19 results
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)
Industry
PROJECT NUMBER • 2000-252
PROJECT STATUS:
COMPLETED

Rock Lobster Post Harvest Subprogram: optimising water quality in rock lobster post-harvest processes

Rock lobsters can be exposed to poor water quality during all stages of handling and holding prior to going to market. Poor water quality reduces the time a lobster can be held alive and how many animals can be held in a system and thus may reduce profit. The quality of water can be assessed using...
ORGANISATION:
University of Tasmania (UTAS)

Rock Lobster Enhancement and Aquaculture Subprogram: preliminary investigation towards ongrowing puerulus to enhance rock lobster stocks while providing animals for commercial culture

Project number: 1999-314
Project Status:
Completed
Budget expenditure: $57,064.00
Principal Investigator: Caleb Gardner
Organisation: University of Tasmania (UTAS)
Project start/end date: 29 Dec 1999 - 29 Nov 2000
Contact:
FRDC

Need

Development of a rock lobster aquaculture industry through the harvest of puerulus from the wild cannot proceed if there is a net loss of animals from the wild fishery. The concept of removing puerulus from the wild has received widespread opposition from participants in rock lobster fishing industries, and managers of the resource, as the resource is considered to be highly exploited. Rock lobster fisheries management policy in most states is specifically directed towards stock rebuilding and it is perceived that additional extraction by puerulus removal runs counter to those policies.

Current research on techniques for the extraction and on-growing of puerulus from the wild have proceeded with an assumption that puerulus extraction should be "biologically neutral". It has been proposed that "biological neutrality" can be achieved by a proportional reduction in catch of adult animals, either through a reduction in effort (eg removal of pots) or through buy-out of quota (in ITQ management). However, this mechanism for achieving biological neutrality has been criticised, as puerulus extraction is likely to occur in sheltered, heavily exploited regions - while the effort removed from the fishery may have been directed to a completely different region. In this scenario, puerulus extraction could lead to local depletion and loss of egg production, despite the concurrent reduction in effort.

The proposed project is directed to an alternative mechanism for compensating for the removal of puerulus. Reseeded animals can be released back to the same areas from which they were extracted so no localised depletion will result. Reseeding the area with animals additional to those required for biological neutrality will provide an enhancement benefit. This system has benefits to the fishing industry through enhanced yield, and also to the proposed aquaculture industry through access.

The potentially valuable on-growing industry is reliant upon the development of a mechanism for compensating for puerulus loss that does not harm the wild fishery.

Objectives

1. To develop methods to capture large numbers of 1 year old benthic juvenile rock lobsters, both for providing control animals and for monitoring survival of reseeded animals. (note that this is not puerulus collection)
2. To determine the extent of movement of reseeded and control juveniles after release, to assist in estimation of survival
3. To develop methods to assess relative survival of cultured juvenile lobsters released into a natural habitat.

Final report

Authors: Caleb Gardner David Mills Sam Ibbott Simon Wilcox and Bradley Crear
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 • 2003-241
PROJECT STATUS:
COMPLETED

Rock Lobster Post Harvest Subprogram: strategic planning, project management and adoption

An independent Subprogram Leader, and a highly responsive Steering Committee, that is composed of industry experts from across Australia have provided an effective and efficient system for directing relevant research activities to ensure continued and increased profitability for the Australian rock...
ORGANISATION:
Curtin University
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