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PROJECT NUMBER • 2022-075
PROJECT STATUS:
COMPLETED

National Workshop to develop a regional collaborative plan to control the invasive Longspined Sea Urchin (Centrostephanus rodgersii)

The 2023 National Centrostephanus Workshop was convened by the Department of Natural Resources and Environment Tasmania. The workshop brought together 130 representatives from industry, government, research, Aboriginal communities, recreational fishing groups, and the community to: • Identify...
ORGANISATION:
Department of Natural Resources and Environment Tasmania (NRE TAS)
Environment
Environment
PROJECT NUMBER • 2018-124
PROJECT STATUS:
COMPLETED

Southern Ocean IPA - Science to support Australia’s Southern Ocean Fisheries 2018-2020

This collaborative project between the Australian Antarctic Division (AAD) and the Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies (IMAS) addressed key research needs between 2018 and 2020 for Patagonian Toothfish (Dissostichus eleginoides), Antarctic Toothfish (Dissostichus mawsoni) and Mackerel Icefish...
ORGANISATION:
University of Tasmania
Industry
PROJECT NUMBER • 2006-220
PROJECT STATUS:
COMPLETED

Seafood CRC: Spatial management of southern rock lobster fisheries to improve yield, value and sustainability

(1) To enable assessment reporting of trends in biomass and egg production by depth. (2) To evaluate separate deep-water quota to increase yield and egg production. (3) To evaluate regional size limits in Tasmania for increase in yield and egg production. (4) To conduct field...
ORGANISATION:
University of Tasmania (UTAS)

Adapt or Fail: Risk management and business resilience in Queensland commercial fisheries

Project number: 2013-210
Project Status:
Completed
Budget expenditure: $350,000.00
Principal Investigator: Andrew & Renae Tobin
Organisation: James Cook University (JCU)
Project start/end date: 30 Jun 2013 - 13 Aug 2015
Contact:
FRDC

Need

Change is inevitable, whether it be management, environmental, or economic change. Improving how industries cope with and adapt to change becomes increasingly important as rates and cumulative impacts of change escalate. Some commercial fishing operators are better able to cope with, and adapt to change than others. In part this is due to the inherent capabilities of some individuals to cope with change, learn, plan, and manage risk – elements we can measure through resilience frameworks (Marshall and Marshall, 2007). Other differences relate to access to adaptation options, which may rely on factors such as business structure, diversity of operation, access to information and financial capacity. We do not yet know the specific role such factors play in improving adaption options and hence resilience.

What we do know is that more resilient operators are better able to cope with change and adapt to it, and that these operators are less likely to seek compensation when change occurs (Sutton and Tobin 2012). Given these findings, it is vital that we identify factors that improve access to and uptake of adaption options, and that factors constraining uptake of these options are identified. We need to develop appropriate communication tools that relate to the nature of risks faced by fishing operations depending on their current behaviour and business structure, options for change, and access to / uptake of information. We also need to assess possible management options which could reduce some constraints on adaptation and hence increase resilience.

This proposal meets QFRAB priority #2 (business models in relation to resilience), and FRDC’s “Resilient and supportive communities” Strategic Challenge.

Objectives

1. Document the current diversity and develop typologies of business models and operation types employed across all commercial fisheries on Queensland's east coast
2. Explore the current adaptation options for different business model types regarding risks associated with economic, management and environmental changes
3. Document the common constraints affecting uptake of adaptation options between and across business model types
4. Provide information tools regarding adaptation options for different business model types to fishers and managers, to enable the improvement of adaptive capacity and hence resilience

Final report

ISBN: 978-0-6485037-2-9
Authors: Tobin R.C. Nicotra B. Innes J. Ellis N. Tobin A.J. Kung J. and Perez E.
Final Report • 2019-07-19 • 4.03 MB
2013-210-DLD.pdf

Summary

This study sought to explore how different types of fishing businesses adapted to different types of change within Queensland’s east coast fisheries. The project team first sought to classify fishing businesses into ‘types’, exploring the industry structure in a new and innovative way, given the diversity of business capacity and mobility, and the overlap between fishery types on Queensland’s east coast. Through surveys of just over 200 fishing businesses, they then explored what types of change and challenges different business types were exposed to and / or constrained by, whether businesses were able to successfully adapt to these changes or challenges, and if there were any specific driving characteristics that improved the likelihood of success. The aim was to identify common challenges and constraints, and ideally to lead to recommendations of what different fishing business types could do to adapt their business in the face of ongoing environmental, economic and management change.

