Project number: 2000-311
Project Status:
Completed
Budget expenditure: $579,814.00
Principal Investigator: Norman G. Hall
Organisation: Murdoch University
Project start/end date: 23 May 2001 - 28 Sep 2008
Contact:
FRDC

Need

(1) Fisheries WA and Murdoch University have identified a need for developing new models that are based on integrating fisheries data with data on fish populations and communities and habitat requirements, and thereby facilitating the production of high quality management plans aimed at ensuring the ecological sustainability of fisheries resources in Western Australia.

(2) There is an increasing need for developing the quantitative approaches for analysing, in a more sophisticated manner, the biological data on fish populations that are traditionally used for developing management plans for fish stocks, as well as for developing appropriate new models (see Point 1)

(3) Fisheries WA, Murdoch University and other agencies have also identified the need for producing a continuous supply of high-quality scientists, who have the quantitative skills required for understanding and developing ecosystem and fishery models, and who are thus suitably trained for employment in areas related to the implementation of integrated fisheries and ecosystem management.

Objectives

1. To use the extensive data set for the fishery, fish and invertebrate fauna, flora and environment of the Peel-Harvey estuary to develop models that are able to be used for developing plans for integrated fishery and ecosystem management in that estuary.
2. To develop the above models further, using data for other ecosystems, so that combined fisheries and ecosystem models then become available for a range of different ecosystems.
3. To develop more sophisticated and advanced quantitative techniques for analysing the biological data present in existing datasets so that more complex information, such as individual variability in growth and gear selectivity, can be provided to those managers responsible for developing the plans for an integrated approach to fisheries and ecosystem management.

Related research

Environment
People
People