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Environment
Environment
People
PROJECT NUMBER • 2023-102
PROJECT STATUS:
CURRENT

Capability & Capacity: 2024 Electric & Hybrid Marine Expo North America and Conference

I believe the value that bursary recipients received from attending the Electric and Hybrid Expo was valuable in a number of ways. The networking opportunity for the younger members was valuable as they all shared experiences and were a little removed from what was happening on a global stage for...
ORGANISATION:
Fisheries Research and Development Corporation (FRDC)
TAGS
Innovation
Climate Resilience
Capacity Building
Industry
Industry

Establishing a national end of life fishing/aquaculture gear recovery system for Australia

Project number: 2023-124
Project Status:
Current
Budget expenditure: $273,080.00
Principal Investigator: Anissa Lawrence
Organisation: TierraMar Ltd trading as Ocean Earth Foundation
Project start/end date: 29 Sep 2024 - 29 Jun 2026
Contact:
FRDC
TAGS
Wild Catch
Recreational Fishing
Rac Wa
Marine Plastics
Environmental Impact

Need

Building on the circularity discussions and work being undertaken by FRDC and the industry, this project seeks to undertake the legwork required to establish a nationwide on-demand End of life (EOL) fishing gear recovery system for Australia and pilot it in key locations. The materials that many nets and ropes are made of are highly valuable and recyclable and in fact in many other countries, is already being recycled or remanufactured. Until now, having a national system has been cost prohibitive due to the large distances and need for economies of scale and limited local buyer interest. As a part of the national targets set by the Australian Government relating to plastics use and recycling, commercial fishing and aquaculture sectors have been exploring how to move to a circular economy model and reduce plastic inputs through a variety of projects run by FRDC and others. However, with fishing gear the biggest plastic polymer input, and contamination challenges, there has yet to be a suitable system established.

This project seeks to enable the opportunities that addressing EOL gear provides in Australia to the commercial fishing and aquaculture sector through the establishment of an effective EOL fishing gear recovery system for the country to reduce the landfill costs to industry. It seeks to build on the learnings from previous projects as well as the ten years of experience of our partner Bureo has in in operating an EOL fishing gear recovery program. Bureo currently have an EOL gear recovery system active in 9 countries.

The key objectives are:
● By the end of 2026 there is an effective end-of-life fishing/aquaculture gear recovery system implemented across key fishing ports, and key aquaculture centres benefiting regional communities and fisheries conservation and assisting the Australian Government to address plastic recovery/recycling targets.
● By the end of 2024, the enabling environment for an effective and fit for purpose EOL fishing/aquaculture gear recovery system is in place within Australia, with commencement of recycling underway in key pilot locations.

Objectives

1. By March 2025 the feasibility of and logistical requirements are understood to establish a national end of life recovery system for commercial fishing and aquaculture gear in Australia and an enabling pathway for roll out created.
2. By the end of 2026 there is an effective end-of-life fishing/aquaculture gear recovery system for Australia implemented across at least 5 key fishing ports, with measurable benefits being delivered to regional communities, industry, conservation, while contributing towards the Australian Government’s recycling targets.

Role of marine reserves in sustainable management of Australia's ocean estate - review of the Heard Island and McDonald Islands bioregion

Project number: 2023-205
Project Status:
Current
Budget expenditure: $119,200.00
Principal Investigator: Travis J. Baulch
Organisation: TJB Management Pty Ltd
Project start/end date: 23 Jun 2024 - 29 Sep 2024
Contact:
FRDC
SPECIES
Patagonian Toothfish

Need

The HIMI bioregion supports significant marine conservation values as well as a highly sustainable, and valuable commercial fishing industry. Typically, marine parks/reserve development processes are tasked with developing marine spatial planning arrangements that achieve a balance between preserving conservation values of the area and maintaining/promoting human activities through the principles of Ecologically Sustainable Development (ESD). However, key uncertainties remain regarding the policy priorities and how the final design of marine parks are objectively determined.

This project will provide an independent assessment of the framework used for original design of the HIMI Marine Reserve in 2002, the review in 2014, and the current review to provide recommendations for future development. The project will also explore how/if the policy objectives have been achieved since inception . Furthermore, this project will explore the potential of a quantitative risk-based approach to provide for minimising the uncertainties in the Marine Protected Area (MPA) development processes and deliver an objective framework.

In addition, the project will explore the current HIMI marine reserve framework, the associated commercial fishing industry arrangements and how they intersect with regard to:

Regulation
• Regulatory processes to minimise impacts of commercial fishing
• Legislative framework currently in place for Ecological Risk Assessment/ESD, Ecosystem-Based Fisheries Management, bycatch policy strategic research plans
• Marine Protected Areas review processes
• Statutory Fishing Rights (SFRs)

Economic impacts
• Commercial fishing viability
• Statutory fishing rights
• Permitted fishing gear types – (e.g. potential removal of MSC certified trawl fisheries with additional implications on research activity)

Biological impacts
• Impact on juvenile toothfish index of abundance and icefish estimates – accuracy of tracking stock will be significantly reduced if ability to trawl is removed (i.e. random stratified trawl survey impacted)
• Stock assessment model ability to consider toothfish population structure if longline fishery further constrained
• Climate change and effects of population shift
• Increasing policy position of MPAs as fisheries management tools
• Increased localised depletion and constrained ability to distribute commercial fishing effort

Social Impacts
• Market access
• Community sentiment

Objectives

1. Evaluate the technical approach used in the design of the HIMI marine reserve with specific reference to scientific and policy objectives
2. Examine management plan frameworks in regard to research outcomes since plan implementation
3. Provide recommendations in relation to review of the HIMI marine reserve

Final report

Authors: Travis Baulch Colin D. Buxton Rick Fletcher and Alistair J. Hobday
Final Report • 2024-11-01 • 2.10 MB
2023-205-DLD.pdf

Summary

The statutory requirement to undertake a 10-year review of the Heard and McDonald Islands (HIMI) Marine Reserve led to a proposal to expand the HIMI marine reserve and include new National Park Zones (IUCN II) and Habitat Protection Zone (IUCN IV) arrangements. Subsequently, the total area of the HIMI Marine Reserve has been increased to 379,070 square kilometres, a 400% increase over the previous marine reserve. This report aims to assess how current (and proposed) management frameworks relate to the National Representative System of Marine Protected Areas (NRSMPA) objectives, but also the extent to which they meet the overarching principles of Ecologically Sustainable Development (ESD) which requires holistic consideration of all relevant environment, social and economic objectives, as well as meeting obligations under various international legislation and conventions. As the expansion incorporates the area within which Australia’s Heard Island and McDonald Islands Fishery operates, this report explores the basis of the expansion with particular reference to the implications for future fishery arrangements, management frameworks and longer-term fishery viability. 
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