Given the general decline in GVP for the Australian wild capture prawn industry (from $364 million to $232 million in the last 15 years), and particularly the loss of traditional export markets, the industry needs to focus on optimising value in the domestic market. However it has become apparent that the current and established business models being pursued by many wild harvest prawn companies are not set up to optimize the domestic market opportunities. The change from an export focused to a domestic focused business requires companies to have a better understanding of the competitive landscape and of the customer and distribution channel requirements (for both quality and service) in domestic markets in order to identify and exploit new market opportunities. However, it appears this knowledge is currently not available or, in the case of a number of completed CRC consumer surveys, not being well extended to the Australian prawn industry to faciliate changing business models to increase profitability.

This project aims to work with committed prawn industry leaders to extend current results from previous CRC and other consumer/market studies, identify gaps and if necessary commission further research to identify new domestic market opportunities. Subsequently industry leaders will be empowered to work with all chain participants resulting in identification of supply chain innovations (in service and quality) and promotionional strategies required to meet the identified opportunity. Subsequently all chain participants will agree collectively to co-invest to implement the required strategies. The participatory action nature of the research, with identification, commitment and active involvement of industry champions and all chain participants being mandatory to the process, represents an innovation in CRC research and should ensure commercial outcomes.

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).

Considering the prominence of the NSW prawn resources, it is important that managers be equipped with the information necessary to manage the school prawn resource in a sustainable way that provides equity for all stakeholders. Despite its prominence as one of the two most important contributors to the prawn production in NSW, little is known about the population dynamics of this species.

There is evidence to suggest that the school prawn populations in NSW may be overfished. Available information shows that the size of spawning populations in ocean waters may be declining and that prawns are being caught at sizes far shorter than those that would optimise biological “yield per recruit” under an F0.1 fishing policy.

The data which was used in this population modeling of the species had relatively low levels of precision. Estimates of growth and mortality with acceptable levels of precision are needed so that population models can be used with confidence to predict the outcomes of scenarios aimed at optimising the use of the school prawn resource. Out of a list of ten topics needing research, attendees at the Juvenile Prawn Summit assigned the highest priority for research to the study of growth and mortality of school prawns.

As mentioned above in B2 Background, one consequence of increasing concerns over ecosystem effects of fishing is that fisheries scientists, managers and fishermen are now being asked to consider not only the consequences of removing target species and non-target, by-catch species but also the ecological implications of disrupting habitats and the many species living in these systems. Unfortunately, much of the life on and in the seabed influenced by fishing gear like demersal trawls is unknown to the general public and, in Australia, much of it also remains unknown to science. While the species that comprise the biodiversity of these systems (sponges, ascidians, byrozoans, polychaetes, microscopic organisms, juveniles of commercially exploited species, etc.) have little charisma, public appeal or commercial priority, their role is a critical one because they underpin much of the local ecology. Add this to the fact that most of our commercial and recreational fisheries rely on the continued normal functioning of these ecosystems and it becomes obvious that the fishing industry itself should be (and in certain enlightened fisheries, are) concerned about these issues. That is, not only is it important for fishermen to understand these ecosystems in order to answer public outcries, it also makes good business sense for them to be actively involved in the maintenance of these systems upon which their fisheries depend.

Issues concerning biodiversity and ecosystem effects of fishing are key to most management plans for commercial fisheries in Australia where there are policies to manage in an ecologically sustainable manner. Ecological sustainability is not actually possible without sustaining the diversity of the system so the examination of processes sustaining biodiversity and the inclusion of such issues in management plans is a high priority for most fisheries agencies, including NSW Fisheries. The result from this is that ESD performance indicators are required in all management plans for NSW’s commercial fisheries - particularly the controversial estuarine prawn-trawl fishery.

Maintaining the ecological sustainability of estuaries is particularly important in a broader context because most of the species exploited in oceanic and estuarine waters rely on these estuaries for critical parts of their life cycle. For example, the very large Clarence River in NSW is known to be crucial for the juvenile stages of eastern king prawns and many species of fish that are exploited in oceanic waters. Protecting the ecology of such systems will obviously have major benefits for all fisheries based on such species - not just those exploited within the estuary.

The estuarine prawn-trawl fisheries of New South Wales also provide a unique opportunity to develop experimental designs and sampling protocols to address the issue of ecological impacts of trawling. These fisheries occur in shallow, calm water and, most importantly, already have various areas and times that are open and closed to trawling, providing excellent replicable treatments to incorporate in experimental comparisons. These factors combine to make these particular trawl fisheries ideal case-studies for studying impacts of trawling on ecosystems and to provide measurable indices of biodiversity that can be used as ESD performance indicators. The proposed research is particularly important in providing a model for how future studies (in more difficult habitats) may proceed.

As mentioned in B2 Background, developing solutions to problematic impacts of prawn trawling requires one to firstly identify and quantify the problem(s) and then assess the utility of various gear-based and closure-based management strategies designed to ameliorate these problem(s). This proposal seeks funds to begin this two-stage strategy in the Clarence River estuarine prawn trawl fishery by doing the first identification and quantification phase of the work.

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.