Project products

Brochure • 2019-07-19 • 3.54 MB
2013-210-brochure.pdf

Summary

Change in the commercial fishing industry is inevitable, ongoing and it builds up over time. Change can be gradual or rapid, and can relate to management, economic, or environmental change. We know from previous research that individual fishers have different abilities to adapt to all sorts of change. In part, this relates to a fisher’s own capacity to cope with uncertainty and risk, but also to how individuals structure and operate within their business, and whether they can identify and benefit from opportunities.

Environment
PROJECT NUMBER • 2016-068
PROJECT STATUS:
COMPLETED

Vulnerability of the endangered Maugean Skate population to degraded environmental conditions in Macquarie Harbour

Maugean Skate (Zearaja maugeana) are only known from two isolated estuarine systems located on the west coast of Tasmania, representing one of most restricted distributions of any elasmobranch. There is, however, uncertainty about the continued persistence of the species in one of these estuaries...
ORGANISATION:
University of Tasmania (UTAS)
SPECIES

Tactical Research Fund: forecasting spatial distribution of SBT habitat in the GAB

Project number: 2012-239
Project Status:
Completed
Budget expenditure: $75,000.00
Organisation: CSIRO Oceans and Atmosphere Hobart
Project start/end date: 2 May 2013 - 2 Dec 2014
Contact:
FRDC

Need

This project is needed to support improved operational planning in the SBT purse-seine fishery in response to recently observed changes in fish distribution. A historical baseline of fish and ‘optimal’ habitat distribution is first needed to assess future changes. An understanding of likely fish location is important in planning fishing operations and will also be of benefit to the aerial survey (AS) design and data interpretation. The AS juvenile abundance index is used in the adopted management procedure for SBT to set global quotas (within the CCSBT).

In the 2012 fishing season, SBT movement through the Great Australian Bight (GAB) seemed very rapid, and with SBT distribution further to the east, resulting in less than 15% of purse-seine catches being taken from fishing grounds commonly used in the previous 20 years. Rapid movements of surface schools and the presence of fish in unusual locations make fishing operations costly and unpredictable; the pontoon towing speed precludes rapid vessel response, so vessels need to be positioned prior to SBT arrival. Improved understanding of fish distribution/movement in the GAB will allow evaluation of the adequacy of the current AS design, and inform improvements to the design/analysis if required.

Forecasts of environmental conditions (lead times 4 months) will allow operators to use their existing knowledge of fish behaviour to better plan fishing operations in any year, not just unusual years. Forecasts of fish habitat (if successful) will further aid this planning and improve strategic fishing skills, leading to increased efficiency/profitability. Seasonal forecasts are also a stepping stone to understanding longer term climate change, but at a business-relevant time-scale.

The project aims to use existing data and modelling techniques from previous projects funded under broader public good research programs; however, previous projects have not developed the tactical forecast products proposed here.

Objectives

1. Historical analysis of archival tag data in the GAB to generate habitat preferences
2. Now-casts of habitat distribution based on habitat preferences
3. Forecasts of ocean variables on a monthly time scale
4. Forecasts of SBT habitat distribution in the GAB

Final report

ISBN: 978-1-4863-0454-7
Final Report • 2014-12-17 • 2.68 MB
2012-239-DLD.pdf

Summary

This was a collaborative project between the Australian Southern Bluefin Tuna Industry Association, the CSIRO, and the Australian Bureau of Meteorology, co-funded by the FRDC. It aimed to investigate habitat preferences of Southern Bluefin Tuna (SBT) in the Great Australian Bight and to provide forecasts of habitat distribution to industry members to aid in planning their fishing operations. An industry-targeted website was developed to deliver the forecasts, and feedback from industry members indicates the success of the project, with overall satisfaction with the content and delivery of information on the website being rated from 8 to 10 out of 10. 

More information: Alistair Hobday  Alistair.Hobday@csiro.au

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