14 results

Habitat restoration and management: a trial of an investment-based approach

Project number: 2000-179
Project Status:
Completed
Budget expenditure: $133,505.99
Principal Investigator: Bob Tilbury
Organisation: BMT WBM
Project start/end date: 29 Jun 2000 - 29 Jun 2005
Contact:
FRDC

Need

The loss and compromise of habitat is a problem that affects all Australian commercial and recreational fisheries (Zann et al. 1996). A recent review (funded by FRDC) of fisheries habitat research in Australia (Cappo et al. 1998) found that more action is needed to rehabilitate degraded habitats, of which coastal wetlands are particularly important. Cappo et al. 1998 also found that understanding of impacts on fish stocks was hampered by lack of knowledge regarding natural variation in populations and habitats.

Priorities for further habitat research have been emphasised by Cappo et al. (1998) and are reflected in FRDC’s Ecosystems Protection Program. This project has particular implications for protecting and enhancing fisheries habitats in the following specific areas:
1. Defining and monitoring the utilisation of a major habitat type in the coastal zone and assessing the role of that habitat in fisheries production;
2. As a trial for a self-sustaining management strategy that will actively encourage fisheries habitat rehabilitation, regardless of the site/fishery involved; and
3. By providing a direct benefit to fisheries habitats and therefore the associated fish stocks in the local region.

There is currently specific concern in the Southern Shark Fishery regarding the status of school shark stocks, with catches falling steadily from 2026 tonnes in 1986 to 749 tonnes in 1997 (Walker 1998, Punt and Walker 1998). However, there is a differential between the status of school shark stocks and those of gummy shark, which are considered to be sound. Thus there is a clear need to introduce measures which assist in rebuilding school shark stocks without adversely affecting sustainable catches of gummy sharks. There is also an identified need to protect school shark pre-recruits, which appear to be increasingly hard to find.

School sharks give birth during November and December in protected bays and channels on low-energy coastlines in Victoria and Tasmania (Olsen 1954; Stevens and West 1997). Although newborn sharks are found outside these areas, school shark nursery areas are regarded as 'critical habitat' for this species. This nursery habitat type has suffered significant loss throughout southern Australia, initially as a result of farming practices and subsequently from coastal development. Hence, in addition to concerns about the effects of fishing on the breeding stock, there is concern that loss of school shark nursery habitat may be causing further stock reduction or inhibiting management attempts at rebuilding the stock. Thus, there is a critical need to protect, restore and/or enhance nursery habitats for juvenile school shark as part of a strategy to improve recruitment to the fishery and contribute to restoring stocks.

Many of the important nursery areas for school shark (and other fish species) have been altered through human activities. For example, the 'State of the Marine Environment Report for Australia' indicates that several of the most important school shark nursery areas have lost large areas of seagrass. In Victoria, Western Port Bay has lost 17,800 hectares (and 85% of the seagrass biomass) and, in Tasmania, the Pittwater Estuary has lost 1201 hectares and Norfolk Bay has lost 2148 hectares.

Action to arrest the trend in degradation of school shark 'critical habitat' and to rehabilitate lost habitat is essential if school shark is to be a resource that can be used sustainably. The shark fishing industry initiative to inundate Black Swamp with seawater is the first attempt at rehabilitation of a school shark nursery area. This initiative will also provide additional habitat and potential nursery area for other commercial (MacDonald 1997) and recreational (Hall and MacDonald 1986) species abundant in Corner Inlet (Gunthorpe, in prep). Some of these other species which have high commercial value or are sought after by recreational fishers include snapper, gummy shark, southern garfish, greenback flounder, flathead and King George whiting.

