Futures of Seafood. Wild. Aquaculture. Recreational. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders

Project number: 2023-092
Project Status:
Current
Budget expenditure: $2,750,000.00
Principal Investigator: Angela Williamson
Organisation: Blue Economy Cooperative Research Centre Co-Ltd
Project start/end date: 30 Nov 2023 - 27 Nov 2025
Contact:
FRDC
TAGS
Resource Access And Allocation
Renewable Energy
Marine Park
Energy
Energy

Need

“Futures of Seafood” is an 18th month multi-disciplinary study co-designed with industry and government. It will draw from existing data, complementary work underway or concluded, and importantly will involve a suite our outputs that can be used by a variety of stakeholders in formats that are fit for purpose.

The study will provide a contemporary description on the state of play of Australia’s seafood system, the supply chain, markets and its reach into communities. It will identify and report on trends, insights, forecasts and cumulative impacts that are impacting (positive and negative) the industry. It will include the first in-depth spatial and descriptive profile of the seafood industry by sector and jurisdiction through spatial mapping and productivity reporting since Marine Matters in 2003. Beyond seafood, it will also identify, describe and map other ocean uses (new, emerging and transitioning), including assumptions about current growth plans / policies / rights completed / taken up, looking towards 2040.

Drawing from information collated, the study will include scenario modelling to model and scrutinise the cumulative impacts of these trends and produce associated impact reporting against productivity and sustainability (social, economic, environmental and governance) metrics for a series of ten scenarios.

It will synthesise the study findings, as well as curate across other studies underway or completed, to develop a series of industry-specific assets (reports, tools, frameworks and systems) that aim to improve knowledge and support ongoing participation in the ocean estate policy conversation. This includes supporting priority contemporary frameworks to support transitions to future states and de-risking industry/sectors.

‘Futures of Seafood’ will support a shared understanding of the potential pathways and opportunities that lie ahead for Australia’s seafood stakeholders during this time of rapid change and transformation. It will furthermore provide a foundation for industry, Government and policy makers to make better decisions, navigate changes, and ensure industry and stakeholders are well-equipped to adapt and hopefully flourish in a dynamic environment.

This study and its intended outputs are consistent with and seeks to promote action against local, national, and global strategic initiatives, including those of the High-Level Panel for a Sustainable Ocean Economy, the Biodiversity Framework within the Convention on Biological Diversity, the Paris Declaration, the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and associated Forward Faster Initiative.

WORK PACKAGE SUMMARY

In short, this is a novel study that describes, maps and models the spatial, economic and social impacts of Government targets and decisions, provides evidence-based insights and charts a course for Australia’s futures of seafood alongside other ocean uses for the coming 10-15 years.

It will be delivered through a series of four work packages. These are founded on an enduring data collation platform, undertaken by a series of expert commissions and overseen and supported by a strong and inclusive governance framework.

Work Package 1: State of Play
• Identify data system to support mapping and describing the current state of the industries/sectors – i.e. locations, GVP, employment, production, jurisdiction input/output.
• Identify social and economic values i.e. contribution to regional communities, nutrition + value of supply chain.
• Deliver a contemporary description on the building blocks and state of play of Australia's ocean food system, its supply chain and markets alongside the other uses of the ocean estate.
• Investigate and report the trends, forecasts and cumulative impacts (positive and negative) on Australia's seafood industry. i.e. Nutritional security; spatial squeeze; working in a changing climate i.e. resilience, adaptation, emergency response; Industry transitions i.e. decarbonisation; Jurisdiction i.e. policy/strategy, production v consumption; Workforce + training; Nature based solutions & investment, sustainable food systems i.e. ESG and sustainability

Work Package 2: Future Estate
• Map and overlay impacts of new and emerging transitioning industries in the ocean estate.
• Identify and describe the trends, forecasts and cumulative impacts affecting the seafood industry.
• Map/measure/describe the implications of trends, forecasts and cumulative impacts of these industries and impacts (positive and negative) on Australia's seafood industry.
• Describe other uses of the ocean estate.

Work Package 3: Scenario Modelling
• Design and develop tool to test future state scenarios for commercial, recreational and indigenous fishing.
• Undertake a series of impact scenario examples: i.e. spatial squeeze/crowded ocean, a changing climate, a regulatory reset, sector case studies and cumulative pressures.
• Use the scenarios to deliver impact reporting on productivity, nutrition and sustainability metrics to include: spatial mapping, heat maps, regulatory options, socio-economic attributes, community sentiment, nutrition, consumer and market impacts and opportunities.

Work Package 4: Synthesis
• Synthesis of research from WPs into a complete report and communications assets.
• Develop a Futures of Seafood Roadmap to navigate the likely impacts of the futures scenarios.

