44,021 results
Cumulative impacts across fisheries in Australia's marine environment
Project number:
2018-020
Project Status:
Completed
Budget expenditure:
$391,000.00
Principal Investigator:
Beth Fulton
Organisation:
CSIRO Oceans and Atmosphere Hobart
Project start/end date:
17 Mar 2019
-
29 Nov 2020
Contact:
FRDC
The need for cumulative impact assessment (CIA) is increasingly being recognized. The development process for Australia's Harvest and Bycatch Policies, and their associated guidelines have reinforced the need for assessment of cumulative impacts, and the EPBC Act has also explicitly required consideration of cumulative impacts.
Where multiple activities occur or are planned, an understanding of their combined effects on the environment is necessary to address policy requirements and achieve sustainability. The concept of cumulative impact assessment is not new – indeed cumulative assessment has been recognized for many years, and a range of methods have been proposed around the globe. However, no methodology for undertaking cumulative assessments has been accepted nationally or globally. In addition to considering the impacts across all fishing sectors (commercial, recreational, indigenous, as required by recent changes to the Fisheries Administration Act 1991) and all fisheries, there is also an increasing need to consider other users of marine resources and coastal waters (e.g. renewable energy, shipping etc), especially where space crowding may be an issue.
Target species stock assessments typically consider the species of interest as well as other sources of fishing mortality (e.g. discards), but they do not usually consider their effects on other fisheries sectors or the effects of other sectors on the focal fishery. CIA methods therefore need to consider interactive and indirect effects. To date, interactive effects are often viewed as additive (simple linear addition of one impact to another) with little consideration given to synergistic, antagonistic or non-linear effects. While the ERAEF toolbox used for assessment of bycatch and protected species has some potential options for cumulative impacts (e.g. SAFE method), at this stage they are insufficient for moving to the scales and complexities across multiple fishing sectors and fisheries.
Thus, sustainable fisheries management requires new approaches that consider all sectors and all fisheries and how they impact the environment. Such CIAs will be challenging given that empirical data are often lacking - a dedicated research effort is needed.
1. Undertake a two part review. This first part being to review existing cumulative impacts literature on methods applied elsewhere in the world, to produce design principles for a scalable cumulative impacts approach
and a synthesis of current benchmark methods and gaps in methods that must be filled to deliver Australian needs. And the second part being a global ERA review to identify cumulative impacts seen in other fisheries, with the specific focus of this review as specified by the AFMA led ERA/ERM working group – including looking: (i) at the assessment methods used elsewhere
(ii) their information needs and context
(iii) the strengths and weaknesses of the different approaches
(iv) synergies and efficiencies that can be adopted
and (v) recommend cost-effect ERA/ERM integration of additional methods that have been found to be appropriate given an AFMA context.
2. Characterise cumulative issues complicating cumulative impact assessments and, via a methods scan, deliver a list of options for addressing these issues
3. Develop a cumulative impacts framework that structures the sequence of analyses done for each assessment based on the characteristics of the sectors and ecological components involved– target, bycatch and protected species, and habitats and ecological communities
4. Perform an Australia-wide cumulative impacts assessment, with fishery-specific results, for (i) commonwealth fisheries across ecological components, (ii) indigenous and recreational sectors that interact with commonwealth fisheries for these components and (iii) and state and recreational fisheries where they overlap with Commonwealth fisheries.
Final report
Authors:
E.A. Fulton
Piers Dunstan
Rowan Treblico
Final Report
•
6.18 MB
2018-020-DLD.pdf
The world is changing more rapidly than any one individual can track. The Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (1999) (EPBC Act) requires for all human activities, such as fisheries, to be sustainable not only in isolation but in combination with other anthropogenic activities and the general state of the environment. It is difficult for fishery managers and operators to comply with this requirement without appropriate assessment methods. In addition, trying to understand the complete state of an ecosystem and all its interacting parts is a substantial and challenging task, especially for a nation with national waters as large and diverse as Australia’s.
In response researchers from the CSIRO and the University of Adelaide set about reviewing existing tools used to undertake Ecological Risk Assessments (ERAs) or Cumulative Effects Assessments (CEAs). This information then formed the basis for developing a new Cumulative Effects Assessment framework which was applied to 409 species around Australia to understand what the cumulative effects of fisheries are on Australia’s marine systems. This understanding and the recommendations made around strengthening existing assessment methods used by the Australian Fisheries Management Authority (AFMA) and other fisheries regulatory agencies will place Australia in a better place to ensure it is not only meeting regulatory requirements, but supporting sustainable industries and helping to coordinate across government agencies to safeguard healthy marine ecosystems into Australia’s future.
PROJECT NUMBER
•
2003-222
PROJECT STATUS:
COMPLETED
Innovative Solutions for Aquaculture: spatial impacts and carrying capacity - further developing, refining and validating existing models of environmental effects of finfish farming
As aquaculture continues to grow, both in South Australia and elsewhere, it is becoming increasingly necessary to understand how wastes are circulated through the environment, both to minimize environmental impacts, and to minimize feedbacks that may reduce production. This information will...
ORGANISATION:
SARDI Food Safety and Innovation
TAGS
SPECIES
Aquaculture genetics workshop
Project number:
1998-342
Project Status:
Completed
Budget expenditure:
$19,205.00
Principal Investigator:
Alan Lymbery
Organisation:
Aquaculture Council Of Western Australia Inc
Project start/end date:
28 Jun 1998
-
30 Aug 2000
Contact:
FRDC
The 1995 review of world aquaculture resources by the Food and Agriculture Organisation identified the major constraints to future development of aquaculture as being: the availability of feed ingredients; disease and health management; environmental impacts; and genetic and diversity issues. There are two areas in which genetics is especially important in aquaculture development: 1) Appropriate broodstock selection and breeding programs for the genetic improvement of important production traits; 2) Genetic implications of the translocation of aquaculture stocks within and outside their natural range.
