41 results
People
PROJECT NUMBER • 2009-712
PROJECT STATUS:
COMPLETED

Seafood CRC: future harvest theme leadership

The CRC has developed the Future Harvest theme business plan to deliver the following outcomes: Fisheries management delivering maximum benefit from the resource while maintaining stocks above sustainability indicators Novel management strategies in place which increase economic yield from...
ORGANISATION:
University of Tasmania (UTAS)
Industry
PROJECT NUMBER • 2008-900
PROJECT STATUS:
COMPLETED

Seafood CRC: improving profitability in the Western Rocklobster fishery using a rocklobster trap

This project investigated the efficiency of using different pot designs to increase the profitability of the Western Rocklobster fishery. The motivation for this study was a more efficient pot would reduce the number of pot hauls, and that this in turn would increase profitability of the fishery by...
ORGANISATION:
Western Rock Lobster Council Inc (WRLC)
People
PROJECT NUMBER • 2005-228
PROJECT STATUS:
COMPLETED

A pilot project conducted in the western rock lobster industry, to create a software audit tool for assessing occupational health and safety compliance with industry best practice on board a commercial fishing vessel

The Western Australian Fishing Industry Council has had a comprehensive health and safety code for use in the wild catch fishing industry in place since 1992. The OSH Code (hereafter referred to as the Code) was developed as a result of an increasing fatality and serious incident rate within the...
ORGANISATION:
Western Australian Fishing Industry Council Inc (WAFIC)

Whale entanglement mitigation program – understanding whale population dynamics, entanglement dynamics and gear modifications to reduce entanglements in WRL gear

Project number: 2021-091
Project Status:
Current
Budget expenditure: $750,000.00
Principal Investigator: Jason How
Organisation: Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development (DPIRD) Hillarys
Project start/end date: 31 Mar 2022 - 31 Mar 2025
:

Need

Whale entanglement in fishing gear has posed a major threat to the Western Rock Lobster (WRL) industry over the last decade. Adverse media attention has to date been avoided, but 2020 saw the first entangled whale appear dead on a WA beach entangled with gear from the state's fisheries. Similarly, several "public" rescues were undertaken of entangled whales which is extremely dangerous. Attempts to disentangle whales has led to the death of responders previously in both Canada and New Zealand. Such events have the capacity to provide a significant threat to the activities of the WRL industry through erosion of their social license.
A program to direct entanglement mitigation research over the next four years will increase the strategic focus of research and increase the efficiency of the application and granting process, thus leading to a more rapid implementation of outcomes into the management of the fishery. Critically, broad dissemination of the outcomes of these project will assist in creating a more resilient social license. This will be important when adverse media attention is focused on the industry as the result of either the death of a whale or responder attempting to disentangle the whale.

Objectives

1. Understand the inter-annual shifts in the humpback whale migration along the WA coast
2. Determine the dynamics and WRL gear involved in humpback whale entanglements
3. Determine the population size of the Western Australian (Stock D) humpback whale population.
4. Investigate novel mitigation measures to minimise entanglements in WRL gear.
5. Support WRL gear disentanglement operators through provision of equipment and new technologies.
Environment
Industry
PROJECT NUMBER • 2008-910
PROJECT STATUS:
COMPLETED

Seafood CRC: automation of western rocklobster processing

Automation of processing is widespread in many food production industries. Currently, labour costs in the Western Rocklobster industry are high and availability of labour is extremely poor. This is especially problematic given the processing of Western Rocklobsters is a highly manual process....
ORGANISATION:
Western Australian Fishing Industry Council Inc (WAFIC)
Industry
Industry
PROJECT NUMBER • 2009-714.10
PROJECT STATUS:
COMPLETED

Seafood CRC: decision-support tools for economic optimisation of western rocklobster

The Western Rocklobster fishery was one of the first to be made limited entry with the number of licences restricted since 1963. Historically, the main focus of the assessment and management of the fishery has been on the status of the breeding stock to ensure biological sustainability. In the...
ORGANISATION:
Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development (DPIRD) WA
Environment
Industry
PROJECT NUMBER • 2018-117
PROJECT STATUS:
COMPLETED

Western Australian based Institute for Spiny Lobster Research Business Plan

The project commenced in November 2020, when the Western Rock Lobster Council (WRL) engaged Australian Venture Consultants (AVC) to examine the strategic case for a research network and prepare a business case for a proposed Western Rock Lobster Research Network. WRL engaged with many stakeholders,...
ORGANISATION:
Western Rock Lobster Council Inc (WRLC)
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