147 results
Industry
PROJECT NUMBER • 2003-226
PROJECT STATUS:
COMPLETED

Aquafin CRC - Southern Bluefin Tuna Aquaculture Subprogram: net fouling management to enhance water quality and southern bluefin tuna (Thunnus maccoyii) performance

The main aim of the 'Aquafin CRC - FRDC Southern Bluefin Tuna Aquaculture Subprogram: Net Fouling Management to Enhance Water Quality and SBT Performance' project was to better understand the impact of net fouling in sea-cage culture, specifically within the South Australian southern bluefin tuna...
ORGANISATION:
Aquaculture Management Consultants Pty Ltd
Environment
PROJECT NUMBER • 2005-082
PROJECT STATUS:
COMPLETED

Determining the impact of environmental variability on the sustainability, fishery dynamics and economic performance of the West Coast Prawn Trawl Fishery

The project has provided an understanding of how environmental variation has impacted on WCPF production. Chapter 1 contains the objectives of the study, background and need for the work. Chapter 2 provides a context for understanding of: a) oceanic and climatological processes which are associated...
ORGANISATION:
Spencer Gulf and West Coast Prawn Association (SGWCPA)

Characterising the fish habitats in the Recherche Archipelago, Western Australia

Project number: 2001-060
Project Status:
Completed
Budget expenditure: $609,172.00
Principal Investigator: Gary Kendrick
Organisation: University of Western Australia (UWA)
Project start/end date: 7 Dec 2001 - 5 Dec 2005
Contact:
FRDC

Need

Fisheries WA demonstrated in their Aquaculture Plan for the Recherche Archipelago (Fisheries WA 2000) that one of the major factors slowing development in this region is lack of accurate spatially explicit data on the distributions of benthic habitats and the influence of currents and wind generated waves. This information is required to aid the selection of suitable offshore aquaculture facilities and in the development of multiple use management plans.

This FRDC application, rather than focusing on cultural, economic and social elements of resource planning concentrates on the physical and biological data requirements. Many important cultural, economic and social issues have been identified in community and industry consultation by Fisheries WA during the development of the Aquaculture plan for the recherche Archipelago (Fisheries WA, 2000). The major outcome from these documents was that most other users of the Archipelago (Tourism, Shipping, Recreational and other commercial fishermen) indicated they were not happy with wholesale aquaculture development until accurate assessments of the benthic habitats and oceanography were completed over a wide spatial scale within the Archipelago. The recognition of this need has provided impetus resulting in aquaculture proponents (MG Kailis, Maritime Training Centre of Esperance), other fisheries (Esperance Professional Fishers Association, Esperance Professional Abalone Divers Association, 2 Recreational Angling Clubs), shipping concerns (Esperance Port Authority and industries utilising the port), tourism (Goldfields Esperance Development Commission), government departments (CALM, Fisheries WA, The Esperance Shire) and local concerned citizens (Recherche Action Group, Local Environmental Action Forum) all providing formal support for this application.

These groups see the need for representative broad scale bio-physical information to be used in the integrated planning to ensure the compatibility and sustainability of a diverse range of marine a coastal activities. This will ensure that the quality of the environment and the quality of life experienced by the populace living in Recherche Archipelago region is balanced with the need for new job creation in the region.

The 2.5 year research program we describe in this proposal will fulfil bio-physical data requirements for that planning process. This data will be available for incorporation into existing regional planning documents written in conjunction with cultural economic and social components that have been collected by Fisheries WA. It will also compliment and enhance information collected and developed by the Marine Group of the Department of Conservation and Land Management as part of the community and industry consultation involved in the MPA planning process.

Objectives

1. To identify, classify and map the distribution of, different benthic habitats in the Recherche Archipelago and link their distributions to bottom type and exposure to swells and currents.
2. To provide detailed ecological information to contribute to the responsible management of aquaculture fisheries in the region.
3. To increase community awareness of fish habitats through community involvement in the development of the planned biophysical surveys and through community and stakeholder consultation and presentations.

