Project number: 2009-029
Project Status:
Completed
Budget expenditure: $120,425.00
Principal Investigator: Alistair Hobday
Organisation: CSIRO Oceans and Atmosphere Hobart
Project start/end date: 31 Jul 2009 - 29 Jun 2010
Contact:
FRDC

Need

The risk-based ERAEF approach to assessing impacts from fishing underpins strategic assessment for AFMA-managed fisheries, and is also crucial in the AFMA ERM process.

The ERAEF methodology uses a hierarchical approach to estimate risk from fishing activities. Level 1 (SICA) in the hierarchy has been applied to all Commonwealth fisheries across all five components (target species, bycatch and byproduct species, TEP species, habitats, and ecological communities). The Level 2 PSA species and habitat assessment tools have already been developed and applied for a subset of fisheries in the Stage 2 ERAEF project. In the proposed project we will assist in the development of a framework for ERA to ERM for habitats identified as high risk from the existing analyses, look to integrate the ERAEF results with other projects focusing on habitat impacts (FRDC 2003/021). Level 1 (SICA) in the hierarchy has been applied to all Commonwealth fisheries across all five components (target species, bycatch and byproduct species, TEP species, habitats, and ecological communities). The Level 2 PSA species and habitat assessment tools have already been developed and applied for a subset of fisheries in the Stage 2 ERAEF project. In the proposed project we will assist in the development of a framework for ERA to ERM for habitats identified as high risk from the existing analyses, demonstrate this using worked examples from the SESSF (or GAB), and a fishery that is relatively data poor such as the WDWT. We will also complete the development of the community component methodology.

Objectives

1. Provide a framework for the ERA to ERM for the ERAEF Level 2 Habitat assessment approach
2. Complete the development of the ERAEF Level communities (ecosystems) approach

Final report

ISBN: 978‐1‐921826‐54‐2
Authors: Alistair J. Hobday Catherine M. Bulman Alan Williams Mike Fuller
Final Report • 2012-01-09 • 1.43 MB
2009-029-DLD.pdf

Summary

It is now widely recognized that fisheries can have impacts on marine species, habitats and ecosystems beyond the direct impacts of fishing on target species. For example, hundreds of species are regularly caught and discarded in many trawl and longline fisheries and in particular, interactions with threatened species are a concern in many fisheries. Impacts on habitats and ecological communities as a result of fishing activities have also been documented. To address these broader impacts of fishing, ecosystem-based fisheries management (EBFM) has emerged as a complementary approach to single-species management. Development of practical methods to implement EBFM has generally lagged the policy mandates, and so development of scientific and management tools to support practical implementation has been critical.

Moves towards EBFM have also evolved in Australian fisheries during the past decade, driven by a number of policy directions and initiatives. These include: (i) a national approach to ecologically sustainable development; (ii) development of fisheries legislation that incorporates explicit reference to wider ecological impacts of fishing (e.g. the Fisheries Management Act 1991); (iii) new environmental legislation that assesses fisheries against environmental standards (e.g. the Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999); and (iv) Australia’s Oceans Policy, which also adopts an explicit ecosystem-based approach to management.

Related research

Environment
People
Industry
PROJECT NUMBER • 2023-085
PROJECT STATUS:
CURRENT

Snapper Science Program: Theme 1 - Biology and Ecology

1. Quantify the abundance of age 0+ Snapper in northern Spencer Gulf and Gulf St Vincent to provide relative estimates of recruitment for 2024, 2025, and 2026. Examine the otoliths of these fish to improve the understanding of early life history processes.
ORGANISATION:
Flinders University