Travel bursary: Sustainable Ocean Summit 2017, Canada
Australia possesses significant coastal and near coastal oil and gas reserves within its continental shelf. It follows that oil and gas exploration (especially seismic) is also significant; especially in the the Bass Strait, Great Australian Bight and North-Western 'Kimberley' areas of Australia. Up until recently, the offshore regulatory framework which includes assessment of effects on the aquatic environment and engagement with other users has been somewhat nebulous and Offshore Industry driven, with the development of aquatic environmental benchmarks being based on the same process as offshore OH&S and butressed by disputed sometimes irrelevant science.
Seismic expoloration in recent years has seen increased interaction between different aquatic ecosystems and marine users, resulting in a "contact" situation that was initially calamitous; but which has resulted in significant investment in Marine biological R&D, an increase in the deployment of the precautionary principle and marine environmental policy innovation.
Johnathon Davey (SIV) and Aaron Irving (NAC) will deliver a presentation that will draw on a number of aquatic environmental effects research project where Australia's fishing sectors were or are driving, policy innovations that we assisted in driving or supporting and case studies including the pearling Industry story, to provide a snapshot of the exciting work being undertaken in Australia currently in the marine environmental space with regard to the effects of seismic surveying and the ability for different users to play together successfully.
Final report
Effects of habitat disturbances on coastal fisheries resources in Tin Can Bay/ Great Sandy Strait
Predicting the impacts of shifting recreational fishing effort towards inshore species
Tide and current analysis of the Gulf of Carpentaria and its relation to banana prawn larval dispersion
Final report
The prawn fishing industry in the Gulf of Carpentaria is worth $100 million/year and a large proportion of this is from catches of banana prawns. In one stage of their complex life history, banana prawn larvae are carried by ocean currents from their spawning grounds to the estuarine nursery areas.
The aim of this project was to define the currents that carry the larvae so that the life history can be more fully understood and various biological hypothesis concerning the banana prawn and in particular the behaviour of larvae can be fully tested. To achieve these goals a mixture of field work and theoretical modelling and cooperation between physical oceanographers and fisheries biologists was required.