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People
People
PROJECT NUMBER • 2013-748.20
PROJECT STATUS:
COMPLETED

Seafood CRC: addressing roadblocks to the adoption of economics in fisheries policy (2013/748.20 Communal)

This project has led to the development of three journal articles examining how the use of economic analyses and stock enhancement can lead to improved economic outcomes in Australian wild-capture commercial fisheries. The Seafood Cooperative Research Centre (Seafood CRC) Future Harvest (FH)...
ORGANISATION:
University of Tasmania (UTAS)
Environment
Industry
PROJECT NUMBER • 2009-774
PROJECT STATUS:
COMPLETED

Seafood CRC: harvest strategy evaluations and co-management for the Moreton Bay trawl fishery

The Moreton Bay otter trawl fishery is a multispecies fishery, with the majority of the catch composed of various species of prawns, squid and Moreton Bay Bugs. The project was an initiative of the MBSIA and developed from concerns over a number of issues. These included concern over declining...
ORGANISATION:
Department of Primary Industries (QLD)

Effects of trawling subprogram: effects of trawling on the benthos and biodiversity - development and delivery of a spatially-explicit management framework for the Northern Prawn Fishery

Project number: 2005-050
Project Status:
Completed
Budget expenditure: $916,630.00
Principal Investigator: Rodrigo H. Bustamante
Organisation: CSIRO Oceans and Atmosphere Hobart
Project start/end date: 29 Sep 2005 - 28 Feb 2009
:

Need

Recent assessments of the NPF have identified a need for the fishery to be managed at a finer spatial scale than that of the NPF managed area (AFMA 2003, DEH 2003). The stocks of some prawn species appear to comprise regional subpopulations that, although not genetically isolated, mix little enough to be manageable as separate stocks. This view is consistent with the experience that depleted stocks in some regions (e.g. north of Mornington Island and Weipa) have not recovered when stocks elsewhere in the NPF were healthy.
The assessments also identify a need to broaden the scope of management of the NPF beyond prawn stocks, iconic species and bycatch to include benthic habitats and species. Prawn fishing has a number of impacts on the ecosystem, including: removal of target species; removal of bycatch and byproduct; removal of benthic plants and animals; removal of habitat-forming species; disruption of sediment structure; suspension of sediment; and feeding of dolphins, sharks, seabirds, fish and benthic invertebrates with discards (Poiner et al. 1998). Some impacts, such as removal of seagrass in nursery habitats, are known to negatively affect prawn stocks. Other impacts are likely to affect stocks in unknown ways, positively or negatively, and in some habitats may affect the sustainability of the stocks.
Broadening management of the NPF to include impacts on benthic ecosystems is therefore prudent from both an environmental and industry viewpoint. It is also consistent with the recommendations of the NPF strategic assessment (DEH 2003), and will prepare the industry for the increasingly sophisticated environmental awareness of export markets.
Management of the NPF is currently based on sound stock assessment and population monitoring procedures, and uses maximum sustainable yield as the management limit reference point. Spatial stock assessment has been investigated with mixed success, but is not used operationally. Current environmental management focuses on fragile habitats (mainly seagrass), prawn spawning areas, iconic species (e.g. turtles) and bycatch. Recently, ABARE suggested a move towards economic efficiency targets, such as maximum economic yield. (Rose and Kompass 2004).
To do this the FRDC project 2004/022 will integrate the existing stock and economic assessments into an MSE process.
To enable stock, economic and environmental objectives to be effectively pursued in a spatial context and with minimal conflict, the stock, economic, bycatch and ecosystem components of NPF management must be integrated into a single, spatially explicit management framework. This project will contribute with major missing elements for that integration and will develop this needed spatial management framework. Equally, the timing of this proposal is opportune given that stock assessment and monitoring are already mature, interactions with iconic species and bycatch are becoming well understood, and the integration of stock assessment with economics is currently underway. To achieve highly effective technical communication and integration we will involve PIs from past and present projects and a Steering Committee with members from CSIRO AFMA staff and NORMAC-REC and NPF-RAG members.

Objectives

1. Determine the accumulated effects of trawling on benthic community state and composition.
2. Quantify key benthic ecosystem processes of importance to prawn production and biodiversity along a trawl intensity gradient.
3. Develop, and provide for adoption management strategy evaluation tools for benthic ecosystem impacts.
4. Design and delivery of a spatially explicit management framework for the NPF.

Final report

ISBN: 978 0 643 10380 1
Author: Rodrigo Bustamante
Communities
PROJECT NUMBER • 2018-172
PROJECT STATUS:
COMPLETED

Methods to profile and connect the provenance of wild caught prawn fisheries and their values to the community

The wild prawn industry, as a key influencer of the community's (sustainability) perception of the Australian seafood industry, has addressed identified risks to social license so that it can protect its legal license to operate in public waters. This report provides the results and conclusions on...
ORGANISATION:
Australian Council of Prawn Fisheries Ltd (ACPF)
Adoption
PROJECT NUMBER • 2017-065
PROJECT STATUS:
COMPLETED

Disseminating existing bycatch reduction and fuel efficiency technologies throughout Australia's prawn fisheries

Prawn trawling is among the world's least selective fishing methods, the unintended consequence being large quantities of bycatch. It is also a method that can disturb benthic habitats and use large quantities of fuel—a significant running cost for many fisheries. Issues of bycatch and fuel...
ORGANISATION:
IC Independent Consulting Pty Ltd
Adoption
Blank
PROJECT NUMBER • 2016-412
PROJECT STATUS:
COMPLETED

ACPF IPA: Australian wild caught prawn sector RD&E management and communication

This project enabled the Australian Council of Prawn Fishers to coordinate, commission and extend its RD&E investments under the 2016 2020 Industry Partnership Agreement with FRDC. The report documents the process and plans behind each of the IPA’s programs: Community...
ORGANISATION:
Australian Council of Prawn Fisheries Ltd (ACPF)
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