Corner Inlet is an excellent location for trialling restoration of coastal wetlands and estuarine fish habitats, given:
- it was formerly acknowledged as an important juvenile school shark nursery habitat;
- the drained coastal wetlands of Corner Inlet formerly provided nursery areas and adult habitat for many other fish species utilised by commercial and recreational fishers;
- extensive areas of such habitat have been lost in the inlet through the construction of sea walls, resulting in mangrove, seagrass and saltmarsh communities being converted to pasture;
- there is significant potential for restoration of additional areas of the inlet outside the specific area involved in the trial;
- the project has generated widespread local support and enthusiasm from a variety of stakeholders, including offshore and inshore fishermen, landholders, local council and the community; and,
- nationally there may be hundreds of drained coastal wetlands that could be restored and managed through a similar approach should the trial prove successful. This wider potential application is demonstrated by the breadth of support for this project from fisheries managers in other states.

Gunthorpe, L. (in prep). Corner Inlet fish habitats – 1998 (Compiled by Fish Habitat Assessment Group) (Fisheries Victoria: Melbourne).

Hall, D. N., and MacDonald, C. M. (1986). A survey of recreational fishing in Corner Inlet and Nooramunga, South Gippsland. Marine Fisheries Report No. 8. (Fisheries and Wildlife Service: Melbourne).

Olsen, A. M. (1954). The biology, migration, and growth rate of the school shark, Galeorhinus australis (Macleay) (Carcharhinidae) in south-eastern Australian waters. Australian Journal of Marine and Freshwater Research 5, 353-410.

MacDonald, C. M. (1997). Corner Inlet - Nooramunga fin fisheries 1994. Fisheries Assessment Report Series . Report No. 3. 50 pp. (Department of Natural Resources and Environment: Melbourne).

Punt, A. E., and Walker, T. I. (1998). Stock assessment and risk analysis for the school shark Galeorhinus galeus (Linnaeus) off southern Australia. Marine and Freshwater Research 49 (in press).

Stevens, J. D., and West, G. J. (1997). 'Investigation of school and gummy shark nursery areas in south eastern Australia.' 77 pp. (CSIRO Marine Research: Hobart.)

Walker, T. I. (1998). Can shark resources be harvested sustainably? A question revisited with a review of shark fisheries. Marine and Freshwater Research 49 (7).

Zann et al. (1996). The State of The Marine Environment, Report for Australia, GBRMPA.

Objectives

1. Develop an appropriate monitoring methodology for assessing the progress of fisheries habitat restoration within the trial wetland area (Black Swamp)
2. Describe the nature of fish communities, sediments and benthic flora present at and adjacent to the site prior to reflooding
3. Assess changes in fish communities, sediments and benthic flora within and adjacent to the trial area in the years following reflooding
4. Assess the effectiveness of the restoration of fish habitat in Corner Inlet and the likely benefits to commercial and recreational fisheries.
5. Assess the effectiveness of the investment-based approach as a management tool for the restoration of fisheries habitats.

Final report

ISBN: 0-9589982-2-1
Author: Robert Tilbury

Shell life evaluation of semi-dried vacuumed pack mullet

Project number: 1998-483
Project Status:
Completed
Budget expenditure: $2,471.00
Principal Investigator: Judy Tam
Organisation: Food Centre of Western Australian Inc (FCWA)
Project start/end date: 28 Mar 2000 - 30 Jul 2000
Contact:
FRDC

Objectives

1. Investigate current production methods and their effects on shelf life eg. time, temperature of drying
2. Investigate the shelf life of the current product
3. Identify methods to extend the shelf life

Fish in the shallows of NSW south coast estuaries: variability and diversity of fish communities and the development of biological indicators for sustainability and biodiversity

Project number: 1997-204
Project Status:
Completed
Budget expenditure: $280,358.00
Principal Investigator: Ron J. West
Organisation: University of Wollongong
Project start/end date: 20 Jul 1997 - 31 May 2001
Contact:
FRDC

Need

Major structural changes are occurring in several natural resource industries as the
principles of Ecological Sustainable Development (ESD), Biodiversity Conservation and
National Competition Policy are implemented. These principles are beginning to have a
significant and fundamental impact on natural resource management, at all levels of
Government and in several primary industry areas, such as forestry, agriculture and the
water industry.

