182 results
Environment
PROJECT NUMBER • 2009-038
PROJECT STATUS:
COMPLETED

Aboriginal fisheries in New South Wales: determining catch, cultural significance of species and traditional fishing knowledge needs

This report presents the results of a Fisheries Research Development Corporation (FRDC) funded study of Aboriginal fisheries in New South Wales. A key objective of the study was to address information gaps in relation to catch, cultural significance of species and traditional fishing knowledge (TFK)...
ORGANISATION:
Southern Cross University (SCU) Lismore Campus
Adoption
PROJECT NUMBER • 2002-651
PROJECT STATUS:
COMPLETED

Aquatic Animal Health Subprogram: whirling disease a disease strategy manual

Whirling disease is the disease of freshwater salmonid fish caused by the myxozoan parasite Myxobolus cerebralis. The parasite has never been detected in Australia, but is present in New Zealand and areas of North America, Europe, Africa and Asia. Whirling disease is a reportable disease in...
ORGANISATION:
Paul Hardy-Smith
Environment
PROJECT NUMBER • 2001-245
PROJECT STATUS:
COMPLETED

Aquafin CRC - Atlantic Salmon Aquaculture Subprogram: model development for epidemiology of Amoebic Gill Disease

Amoebic Gill Disease (AGD) is the main health problem affecting salmon industry in Southern Tasmania. To improve management of fish with AGD on the farms, the industry needs better understanding of AGD epidemiology. This will provide a basis on which to develop strategies for new...
ORGANISATION:
University of Tasmania (UTAS)
Environment
PROJECT NUMBER • 1998-153
PROJECT STATUS:
COMPLETED

Mother-of-pearl (Pinctada maxima) shell: stock evaluation for management and future harvesting in Western Australia

The West Australian Pearling industry is one of Australia’s most valuable aquaculture industries, currently generating around $120 - $160 million annually. The majority of pearl shell used to culture pearls come from the pearling beds in the inshore waters near Broome. The fishery for...
ORGANISATION:
Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development (DPIRD) WA

Assessing Australia's future resource requirements to the Year 2020 and beyond: strategic options for fisheries

Project number: 1999-160
Project Status:
Completed
Budget expenditure: $318,750.00
Principal Investigator: Robert Kearney
Organisation: University of Canberra
Project start/end date: 11 Jul 1999 - 29 Nov 2005
Contact:
FRDC

Need

As shown in Figures 1 and 2 world human population growth is increasing at the greatest rate in history, but fisheries production has stagnated or declined since 1990. The oceans can produce only marginally more than they do at present. Demand for fisheries resources continues to increase, perhaps even faster than population growth as the culinary and health advantages of seafoods are being increasingly realised.

Australia has no specific policies to provide increased seafood resources for future generations. We already import more than half the seafood we consume. The lack of long-term policy is directly linked to the lack of understanding of the factors which truly influence supply and demand. No Australian fisheries management agency plans beyond resolution of current resource use problems. Recent crises resulting from the realisation of the impacts of greenhouse gas emissions and deforestation highlight the urgency for Australia to look much further ahead for all natural resource use and management strategies.

Modern economies depend on the concept of growth as a key element of their success. Notwithstanding the emergence of the service industries as an increasing proportion of this economic growth, the Australian economy still depends on an increasing primary production base to supply both domestic and export demand. While the proportion that fisheries might supply to Australia’s export demand might be stable as a percentage, the physical output in terms of tonnes per year grew considerably over the last 50 years. Most significantly, production has levelled, or even declined, in recent years. This physical aspect of growth often goes unnoticed in discussions around environmental sustainability, yet it is of critical importance to all our assumptions about the future of this country and therefore of our management of our fisheries resource base.

Fish, as food, and fisheries, both commercial and recreational, are tremendously important, fundamental components of most Australian's perception of what the future should hold. For the many tens of thousands employed directly or indirectly in fish related industries the social implications of long-term sustainability use of fish resources is even more pressing. Yet our resources and the ecosystems which underpin them are streteched or even over-taxed. It is extremely important for all associated with fish resource use and conservation that the status of individual fish resources be increasingly used by Governments as indicators of ecosystems health and therefore play an expanding role in Australia's total resource use projections. A current FRDC commissioned review of threats to, and potential solutions for, Australia's freshwater fisheries has identified increased use of fish as indicators of river health as the highest priority policy/management initiative.

While the recognition that many of our natural resources are linked across many aspects of a modern economy is hardly a new insight the CSIRO modelling initiative has attempted to bring quantitative data together to allow these linkages to be explored. The purpose of this work is to explore and choose sets of management and policy options which might contribute to more sustainable modes of operation for the Australian physical system. Many contemporary expressions such as “the weightless economy”, “the factor 4 economy” and “the zero waste economy” are meant to describe these new modes of more sustainable (or less physically impacting) operation.

