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Environment
PROJECT NUMBER • 2017-149
PROJECT STATUS:
COMPLETED

Planning for a Blue Future Salmon - informing R&D, regulation and industry development

The Tasmanian salmon industry is seeking to grow production safely and sustainably in the next two decades, further increasing the tangible benefits to the Tasmanian community. Our aim, through the Tasmanian Global Salmon Symposium partnership, is to deliver this by being the most environmentally...
ORGANISATION:
University of Tasmania (UTAS)
TAGS
Sustainability
Offshore
Fisheries Management
Ecosystem
Community
SPECIES
Atlantic Salmon
Industry
PROJECT NUMBER • 1992-071
PROJECT STATUS:
COMPLETED

Live transport of crustaceans in air - prolonging the survival of crabs

We studied the live transport of crustaceans in air, using the spanner crab Ranina ranina as an example, and developed guidelines for handling live spanner crabs which we presented to an industry workshop. Our findings were also of general relevance to the live shipment of other oceanic crab...
ORGANISATION:
Department of Primary Industries (QLD)
TAGS
Offshore
Mortality
Market Opportunities
Fishing Effort
Fisheries Management

Identifying population connectivity of shark bycatch species in NT waters

Project number: 2020-036
Project Status:
Completed
Budget expenditure: $66,430.00
Principal Investigator: Sam Banks
Organisation: Charles Darwin University (CDU)
Project start/end date: 3 Dec 2020 - 9 Dec 2021
Contact:
FRDC
TAGS
Stock Assessment
Rac Nt
Offshore
Modelling
Harvest Strategy

Need

This project is needed for three main reasons:

1. It directly addresses a NT RAC priority in the 2019 call for funding applications relating to improving sustainable yield estimates to inform stock assessment programs for undefined target species and protected species in the Offshore Net and Line Fishery. The project will support sustainable fishing practices for important commercial fisheries in the NT and the development of new commercial opportunities within these fisheries: The impacts of fishery activities on these species, either through bycatch or targeted harvest, are difficult to assess in the absence of information on population connectivity and stock structure.

2. The project will develop capacity for fisheries research and monitoring in NT waters. Genetics methods are widely applied to fisheries research and monitoring and training of an early career fisheries scientist in the application and interpretation of genetic data will be a key outcome of this project.

3. The project will provide key information to support the transition of these species from bycatch to a harvested byproduct species, including an evaluation of leading-edge genetic techniques in fisheries assessment and monitoring.

Objectives

1. To develop population connectivity model for Whitecheek and Milk Shark
2. To develop capacity for research and monitoring of shark species within the Northern Territory
3. To evaluate the utility of genetic techniques in fisheries monitoring

Final report

ISBN: 978-1-922684-78-3 (Print), 978-1-922684-79-0 (Web)
Authors: Sam Banks Amy Kirke Fernanda Alves Grant Johnson and David Crook
Final Report • 2024-10-01 • 1.08 MB
2020-036-DLD.pdf

Summary

Charles Darwin University and the Northern Territory (NT) Department of Industry, Tourism and Trade (DITT) Fisheries Division used genetic data to investigate the population structure of two small tropical shark species (Milk Shark [Rhizoprionodon acutus] and Australian Blackspot Shark [Carcharhinus coatesi]), which are caught as bycatch from commercial fisheries in the NT. 
 
The aim of this study was to gain information on the genetic stock structure to inform the future management of these two species in the NT. This project was conducted in parallel with a PhD project investigating the biology and ecology of both species for applications to fisheries management. There is motivation by the NT Government to develop these two shark species into a commercial product. This project used genetic analysis to understand the patterns of connectivity of populations of these two shark species in NT waters and adjacent regions, including northern Western Australia and Papua New Guinea.
 
These two shark species that are captured as bycatch in the NT Demersal Fishery have the potential to be developed into a byproduct to add value to that fishery. A sustainable commercial harvest of these two species could greatly reduce the waste from fisheries, where they are currently abundant and caught in relatively large numbers. We address current knowledge gaps in biological information about populations of R. acutus and C. coatesi to inform the potential development of a byproduct fishery for these two species in the NT.
 
Genetic data from R. acutus and C. coatesi strongly suggest that each species exists as a single, highly connected population in the NT. Genetic differentiation among the sampling locations for each species was low, and genetic clustering analyses provided strong support for a single population of each species in the region. Sharks of both species captured within a single location (within 50 km of one another) were more genetically related than those further apart; however, this does not constitute evidence for multiple, spatially discrete populations of either species in NT waters. Preliminary applications of effective population size estimators were used, but further work is needed to determine if these can be used to indicate trends in abundance. 
 
The immediate implications of our research are for fisheries scientists and managers. Our results indicate that these two shark species can be monitored and managed in the NT under the assumption that each species occurs as a single population in this region. Parasite and vertebral chemistry data collected as part of a PhD project conducted in parallel with this project suggest that, for C. coatesi, individuals may be resident within certain regions (eastern versus western NT waters) but the genetic data collected here suggest that, on a generational timescale, both species occur as highly-connected populations across in the NT region. 
 
Our research has potential implications for commercial fishers, particularly from the NT Demersal Fishery. The information from our research will flow through to the industry by contributing to the information required to develop a byproduct fishery for the two species, by utilising bycatch and increasing economic return. 
Environment
Environment
PROJECT NUMBER • 2014-032
PROJECT STATUS:
COMPLETED

Improved understanding of Tasmanian harmful algal blooms and biotoxin events to support seafood risk management

The 2012 Tasmanian biotoxin event represents a paradigm shift for seafood risk management in Tasmania and Australia as a whole. The causative dinoflagellates are extremely difficult to identify by routine plankton monitoring, and are toxic at very low cell concentrations (50-100 cells/L). Sampling...
ORGANISATION:
University of Tasmania (UTAS)
TAGS
Toxin
Rac Tas
Oceanography
Market Opportunities
Electronic Monitoring
SPECIES
Southern Rock Lobster
Greenlip Abalone
Commercial Scallop
Sydney Rock Oyster
Pacific Oyster
Environment
PROJECT NUMBER • 2001-253
PROJECT STATUS:
COMPLETED

Aquafin CRC - SBT Aquaculture Subprogram: a risk assessment of factors influencing the health of farmed southern bluefin

The rapidly developing international tuna aquaculture industry started with a joint Japan/ Australia experiment in 1991. Since then it has grown into the largest finfish aquaculture in Australia with an export value of $290 million. It is based on the capture of wild fish and subsequent fattening of...
ORGANISATION:
University of Tasmania (UTAS)
TAGS
Offshore
Mortality
Health And Safety
Disease
Aquaculture
SPECIES
Southern Bluefin Tuna
Environment
Environment
Industry
Environment
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