Governance Framework
• This collaboration will bring together leaders from industry sectors and government portfolios of agriculture, energy and environment.
• A strong and inclusive governance model is proposed to capture the breadth of stakeholders and ensure oversight of the study, strategic relevance and timely input from data and information contributors.
• Oversight Committee
• Industry + Community Advisory Committee
• Government Advisory Committee
• WP Technical Teams + Data Management & Communications Teams
• Terms of Reference for each committee with be established.

Project Management
• This will be supported by a mature project administration system, drawing from the Blue Economy project management system, a governance model and also an independent project evaluator to undertake assurance and integrity of program logic and models.

Objectives

1. Provide a contemporary description on the state of play of Australia’s seafood system, the supply chain, markets and its reach into communities.
2. Identify the trends, insights, forecasts and cumulative impacts that are impacting (positive and negative) Australia's seafood industry.
3. Provide an in-depth spatial and descriptive profile of the seafood industry by sector and jurisdiction through spatial mapping and productivity reporting.
4. Identify, describe and map other ocean uses (new, emerging and transitioning), including assumptions about current growth plans / policies / rights completed / taken up, looking towards 2040.
5. Develop scenario modelling tools to model these trends and produce associated impact reporting against productivity and sustainability (social, economic, environmental and governance) metrics.
6. Synthesise the research and available to develop industry-specific assets (tools, frameworks and systems) that improve knowledge and support ongoing participation in the ocean estate policy conversation.
7. Progress priority contemporary frameworks to support transitions to future states and de-risking industry/sectors.

Responsible fisheries and aquaculture - Activating a comprehensive Ecological, Social, and Governance (ESG) reporting data system to uplift sustainability and traceability

Project number: 2023-024
Project Status:
Current
Budget expenditure: $500,000.00
Principal Investigator: Alistair Hobday
Organisation: CSIRO Environment
Project start/end date: 31 Jul 2023 - 29 Jul 2025
Contact:
FRDC
TAGS
Sustainability
Data

Need

Verification of fishing and aquaculture sustainability credentials is essential to increase consumer confidence, market access and community benefit. Sector performance currently centres on monitoring fish stocks & economic benefits. However, markets increasingly require traceable evidence of Environmental, Social & Governance (ESG) indicators such as provenance, safety, diversity, animal welfare, carbon, biodiversity to inform decisions. To meet this need, this project activates CSIROs Healthcheck ESG Fishing & Aquaculture data system by engaging industry, managers & researchers to identify data gaps and prioritise/collect essential indicators to allow more comprehensive ESG reporting. Data will be compatible and interoperable with existing catalogues/exchanges, for publishing to recognised sustainability frameworks (e.g. Status of Australian Fish Stocks, WhichFish, National Fisheries Plan, UN SDGs). Community surveys will allow adaptive prioritisation of future data/reporting needs.

Objectives

1. Activate an existing ESG data system (Healthcheck) with complementary ESG frameworks (Status of Australian Fish Stocks, Whichfish, Our Pledge, National Fisheries Plan, UN SDGs) and promote data use to increase traceability & sustainability of wild harvest fisheries, aquaculture operations and fish stocks (hereafter, F&A)
2. Increase the number of F&A reporting against ESG frameworks from 20 to 100 stocks (over 90 percent seafood value)
3. Address F&A priority data gaps
4. Increase data access & traceability through use of data exchanges
5. Use feasibility tested data to populate existing/emerging sustainability frameworks (e.g. Status of Australian Fish Stocks, National Fisheries Plan reporting, carbon & nature-based financial disclosure frameworks) and use verified sustainability credentials to demonstrate best practice (e.g. SIAs ‘Our Pledge’, Marine Stewardship Certification)
6. Be interoperable with related frameworks e.g. Australian Agricultural Sustainability Framework, ‘Know & Show your Carbon Footprint’ (funded by Agricultural Innovation Australia)
7. Understand community sustainability sentiment to inform future data gap prioritisation and build confidence

Precision Oyster Farming with Artificial Intelligence: Oyster Metrics

Project number: 2023-035
Project Status:
Current
Budget expenditure: $87,538.00
Principal Investigator: Andrew Trotter
Organisation: Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies (IMAS) Hobart
Project start/end date: 25 Apr 2024 - 29 Apr 2025
Contact:
FRDC
TAGS
Productivity
Data
Artificial Intelligence
Aquaculture
SPECIES
Sydney Rock Oyster
Pacific Oyster

Need

Commercial in confidence. To know more about this project please contact FRDC.