Final report

ISBN: 1-74052-123-6
Author: Gary Kendrick
Final Report • 2006-02-21 • 31.40 MB
2001-060-DLD.pdf

Summary

This project is a joint Esperance community (through the Recherche Advisory Group - RAG), research scientist and resource management project. The commitment of RAG has allowed the researchers to efficiently transfer scientific information to the general public of Esperance and the South Coast of Western Australia and keep the research focused on management outcomes.

The outcomes of this report are:

  1. The design of a hierarchical classification scheme of benthic habitats in the Recherche Archipelago.
  2. An extensive habitat map of the Western Recherche Archipelago at both broad and functional habitat classifications and less detailed habitat maps of duke of Orleans Bay and Cape Arid to Middle Island.
  3. An oceanographic model of the influence of ocean swells on the Western Recherche Archipelago. This model includes an assessment of swell driven shear at the benthos.
  4. A broad scale fisheries-independent non-destructive survey of the demersal fish of the Recherche from Esperance Bay to Cape Arid. The survey was designed to capture habitat differences in fish assemblages. 
  5. A broad scale (within the Western Archipelago) survey of the infauna found in a range of soft bottom habitats including coarse sands, rhodoliths and sparsely vegetated sands.
  6. Fine scale diversity surveys of reef communities on islands in the archipelago from Figure of Eight to Middle Island. These surveys integrate information from both habitat mapping and physical oceanographic modelling.

Keywords: habitat, classification, mapping, oceanography, benthic, algae, infauna, sessile invertebrate

Determining ecological effects of longline fishing in the Eastern Tuna and Billfish Fishery

Project number: 2004-063
Project Status:
Completed
Budget expenditure: $562,357.40
Principal Investigator: Jock Young
Organisation: CSIRO Oceans and Atmosphere Hobart
Project start/end date: 14 Apr 2005 - 30 Nov 2008
Contact:
FRDC

Need

The ET&BF is presently dealing separately with a number of ecological issues. For example, impacts of longliners on shearwaters and turtles are current high profile problems. However, other issues such as depletion of swordfish, SBT bycatch, availability of tunas in relation to oceanographic features, bycatch of sharks and finning have all taken centre stage at different times in the short history of the domestic fishery. This approach is often reactionary, rather than strategic, and may not be the best use of research resources over the long-term. If the ET&BF is to move substantially toward ecosystem-based fishery management, as it is required to do under the EPBC act, rather than continue the individual species management approach, an ecosystem analysis providing ecosystem metrics must be developed. If, for example, ET&BF managers opt for time area closures as part of their management strategy to protect key species, developing these on a species-by-species basis has the potential to impact the whole fishery. To develop and evaluate time area closures that allow for minimizing risk of adverse impacts to the suite of key species, while allowing for optimal efficiency of fishing, understanding the associations, linkages and interactions between species is essential. This is the ecosystem approach. Developing an understanding of how ecosystem-associations relate to oceanographic features is also essential in open ocean systems where the dominant influence on distribution and local abundance is oceanography. The approach we are taking will provide the information needed to support an ecosystem-based management framework. Through the analyses we are proposing we will identify regional “hot spots”, detail their linkages and provide detailed scenarios as to how we think different management strategies and fishing practices will or will not impact pelagic food chains, ecologically related non-target species, competitors (e.g. sharks, marlins etc.) and their associated ecosystems. The need for ecosystem-based fishery management for the Western Pacific region has also been supported by PrepCon for the soon-to-be formed WCPFC (Working Paper 9, 2002).

Objectives

1. Identify the spatial extent and the temporal stability of the main ecosystems of the eastern tuna and billfish fishery based on their species composition and physical environment.
2. Define the trophic structure within these ecosystems with emphasis on the relationship between target, bycatch and threatened and protected species.
3. Develop an ecosystem model for the ETBF fishery incorporating data on the relative abundance of the species, trophic linkages and the physical environment from which the impacts of longline fishing on the ecosystem can be investigated and from which alternative harvest strategies can be evaluated.

