Developing novel remote camera approaches to assess and monitor the population status of Australian sea lions
The Australian sea lion (Neophoca cinerea) is the only endemic species of Australian pinniped and is listed as Vulnerable under the EPBC Act due to historical reduction in numbers, declining population trends, limited biological productivity and continued bycatch in various fisheries. Measures to mitigate sea lion mortality in the Commonwealth's Southern and Eastern Scalefish and Shark Fishery include extensive gillnet fishing closures that have led to significant displacement of fishing effort. Despite the measures to protect South Australian sea lion colonies, pup production has been estimated to have declined at most South Australian colonies and overall by 2.9% per year or 4.4% per breeding cycle between 2004-2008 and 2014-2015 (Goldsworthy et al., 2015).
Gillnet exclusion areas have also been proposed in the Western Australian Demersal Gillnet and Demersal Longline Fisheries, however these have not yet been implemented, in part due to uncertainties in the current status of most Western Australian sea lion colonies and risk of unintended consequences from displaced fishing effort. Despite the high level of conservation concern for this species and the severity of fishery management measures aimed at reducing their bycatch mortality, abundance has not been estimated for most WA colonies since the early-1990s (Gales 1993). Contemporary assessments of colony status are therefore required to identify the WA colonies that are most at risk from depletion (either through fisheries bycatch or other natural or anthropogenic processes) and guide effective conservation decisions.
Historically, monitoring has involved a 'boots-on-the-ground' approach to count the numbers of pups being born. However, this approach is expensive, logistically difficult, hazardous and entirely dependent on accurate estimation of the timing of colony-specific pupping seasons. It is therefore proposed to evaluate the feasibility and cost-effectiveness of remote camera methods to collect alternative sea lion abundance estimates.
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Development of an acoustic system for remote sensing of benthic fisheries habitat for mapping, monitoring and impact assessment
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Development of techniques for quantification of stress-induced catecholamine changes in the hemolymph of the Pacific oyster (Crassostrea gigas)
Satellite technology conference
Satellite drifters in NW Australian waters
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Development, application and evaluation of the use of remotely sensed data by Australian fisheries
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The genesis of this project was in 1992 when we foresaw the arrival of a range of new remote sensing systems, and the opportunity to utilize an increasing archive of sea-surface temperature images, which could be of potential benefit to fisheries operations and management. We sought to develop, evaluate and apply remote sensing data to Australian fisheries with the specific application focussed on the east coast tuna fisheries. After a number of years of delays with the construction and launch of the outsourced Sea WiFS ocean colour satellite by the commercial company OrbImage, the project eventually began in earnest in July 1996, a few months before Sea WiFS was eventually launched successfully. The repeated delays and huge cost increases (by a factor of 10!) in accessing SeaWiFS data led us to seek alternate ways of obtaining ground-truth data and to extend the utility of sea-surface temperature (SST) in fisheries applications. The end result of this perseverance is the development of a highly successful Automated Underway System, and a catch prediction system based on SST. A less obvious benefit of this project is the lessons it teaches us about the application of new technologies to old problems.
One undeniable conclusion of this work is that there are considerable synergies to be gained from involving industry in both data gathering and exchange of knowledge. Satellite seasurface temperature data is indispensable in fisheries operations. Operators who are aware of this are capitalizing on the information and others involved in this project are also now utilizing the information. There is a clear need for an educational process to further the use of remote sensing information for the benefit of operators and managers. A subjective, but fair, assessment is that the most successful operators in the east coast tuna fisheries now actively use remote sensing data to assist their operations.