This research proposal aims to describe from a national viewpoint the operation of the fisheries industries (commercial and recreational) in relation to their own long-term potential, and in relation to the other resource industries which might depend on, or impact on the fisheries resource. The particular modelling framework is designed to deal with long-term issues on time scale of 25, 50 or even 100 years. It attempts to define the quantities of fish demanded by both domestic and export requirements, as well as drawing on our current knowledge of the quantities that might be supplied from our fish stocks.

Currently the ASFF model is being used in long-term studies of Australia’s population requirements (Department of Immigration and Multicultural Affairs), its long-term energy position (CSIRO internally funded) and its long-term land and water position (LWRRDC funded for 3 years).

As FRDC’s portfolio of research investment is being revamped to include the multiple demands being made by societal expectation, the commercial industry and the recreational fishery, now is the time for a considered investment in a long-term viewpoint. Current shortfalls in total fishery production dictate a certain urgency in defining some long-term options which provide a strategic framework where more focussed and local investments can contribute their part in unison, rather than in isolation.

Objectives

1. Provide analysis of the long range perspective of tensions between fisheries demand and production at a national level for use in fisheries policy development.
2. To identify and quantify the linkages between the demands generated by human population growth and affluence and their effects on a range of natural resources, particularly capture fisheries and aquaculture.
3. To test a range of policy options which might resolve demand and supply imbalances at a national level out to 2020 and beyond.
4. To underpin future fisheries management policies by providing a comprehensive long-term view of the dynamics of production and demand for resources.
5. To enable fisheries to be properly incorporated into an on-going national program of modelling future natural resource demand and demographic influences.
6. To provide a simplified interpretation of Australia’s total long-term resource demands and production to enable the fishing industry to better understand their relationship with other resource users and with national development policies.

Final report

Author: Robert Kearney
Final Report • 2004-04-01 • 1.47 MB
1999-160-DLD.pdf

Summary

The Australian fishing industry has grown rapidly into an industry with a gross value of production of approximately $2.4billion. However, in recent years many of the resources that underpin the industry have shown the effects of excessive human impact, both targeted and accidental. As human populations grow, demand for fish increases as do the negative effects on fish populations of human impact on fish habitats and the environment in general. Clearly our limited fish resources cannot meet continuous growth in demand, and yet assessment of how we might respond to the inevitable shortfall has not previously been attempted. It is this challenge that prompted scientists from the University of Canberra and CSIRO to work with FRDC to develop a means of modelling Australia's fisheries futures to 2050.
 
This report represents the culmination of the first nationally comprehensive physical accounting of the majority of the Australian fisheries industry. The fisheries industry forms one sector of the whole economy represented in the Australian Stocks and Flows Framework (ASFF). A fifty-year history of the industry was recreated using ASFF and data provided by Australian fisheries agencies and the FAO. Simulating forward from the historical picture, three primary scenarios describing plausible futures were designed and examined, as a means for exploring the effects of key drivers rather than making precise predictions.
Industry
PROJECT NUMBER • 1998-354
PROJECT STATUS:
COMPLETED

Electronic cooking end point determination and the effectiveness of alternative cooking methods for Crustacea

A prawn cooking meter and self-centring thermocouple clip has been successfully developed for monitoring the cooking of prawns. This cooking meter provides a much needed control tool for ensuring reliable and consistent quality required of modern quality assurance programs. The design of the prawn...
ORGANISATION:
Department of Primary Industries (QLD)
Environment
PROJECT NUMBER • 1994-164
PROJECT STATUS:
COMPLETED

Mapping and distribution of Sabella spallanzanii in Port Phillip Bay

This final report for the FRDC funded project "Mapping and distribution of Sabella spallanzanii in Port Phillip Bay" is considered in two sections: The first section contains original data.' collected during this project to satisfy Objectives 1, 2 and 3 and is organised to be suitable for...
ORGANISATION:
Agriculture Victoria
Industry
PROJECT NUMBER • 2016-049
PROJECT STATUS:
COMPLETED

IPA APFA: detection of pesticide impacts on larval prawns in hatcheries and presence in estuarine intake water

The use patterns of pesticides in Australia has changed over the last decade, with the use of pyrethroid and neonicotinoid insecticides increasing. The limited water quality data that is available has measured increased concentrations of the neonicotinoid insecticide imidacloprid in...
ORGANISATION:
CSIRO Oceans and Atmosphere Hobart
Adoption
PROJECT NUMBER • 1998-343
PROJECT STATUS:
COMPLETED

9th International Conference on Harmful Algal Blooms, 7-11 February 2000, Hobart

The FRDC sponsored 9th International Conference on Harmful Algal Blooms held in Hobart, Tasmania, from 7-11 February 2000, was a resounding success. It was the largest conference on this topic (526 participants from 47 countries) ever held anywhere in the world. A total of 130 talks and 308 poster...
ORGANISATION:
University of Tasmania (UTAS)

Developing jungle perch fingerling production to improve fishing opportunities

Project number: 2012-213
Project Status:
Completed
Budget expenditure: $482,907.00
Principal Investigator: Michael Hutchison
Organisation: Department of Primary Industries (QLD)
Project start/end date: 14 Jun 2012 - 29 Jun 2015
Contact:
FRDC

Need

Jungle perch once occurred widely in coastal Queensland rivers, from Cape York to Northern NSW. Central and southern populations have declined or become locally extinct due to dams and weirs blocking migration pathways between saltwater (where they spawn) and freshwater habitats (where they reside as juveniles and adults). Unlike barramundi, mullet and bass; jungle perch cannot persist long-term in saltwater habitats. Barriers lead to rapid local extinction. Construction of fishways on barriers in the past 10 years has created suitable conditions for the reintroduction of jungle perch. There are limited opportunities for natural recolonisation, and remnant adult populations of local strains are too few for translocation to be a practical solution. Restocking from captive bred individuals is the only option to bring back jungle perch fisheries.

