Seafood CRC: improving profitability in the Western Rocklobster fishery using a rocklobster trap

Project number: 2008-900
Project Status:
Completed
Budget expenditure: $92,276.57
Principal Investigator: Dexter Davies
Organisation: Western Rock Lobster Council Inc (WRLC)
Project start/end date: 14 Nov 2008 - 14 Nov 2009
Contact:
FRDC
TAGS
Stakeholder
Resource Access And Allocation
Rac Wa
Fishing Gear
Fisheries Management
SPECIES
Western Rock Lobster

Need

For the WRL fishery, this situation has resulted primarily from a relatively static beach price for lobster and increasing fuel, labour and other input costs. A major driver for input costs in this fishery is the number of pot lifts, which is currently about 10 million annually, equating to a total cost of ~$60 million (average cost per potlift - $6.00). If a lobster trap could be introduced into this fishery with a volume approx twice that of traditional pots, thereby enabling fishers to capitalise on the gregarious nature of the animal whilst preventing escapees, the fishing behaviour of the fleet would adapt accordingly to focus on primarily extended soaks i.e. 48 and 72 hours. It is envisaged that the cost savings associated with this shift in fishing behaviour would translate to a more economically viable fleet.

The introduction of a lobster trap which causes a reduction in the number of pot lifts has the potential to enhance the primary measure of exploitation in the WRLF namely, catch per unit effort (CPUE). A 10-20% reduction in pot lifts over an entire season would result in cost savings to the tune of $6-12 million annually. This project aims to trial a lobster trap which will encourage fishers to alter their fishing behaviour thereby increasing their CPUE which translates directly to cost savings in fuel and bait usage.

The decision to use more efficient pots could be undertaken at an individual fisher level, but this requires robust conversion rates for any modified design(s) to ensure that the integrity of the fishery's input based management system is not compromised. The potential for further cost savings arising through the purchase and maintenance of licences containing lesser numbers of entitlements is also likely.

Objectives

1. To calculate the potential cost savings which arise through the use of a reduced number of more efficient 1.2m lobster traps in tandem with a modified fishing behaviour. These estimates would be derived by obtaining attaining robust estimates of catch rates (catch per unit effort) using the 1.2m trap compared to traditional pots in the fishery combined with the estimated reduction in operating costs that would arise from the widespread adoption of the 1.2m traps. For instance, a fisherman choosing to deploy a 1.2m trap that is 20% more efficient than traditional methods would lose 20% of his entitlements. This analysis would incorporate both varying estimates of efficiency and degree of uptake by industry.
2. To determine whether a modified 1.2m lobster trap will alter the fishing behaviour of the WRL fleet which is traditionally focused on 24 hour soak times. This would be achieved through an increased reliance on a trap which is greater in volume than the traditional pot, retains 100% of animals and ideally suited to extended soak times i.e. 48 – 72 hours.

Final report

ISBN: 978-0-9807845-9-6
Authors: Andrew Winzer Roy Melville-Smith Simon de Lestang & Adrian Thomson
Final Report • 2011-03-01 • 961.56 KB
2008-900-DLD.pdf

Summary

This project investigated the efficiency of using different pot designs to increase the profitability of the Western Rocklobster fishery. The motivation for this study was a more efficient pot would reduce the number of pot hauls, and that this in turn would increase profitability of the fishery by reducing the amount of bait used, the amount of time at sea, fuel usage and overall wear and tear on equipment.

During the course of this project, three different pot designs were trialed against the standard batten pot design. Trials of the new pot designs were undertaken in more than one management zone and for one (and more than one) day soaking times. In nearly all instances, standard batten pots proved to be more successful in catching lobsters than the two of the trialed pot designs. However, the third design, a side entrance batten pot with a broad base, hereafter termed the 'broad based pot', proved to be more effective than standard pots under particular conditions. In trials conducted during the reds part of the 2008/09 season, catches of legal sized lobsters made by broad based pots were not significantly different to those made by standard pots for one day and greater than one day soaking times. However, the broad based pots tended to catch fewer undersized lobsters. Trials of the broad based pots during the early part of the 2009/10 whites season showed that while they were not significantly different in terms of their ability over standard pots to catch legal sized lobsters on one day soaking periods, they were superior to the standard pot on two day soaks. The broad based pot design also caught significantly fewer under sized lobsters over two day soaking periods.

These results suggest that the use of broad based pots during the whites fishing season combined with longer pot soaking times would be expected to lead to multi-million dollar cost savings through reduced pot lifts. Furthermore, there would be a substantial reduction in the handling of hundreds of thousands of sub-legal discarded lobsters which could be expected to have beneficial flow-on effects in terms of future catch.

Related research

All research
research
Communities
Communities
Environment

Seafood CRC: benefit-cost analysis of marker assisted selection in Australian aquaculture species

Project number: 2008-904
Project Status:
Completed
Budget expenditure: $11,135.82
Principal Investigator: Nicholas A. Robinson
Organisation: Flinders University
Project start/end date: 31 Jan 2009 - 29 May 2009
Contact:
FRDC
TAGS
Supply Chain
Stock Assessment
Profitability
Nutrition
Modelling

Need

The development and application of marker assisted selection (MAS), genomic breeding values (GEBVs) and selection using gene expression profiling (GEPS) is a rapidly developing area, and significant technological and methodological advances have been made in recent years. There is potential that these techniques could greatly speed the genetic progress in selective breeding programs and provide faster access and more benefit than conventional selective breeding techniques. However, before embarking on research in this area, aquaculture industries need answers to a number of questions. What basic resources are available or needed for each species before research to find markers or to apply MAS, GEBVs or GEPS can be carried out? Which traits would be best targeted for MAS, GEBVs or GEPS? and what is the economic value of these traits? What are the likely cost-benefits for MAS, GEBV or GEPS? When should research be undertaken or what developments might trigger research in this area for each species? What has been the measured impact of the application of these technologies on other industries? This project relates to the research strategies developed by the CRC from projects that have scoped selective breeding for abalone, Yellowtail Kingfish and Barramundi. It also relates to the R&D strategies developed by many of the aquaculture sectors in the CRC (eg. abalone, oyster, Atlantic Salmon, Prawns etc.) which have included in the past, or currently include, projects to develop markers or apply marker assisted selection.

Objectives

1. To provide a concise report that focuses on the relevance and benefit cost analysis of marker assisted selection for the abalone, Barramundi, Prawn, tuna, Yellowtail Kingfish, Mulloway, oyster and Atlantic Salmon aquaculture industries

Final report

ISBN: 978-0-9805789-2-8
Author: Nick Robinson
Final Report • 2009-05-01 • 2.65 MB
2008-904-DLD.pdf

Summary

This project relates to the research strategies developed by the CRC from projects that have scoped selective breeding for abalone, Yellowtail Kingfish and Barramundi. There is potential that genetic marker assisted selection (MAS) techniques could greatly speed the genetic progress in these selective breeding programs and provide faster access and more benefit than conventional selective breeding techniques.

The analysis in this report addresses some of the questions raised by the use of MAS techniques in selective breeding programs for the seafood industries participating in the Australian Seafood CRC.