Objectives

Commercial in confidence

Related research

All research
research
Industry
Industry
Industry

Economic Impact assessment of FRDC's annual RD&E investments: a three year procurement

Project number: 2023-160
Project Status:
Current
Budget expenditure: $517,225.00
Principal Investigator: Susan Madden
Organisation: GHD Pty Ltd Sydney
Project start/end date: 14 Apr 2024 - 2 Jul 2026
Contact:
FRDC
TAGS
Economic

Need

It is becoming increasingly important for Rural RDCs to continually monitor and evaluate the returns from RD&E investment, as government and industry require greater transparency and accountability of RD&E funds.

In addition to FRDC’s Statutory Funding Agreement requirements for valuing return on investment and use in its Annual Reports, impact assessments of FRDC’s RD&E investments are needed to inform:
– Future investment decisions
– CRRDC’s overall performance review of impact generated by RDCs
– Levy payers and government of the performance of investments.

GHD understands that the project will comprise two key components:
– An economic impact assessment of up to 20 research projects for the three-year period FY23/24, 24/25, and 25/26
– An individual and aggregated report of all assessed projects at the completion of assessments.

GHD notes that within this period the first five assessments for FY23/24 are required by June 2024 with the remainder of the projects, i.e. 10, due in September 2024. These assessments are required to be consistent with the CRRDC Guidelines for Impact Assessments. FRDC RD&E projects are to be assessed annually to meet Statutory Funding Agreement (SFA) requirements for valuing return on investment for use in FRDC’s Annual Reports and performance of FRDC’s investments.
In conducting the impact assessment project it will be important to note that one of FRDC’s key responsibilities is to ensure that research to assist management of fisheries and aquaculture resources is being undertaken to maintain ongoing sustainability. While the primary focus of these benefit-cost analyses over time has been economic impact, with references to environmental and social implications where appropriate, FRDC is increasingly interested in understanding the impact of R&D investments on environmental, social, and economic aspects more holistically.

Objectives

1. To inform FRDC's delivery of R&D Plans and future investment decisions
2. To provide information on the return of FRDC’s RD&E investment that can be used in FRDC’s annual reporting to the Australian Commonwealth
3. To contribute to populating the Evaluation Framework for FRDC reporting to DAFF under the current SFA agreement
4. To provide FRDC input to the overall performance assessment of the RDCs being compiled by CRRDC

Women in the Seafood Industry of the Northern Territory: Participation, Contribution and Workforce Retention (PhD)

Project number: 2023-018
Project Status:
Current
Budget expenditure: $15,000.00
Principal Investigator: Natasha Stacey
Organisation: Charles Darwin University (CDU)
Project start/end date: 9 Nov 2023 - 29 Aug 2026
Contact:
FRDC
TAGS
Workforce
Research
Leadership
Labour
Capacity Building

Need

Commercial in confidence. To know more about this project please contact FRDC.

Objectives

Commercial in confidence

Australian Fisheries and Aquaculture Statistics 2022

Project number: 2023-082
Project Status:
Completed
Budget expenditure: $60,000.00
Principal Investigator: Robert Curtotti
Organisation: Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry (DAFF) ABARES
Project start/end date: 17 Dec 2023 - 29 Jun 2024
Contact:
FRDC
TAGS
Trade
Fisheries Management
Economic
Data
Consumer

Need

Statistics on Australian fisheries production and trade seeks to meet the needs of the fishing and aquaculture industry, fisheries managers, policymakers and researchers. It can assist in policy decisions, industry marketing strategies and the allocation of research funding or priorities. The gross value of production for specific fisheries are used for determining the research and development levies collected by government.

The neutrality and integrity of GVP estimates is therefore important due to their forming the basis for research levies for each fishery. At the international level, the Department of Agriculture through the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences (ABARES) contributes to a number of international databases. These include databases managed by the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). Information at the international level can assist in international negotiations on issues such as trans-boundary fisheries and analysis of trade opportunities.

Objectives

1. To maintain and improve the data base of production, gross value of production and trade statistics for the Australian fishing industry, including aquaculture.
2. To provide these data in an accessible form.

Common approach to Greenhouse Gas Accounting; Platform – Build 1 (AIA Environmental Accounting Platform)

Project number: 2023-112
Project Status:
Current
Budget expenditure: $400,000.00
Principal Investigator: Sarah Castellanos
Organisation: Agricultural Innovation Australia Ltd (AIA)
Project start/end date: 30 Jan 2024 - 29 Sep 2024
Contact:
FRDC
TAGS
Climate Resilience

Need

AIA is in active conversations with a private sector consortium. These discussions continue to validate AIA’s approach and solution design. They see clear efficiencies in bringing the RDCs’
commodity-specific carbon research and knowledge together and want to be able to include this type of carbon footprint solution in their own client service offerings.