Genetic improvement: The power of selective breeding in increasing productivity and efficiency has been amply demonstrated in traditional agricultural species. Aquaculture species have hardly benefited from modern developments in animal breeding, despite their typically high reproductive capacity and therefore high potential for genetic improvement. The key issues which need to be addressed are the appropriate traits for improvement and their genetic parameters (heritability, correlations with other traits); optimal selection methods (mass selection, family selection, construction of selection indexes); avoidance of inbreeding; and the role of recombinant DNA technology (transgenesis, marker-assisted selection and cytogenetic manipulation).
Understanding the power of genetics is particulary important with aquaculture species where egg supply is a limiting factor. This applies to many fish species where the first generation bred in captivity often become the broodstock for the industry. Accidental initial selection of a slow growing strain (compounded by inbreeding), or starting with a small genetic base often leads to an uncompetitive industry.
Translocation: The issue of translocation is likely to become an increasingly important constraint upon aquaculture development. Although policy guidelines are currently being produced in Western Australia and other states, their application will be hampered by a lack of genetic knowledge on two fronts. Firstly, we know very little about the genetic population structure of most endemic potential aquaculture species. Secondly, what we do know comes almost entirely from studies of neutral genetic markers, and may bear no resemblance to the genetic structure of traits of ecological importance. The issues that need to be addressed are: laboratory and analytical techniques for measuring population genetic structure; relating population genetic structure to genetic variance in traits of ecological importance; the effects of breeding for stock enhancement on inbreeding and variance effective population sizes.
These issues of genetic improvement of breeding stock and genetic effects of translocation are two sides of the same coin, because the traits which we wish to improve through breeding are in most cases precisely those traits which determine the adaptedness of local populations to their environment. Both issues need to be addressed at this early stage in the development of the aquaculture industry in Australia.
Restocking of native fish stocks is also becoming increasingly important in Australia as the political power of recreational anglers and the value of their sport to local economies increases. Restocking programs should not be undertaken without an understanding of the genetic structure and variance of existing populations or the knowledge needed to ensure that the restocked fish do not alter this balance.
1. To hold an aquaculture genetics workshop.
2. To focus the Australian aquaculture industry on the importance of genetics in relation to aquaculture production.
3. To identify and initiate appropriate species specific genetic improvement programmes by Australian industry and government research sectors.
4. To provide a scientific basis for assessing genetic risks arising from the translocation or restocking of aquaculture species.
5. To identify research and development needs.
Final report
Author:
Alan Lymbery
Final Report
•
2001-11-06
•
47.32 KB
1998-342-DLD.pdf
Aquaculture in Australia is a rapidly growing industry. More than 60 aquatic species including crustaceans, molluscs, finfish, crocodiles and microalgae are presently cultured in Australia, although less than ten species support around 80% of the total value of the industry. In 1995, a review of world aquaculture resources by the Food and Agriculture Organisation identified genetic and diversity issues as major constraints to the future development of aquaculture. There are two areas in which genetics is especially important in aquaculture development: (1) the genetic improvement of important production traits; and (2) genetic implications of the intentional movement (translocation) of organisms for aquaculture or restocking programs.
Genetic improvement of aquaculture species offers substantial opportunities for increased production efficiency, disease control, product quality and ultimately profitability for aquaculture industries. Most aquaculture industries in Australia are at an early stage of development and would benefit from the introduction of genetic improvement programs.
The first step in a genetic improvement program is to determine which traits should be improved (the breeding objective), and find measures for those traits (the selection criteria). Size at harvest is perceived by industry participants, managers and researchers as the trait that will most influence profitability for all major aquaculture species in Australia. Other traits of general importance are survival to harvest, disease resistance (especially in edible molluscs), meat yield and feed conversion efficiency. For some aquaculture species, such as trout, there are good estimates of the heritabilities and genetic correlations among these traits, and studies are beginning for a number of crustacean and mollusc species. In most cases, however, we still lack the basic information needed to define effective selection criteria for the traits we wish to improve.
Once the breeding objective and selection criteria have been determined, we need to consider the methods by which superior breeding stock will be selected. Mass selection, where breeding stock are chosen on the basis of individual performance, is most common in aquaculture species. This may lead to inbreeding, however, because individuals with superior performance will often be closely related. One method of overcoming this is by taking the performance of relatives into account when choosing breeding stock (family selection). The major research priority for genetic improvement across all aquaculture species in Australia is the development of genetic markers to enable accurate pedigree determination. This would allow the more widespread use of family data in selection decisions, without costly maintenance of separate family lines until individuals can be physically marked.
The major constraint upon the implementation of genetic improvement programs by aquaculture industries is lack of available funds and resources. Many aquaculture industries in Australia are small and immature, and uncertainties over production costs and market opportunities limit investment in long-term genetic improvement programs. Ensuring industry ownership of genetic improvement programs, and national coordination among researchers, are vital in all aquaculture industries. Government support may be necessary in the early stages of development, and the favourable benefit:cost ratio demonstrated, for example, by the Norwegian breeding program for salmonids, should encourage the targeted investment of public funds into genetic improvement programs for aquaculture species.
Project products
View Filter
