60 results
Adoption
PROJECT NUMBER • 2001-304
PROJECT STATUS:
COMPLETED

2nd National Rock Lobster Industry Conference – Melbourne September 2001

The 2nd National Rock Lobster Congress was hosted by Seafood Industry Victoria (SIV) with support from industry in each lobster producing state, at the Royal Geelong Yatch Club, Geelong on Thursday 20 September and Friday 21 September 2001. The Congress received its funding from the major...
ORGANISATION:
South Australian Rock Lobster Advisory Council (SARLAC)
Communities
Industry
PROJECT NUMBER • 2013-734
PROJECT STATUS:
COMPLETED

Seafood CRC: Western Rock Lobster RD&E Plan 2013-22

Research, development and extension (RD&E) is well known for contributing to a range of technological advances and expertise that leads to productivity growth, increasing our knowledge bank on our fishery and the important long term sustainability of the Western Rocklobster (WRL) fishery....
ORGANISATION:
Ridge Partners
Environment
Industry
Environment
Environment
PROJECT NUMBER • 2003-005
PROJECT STATUS:
COMPLETED

Investigating reproductive biology issues relevant to managing the western rock lobster brood stock

Increases in efficiency due to modem electronic equipment, improved fishing vessels and knowledge about the grounds and lobster behaviour, have all led to western rock lobster fishers becoming more efficient at catching western rock lobsters in Western Australia. One of the outcomes of these...
ORGANISATION:
Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development (DPIRD) WA

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
Contact:
FRDC

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.
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