The forestry industry, which bears closest parallels with the fishing industry, has
been in the forefront of these policy changes. In NSW forests: implementation of
Biodiversity Conservation principles has led to the reservation of areas traditionally
harvested by industry; implementation of ESD principles has led to the need to prepare
forestry management plans, incorporating indicators of sustainability; and, National
Competition Policies have led to the imminent corporatisation of the NSW forestry
management agency and restriction of its activities to commercial harvesting (as
opposed to other forestry management activities which will be carried out by other
departments and local community management groups).

A major problem in reforming NSW forestry has been the lack of useful forestry data
relating to biodiversity and overall sustainability (eg. faunal components of forests).
This resulted from management agencies not giving priority to collecting data on
biodiversity and has led to somewhat arbitrary decision making and eventual
confrontation. A parallel situation now exists in fisheries where, in general, very
little data has been collected on diversity of fish communities in the vast majority of
areas that are presently being fished.

In NSW, estuary management is the responsibility of many players, such as Catchment
Management Committees, River Trusts, the Department of Land and Water Conservation
(DLWC), National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS), as well as NSW Fisheries. For
example: the majority of estuary restoration projects in NSW are carried out by Local
Councils and Catchment Committees; DLWC is implementing "State of the Catchment"
reporting; and, "new" players, such as DLWC and NPWS, are beginning to impose
"external" constraints on fishing activities, with the objective of conserving
biodiversity. Yet very little data exist on variability and diversity of estuarine fish
communities in NSW.

While a number of agencies and groups have a role to play in estuary management,
none are likely to fund a major fisheries project at this stage. This proposed project
is a large-scale fisheries research project, relating directly to fisheries and the health of
fish communities. Every opportunity to involve other external collaborators in this project
will be explored, however only small-scale funding is likely to be achieved, leading to
a fragmented approach to this important collection of data. For example, the applicant has
already been successful in obtaining $5,000 from the Illawarra Catchment Management
Committee (ICMC) with a $10,000 extension of the project from FishCare, but none of the
sampling sites chosen by the ICMC are in areas fished extensively.

During the course of the project, the applicant will be in contact with all the relevant
agencies, such as NSW Fisheries, NSW Dept. Land and WaterConservation, NSW
National Parks and Wildlife, Local Councils and catchment groups, to ensure full
consultation takes place and that maximum collaboration is obtained.

The information to be collected during the course of this proposed FRDC project
is likely to be used widely in various management plans and reports prepared by both
community groups and Government, including:

* fisheries management plans,
* estuary management plans,
* catchment management plans, and,
* state of the environment reporting.

The inclusion of fisheries information in these reporting mechanisms would: raise the
profile of fisheries issues; encourage such data to become an established part of the
estuary health indicators; and, in so doing, help in future funding of on-going "monitoring"
programs, based on this research project. All of the above reports will be vital to the future
of the fishing industry in NSW. The NSW Fishing Industry Research Advisory Committee
(NSW FIRAC) has acknowledged the importance of the type of data collected from
this proposed project and, as a result, considered it to be amongst their highest priorities
for FRDC funding.

This project will provide data on shallow water fish communities in a wide range of estuaries
throughout southern NSW and will examine the usefulness of these data as indicators of
sustainability and biodiversity. Data on these shallow water fish communities are
comparatively easy to collect, but offer several advantages over other possible
sampling methods (see Appendix 2). The collection of environmental data at each
of the sampling sites will also provide useful information in itself, as well as important data
for the interpretation of changes in the shallow water fish populations.

Objectives

1. To examine variability in the diversity and abundance of fishes within and between selected estuaries, coastal lakes and lagoons in southern NSW, including fished and non-fished areas.
2. To provide the first set of comparative data for the south coast region of NSW on the recruitment intensity for a large selection of economically important estuarine fish species.
3. To investigate the usefulness of these data as indicators of biodiversity and sustainability, and possible inclusion as performance indicators in management of estuaries.
4. To provide a comprehensive set of environmental data relating to each sampling location, including water quality and habitat quality parameters.
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