project Status:
Completed
Budget expenditure: $135,780.00
Principal Investigator: Neil Sumner
Organisation: Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development (DPIRD) WA
Project start/end date: 22 Jul 2001 - 30 Apr 2004
Contact:
FRDC

Need

A current estimate of the recreational catch and fishing effort for blue swimmer crabs is needed following the recent introduction of management measures designed to change the commercial/recreational composition of the catch in Cockburn Sound and Geographe Bay. The size of the recreational and commercial catches and fishing effort for these embayments is specifically needed to assess the performance of the reallocation package that has been applied. The total catch and fishing effort (recreational and commercial) will enable the refinement of the management packages for these fisheries to maintain agreed resource shares.

This assessment is also required to confirm, for the two fishing sectors, that the management methodology adopted has achieved its objectives. Should this be confirmed, the project will become a case study for use by the Resource Sharing Advisory Committee recently setup by Fisheries WA as part of the Integrated Coastal Fisheries Initiative.

These embayments have been the source of considerable debate and controversy between recreational and commercial fishers. The major obstacle to the resolution of fishery management and resource sharing issues in Cockburn Sound and Geographe Bay is the lack of current data on the recreational catch.

Objectives

1. To estimate the boat-based and shore-based recreational catch, fishing effort and size composition for blue swimmer crabs in Cockburn Sound and Geographe Bay during 2001/02.
2. To report on the relative recreational and commercial catch shares for 2001/02 and to compare the results with earlier years.
3. To quantify and evaluate changes in the recreational catch, catch rates and fishing effort following resource-sharing changes since the previous survey in 1996/97.
4. To compare the length frequency data of the recreational catch of blue swimmer crabs relative to commercial catches in these areas.

Final report

Stable isotope tracing of the contribution of seagrass production to subtropical fisheries species occurring outside seagrass areas

Project number: 1999-217
Project Status:
Completed
Budget expenditure: $90,100.00
Principal Investigator: Rod Connolly
Organisation: Griffith University Nathan Campus
Project start/end date: 12 Jul 1999 - 30 Jul 2003
Contact:
FRDC

Need

An examination of which fisheries species are sustained by seagrass plant production has been highlighted as a major research priority in the recent reviews of fisheries habitat research gaps by Cappo et al. (1997) and Butler & Jernakoff (draft report to FRDC). The recommended method in Butler & Jernakoff for tracing seagrass production to fisheries species is stable isotope analysis. Coastal and fisheries managers currently consider seagrass to be valuable, nevertheless there are many seagrass meadows under threat and still being lost. An argument can be developed, supported by current scientific evidence, that many important fisheries species are not reliant on seagrass and that their numbers actually increase upon the decline of seagrass. Estuarine and offshore fisheries species that do not appear to be dependent on seagrass might actually be so, but indirectly; they may be deriving their food from animals in a trophic web that is sustained by energy (carbon) and nutrients (e.g. nitrogen) transported from seagrass meadows. Another estuarine habitat, mangrove forest, has previously been touted as generating plant production that drives food webs elsewhere in estuaries and offshore. Recent evidence from Australia and Asia suggests this is not so; mangroves seem to sustain only species living in mangrove areas. The question whether seagrass production is the major source of primary production sustaining fisheries production needs answering. The best method for tracing where fisheries species gain their nutrition is stable isotope analysis.

The proposed research will be done in Moreton Bay and Hervey Bay. These bays are of extraordinary importance to Queensland fisheries, with Moreton Bay alone comprising up to 30% of the total Queensland catch of inshore recreational and commercial species (Tibbetts & Connolly 1998). There are also important fisheries in deeper waters adjacent to these bays. Both bays have extensive areas of seagrass, but also mangroves, saltmarsh and occasional reefs offshore. They are also suffering ongoing seagrass loss.

Objectives

1. Determine the ultimate source of primary (plant) production sustaining fisheries production of several key species of fish and crustaceans in subtropical Australian waters.
2. Quantify the contribution of seagrass meadows to fisheries species found outside seagrass areas, either elsewhere in estuaries or offshore.
3. Ensure that information about the relative importance of seagrass to production in different fisheries is taken to fisheries and other coastal managers to influence future management decisions.

Final report

ISBN: 0-909291-73-X
Author: Rod Connolly
Final Report • 2003-07-16 • 1.33 MB
1999-217-DLD.pdf

Summary

Results from this project affect the relative importance coastal managers will place on different estuarine habitats.  Until now primary production from mangrove forests has been ranked highly for its presumed contribution to fisheries species occurring seaward of mangroves.  This project has shown, however, that in subtropical Australian estuaries and bays, fish and crustaceans caught over shallow mudflats are much more likely to obtain substantial nutrition from seagrass meadows and in situ production of microalgae.  Mudflats lacking conspicuous vegetation not only provide habitat for certain key fish and crustacean species but also seem to play an important trophic role.  The project also developed quantitative techniques for analysing stable isotope data.  These have already been taken up by other scientists, and will help them answer big picture questions about fisheries foodwebs that have appeared intractable.

Effects of trawling subprogram: prawn fishery bycatch and discards - fates and consequences for a marine ecosystem

Project number: 1998-225
Project Status:
Completed
Budget expenditure: $419,638.24
Principal Investigator: Ib Svane
Organisation: SARDI Food Safety and Innovation
Project start/end date: 28 Jun 1998 - 21 May 2004
Contact:
FRDC

Need

*Public perceptions
Commercial fisheries, in particular prawn fisheries, conjour negative perceptions of environmental impact by the general community. This stems as much from the negative imagery of capture of species of intrinsic public e.g. dolphins, as it does from notions that commercial fisheries irreversibly deplete stocks.

*Adverse consumer response
Public perceptions have been shown to translate into adverse consumer response. In addition, domestic perception and political pressure threatens the actual conduct of fisheries rather than the market for the product. There is a clear need to better inform the Australian public on the environmental performance of commercial fisheries by identifying environmental impacts and promoting responsible work practices.

*Improved promotion of commercial fishing
The proposal addresses a major need for more effective promotion of commercial fisheries linked to domestic perceptions and market opportunities.

*The ecosytem effects of fishing need to be understood.
Most of Australia's major fisheries are undertaken in nearshore habitats yet relatively little is known of the effects of fishing on coastal ecosystems. This project seeks to address this question for a major coastal fishery. The objectives of the project are consistent with the aims of modern fisheries management and have been identified as an information need by FRDC.

Objectives

1. To determine which scavengers exploit material from prawn trawlers.
2. To determine the relative contribution this material makes to their diet and the population level consequences of prawn by-catch discarding for scavenger species.
3. To determine the population level consequences of prawn by-catch for the by-catch species themselves.
4. To quantify the rates and relative importance of nutrient regeneration by natural processes (winds and currents) and by prawn trawling activities in Spencer Gulf.
5. To integrate the information that has been collected from both this study and previous work to develop a trophodynamic model that quantitatively describes the influence of prawn trawling in a coastal ecosystem.
6. To complete a comprehensive written assessment of the ecological impact of prawn trawling in Spencer Gulf, consistent with the need to adopt principles of Ecologically Sustainable Development.
7. To identify and promote environmentally favourable work practices.

Final report

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