Final report

ISBN: 9.78E+12
Author: Jock Young
Industry
PROJECT NUMBER • 2008-901
PROJECT STATUS:
COMPLETED

Seafood CRC: Clean Seas Tuna - Product Quality Issues (maturation and harvest stress)

Harvest stress and sexual maturation are known to affect the flesh quality and product shelf life in several species of fish. This preliminary study was undertaken to determine the extent of any impact of harvest stress and/or sexual maturation of males on product quality and shelf life attributes...
ORGANISATION:
SARDI Food Safety and Innovation
Industry
PROJECT NUMBER • 2011-771
PROJECT STATUS:
COMPLETED

Seafood CRC: genetic selection for Amoebic Gill Disease (AGD) resilience in the Tasmanian Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) breeding program

Amoebic gill disease (AGD) continues to have a significant economic impact upon production of sea-farmed Atlantic salmon in Tasmania. Reducing mortality is economically important for the fish farmer and is equally important from an animal welfare perspective. The process of freshwater bathing...
ORGANISATION:
CSIRO Oceans and Atmosphere Hobart

Evaluating the Effects of Seismic Energy on Pinctada maxima Pearl Oysters

Project number: 2019-170
Project Status:
Completed
Budget expenditure: $12,103.20
Principal Investigator: Mark Meekan
Organisation: Australian Institute Of Marine Science (AIMS)
Project start/end date: 19 Mar 2020 - 30 Dec 2021
Contact:
FRDC

Need

Recent studies into the effects of seismic energy on molluscs have demonstrated a number of cumulative and sub-lethal impacts that indicated impairment of immune systems, cellular damage and adverse changes in behaviour. In scallops, cumulative exposure to seismic energy resulted in increased rates of mortality after 120 days (R Day et al. (2017)). These findings are of critical importance to the pearling industry, which relies on the harvest and husbandry of pearl oysters in coastal shelf water . Pearl oyster crops are typically 2 years duration, so long term effects will have a chronic sub-lethal effect on pearl production. In addition, as the oysters were still not fully recovered at the day 180 sampling, there is concern that the long recovery time may result in a reduction of the reproductive output for up to one year. Energetically compromised oysters will have a reduced reproductive output, and a higher proportion of male oysters, as egg production is more energy intensive.

This would have major ramifications for recruitment into the wildstock pearl oyster fishery and the pearling industry it underpins.

To these ends it became apparent that a 4th sampling round was critical in order to provide a condition data from the oyster sample set after 360 days; so that the responses of the oysters to seismic treatment may be better understood after the completion of one year – bearing in mind that at different times of the year oysters do different things.

The overarching objective of this experiment is to measure the impact of seismic surveys on wild harvested pearl oysters in a way that provides information that is useful to stakeholders in the pearl production and oil and gas industries and to the managers of these resources. The uncertainty surrounding the long-term impacts of seismic surveys on the health of pearl oysters and their pearl production capacity is the key driver of this study.

Objectives

1. Assess the impact seismic operations have on mortality of P. maxima: (a) The ranges at which these impacts occur and (b) the time period these impacts occur.
2. Assess the impact seismic operations have the on growth and health of P. maxima with increasing range and time from exposure to a seismic source (with respect to a. Immunology
b. Physiology
c. Morphology
d. Gene expression
e. Growth and f. Mortality
3. Whether there are long-term health impacts that could reduce the reproductive capacity of the oysters, potentially affecting recruitment. This will be achieved by visual observation and categorisation according to photographic standards of: (a) Gonad index & (b) Sex
Environment
PROJECT NUMBER • 2008-103
PROJECT STATUS:
COMPLETED

Tactical Research Fund: Adapting to change - minimising uncertainty about the effects of rapidly-changing environmental conditions on the Queensland Coral Reef Fin Fish Fishery

With the severity and intensity of tropical cyclones predicted to increase with global climate change (Webster et al. 2005), the need to understand the effects of these events on fisheries production is paramount. The northern tropical margin of the Australian continent is subject to tropical...
ORGANISATION:
James Cook University (JCU)
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