Restoring wild jungle perch fisheries is a high priority for recreational fishers in Queensland. Reintroduction of self sustaining populations in rivers in south-eastern Queensland and the Mackay-Whitsunday Region will provide angling opportunities to large populations of anglers. Development of jungle perch fingerling production will also create future opportunities to further enhance Queensland's stocked impoundments and make jungle perch accessible to even more anglers.

Recent research by DEEDI has solved much of the reproductive biology of jungle perch, which can now be spawned regularly in captivity. Jungle perch larvae are much smaller (2.3 mm) than bass and barramundi larvae and establishment of first feeding has been problematic. Strategies to promote larval feeding need to be developed. The transition from larvae to fingerlings is critical for future development of jungle perch fisheries.

Objectives

1. Develop hatchery production techniques for jungle perch fingerlings
2. Successfully release jungle perch fingerlings into suitable south-eastern Queensland and Mackay-Whitsunday regional waterways
3. Communicate with anglers on the restoration of jungle perch fisheries
4. Understand environmental factors influencing post-release survival of jungle perch in rivers.
5. Develop a jungle perch production manual for fish hatcheries

Final report

ISBN: 978-0-7345-0453-1
Author: Michael Hutchison
Final Report • 2016-03-17 • 5.18 MB
2012-213-DLD.pdf

Summary

This project has for the first time demonstrated the feasibility of hatchery production of jungle perch fingerlings. The research on jungle perch production has enabled a hatchery production manual with accompanying videos to be produced. This has given private commercial hatcheries the information needed to produce jungle perch fingerlings. Several hatcheries have already indicated an interest in producing jungle perch and will be assisted to do so in 2016. Currently jungle perch are not a permitted stocking species, so cannot be sold to fish stocking groups. However, hatcheries will be able to sell fingerlings to the aquarium trade or supply grow out facilities that could produce jungle perch for human consumption. Should jungle perch become a permitted species for stocking, this will provide hatcheries with a major new product option to sell to fish stocking groups. It would also benefit anglers by providing another iconic species for impoundment stocking programs. This could have flow-on benefits to regional economies through angler tourism.

Should the pilot reintroductions of jungle perch into streams result in self-sustaining jungle perch populations, then there will be three restored jungle perch populations close to major population centres. This will create a new opportunity for anglers not normally able to target jungle perch. Since the majority of anglers who target jungle perch are catch and release fishers, angling is expected to have minimal impact on recovery of the populations.

This project led to the development of a hatchery manual for jungle perch production and to a summary brochure. In late 2014 and in 2015 researchers were able to make the first ever releases of jungle perch fingerlings back into rivers and streams within their historical range.

Keywords: Jungle perch, Kuhlia rupestris, hatchery production, restoration, fish stocking, captive breeding, larval culture, recreational fishing.

Project products

Manual • 2.19 MB
2012-213 Jungle fingerling production manual.pdf

Summary

This manual is based on the knowledge gained by researchers at the Bribie Island Research Centre (BIRC), working on developing jungle perch Kuhlia rupestris captive breeding as part of the FRDC funded project 2012/213 “Developing jungle perch fingerling production to improve fishing opportunities”. Further refinements can certainly be made to improve larval rearing and fingerling production. This manual reports on methods that have worked at BIRC to date, and perhaps more importantly, on what didn’t work. Knowledge of what has failed will help private hatchery operators avoid mistakes as they try to further refine the jungle perch production process in their own facilities.

The manual describes each of the key parts of jungle perch production, including broodstock management, spawning induction, spawning, egg and larvae management, live feed production, pond management, pond harvesting and fingerling management. The manual also includes links to video segments to demonstrate how things were done at BIRC. Videos are integral for the use of this manual. Click on the video link at the end of each production step described in this manual. It is intended that the video segments will enhance understanding of the jungle perch production process. The videos in this document are also available in the attached video folder that accompanies DVD and USB drive versions of this document and can be viewed as stand-alone files. The written document contains the majority of the technical information required, such as stocking densities, fertilising rates, feeding rates etc. The videos demonstrate the processes, which words are not always adequate to describe.

Brochure • 453.38 KB
2012-213 Jungle perch project summary brochure.pdf

Summary

This brochure outlines the achievement of the project. It is intended to provide general information on project outcomes to recreational anglers.

It summarises the results of the project.

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