They are concerned about growers’ lack of preparedness to respond to increasing pressures around demonstrating their carbon footprint and have confidence in a not-for-profit company
like AIA housing the solution and being trusted by growers.

There is acknowledgement that Australia is in a prime position to get this right from the start and avoid the duplication and fragmentation that other countries are now facing.

There were 13 RDCs participating in this phase, involving over 120 interviews across multiple commodities/sectors.
Insights gathered include:
• Many growers are operating mixed enterprises or are keeping that option open to manage risk into the future.
• Concerns include market access, social license, environmental impact.
• Most see a level of reporting required in the near-to-medium future, related to pressure from supply chains, finance or insurance sectors.
• They want the ability to understand and make decisions for their enterprises before regulatory or supply chain pressures intensify.
• Recognition of the need to bring all commodity calculators into one, consistent platform.

These insights speak to the growing importance of and need for the solution approach that AIA is taking.

A Discovery Insights Report, including a specific fishing and aquaculture report, was provide to FRDC in May 2023.

Objectives

1. To develop core infrastructure, being the digital infrastructure required for the initial integration and digitisation of calculators for access and use through the platform
2. To access calculators through the Platform updates recommended by the Technical Advisory Panel and approved by the Governance Group
3. To maintain the Platform to September 2024.
4. To supply resources to support communication of the Platform with FRDC levy payers
5. To integrate with Olrac, Deckhand, Catchlog and an aquaculture farm management software provider

Development of a temperature monitoring framework for Tasmania's seafood industry during marine heatwaves

Project number: 2023-099
Project Status:
Completed
Budget expenditure: $48,585.67
Principal Investigator: Camille White
Organisation: Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies (IMAS) Hobart
Project start/end date: 7 Feb 2024 - 7 Jul 2024
Contact:
FRDC
TAGS
Rac Tas
Climate Change
SPECIES
Abalone
Octopuses

Need

MHWs can have a devastating impact on marine ecosystems, with a strong El Nino event currently underway in Australia. Forecasts by CSIRO indicate sustained increases in water temperatures down the east coast of Tasmania for this summer, with potential to significantly impact on fisheries, aquaculture, and marine habitat. Improved forecasting by CSIRO has provided industry and government with the opportunity to be better prepared, with the monitoring of ambient temperature is a key component of this. While sea surface temperature (SST) models from BOM and NOAA can provide information regarding broadscale patterns, missing is fine-scale, near-coastal and below surface information that is highly relevant to fisheries, aquaculture and marine coastal environments. While some industries monitor temperature as part of operations (e.g. salmon, oyster aquaculture), other industries are missing any fine scale information that may be of relevance to their operations. This project has two main components:
1. To support and integrate existing infrastructure that collects temperature data across the summer along the east-coast of Tasmania. This includes data collected by IMAS research projects, both long and short-term, where QAQC on data is high and there is confidence the data is robust both spatially and temporally. This data will be used to understand broadscale trends at depth across a predicted MHW event.
2. To implement a pilot industry deployment of temperature loggers across the seafood supply chain. The two industries targeted for pilot deployments will be the octopus fishery and the rock lobster fishery, with loggers mounted on pots and in holding wells of boats. This pilot program will aim to develop industry-relevant temperature monitoring methods for industry for future MHW events. Data from objective one will be used to ground-truth results and validate methods used in the pilot program.
Overall, the data will be used by government and industry to aid in the fisheries management in MHW conditions into the future.

Objectives

1. To develop a framework for collection of robust temperature data from depth along the east coast of Tasmania
2. To validate the approach of rapid industry deployment of loggers to monitor temperature in MHW conditions for providing fine-scale variation in temperature.
3. Use the combined data to better understand how temperature data can inform fisheries management for future MHW events

Final report

ISBN: PRINT 978-1-922708-86-1, ELECTRONIC 978-1-922708-87-8
Authors: Camille White Samantha Twiname Craig Mundy Benjamin Quigley & Caleb Gardner
Final Report • 2024-08-01 • 3.57 MB
2023-099-DLD.pdf

Summary

Marine heatwaves can have devastating impacts on marine ecosystems, with a strong El Nino event forecast in Australia for the summer/autumn of 2023-24. Forecasts by CSIRO indicated sustained increases in water temperatures down the east coast of Tasmania with potential to significantly affect fisheries, aquaculture, and marine habitat. While sea surface temperature (SST) outputs from Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) can provide information regarding broadscale patterns, missing is fine-scale, near-coastal and below surface information that is highly relevant to fisheries, aquaculture and marine coastal environments.
This project aimed to develop methods of collecting data at a scale and in locations that are relevant to fisheries in Tasmania. Methods were developed for both the deployment of instrumentation on fishing gear, along with R routines for efficiently and effectively presenting and reporting on the data. HOBO temperature loggers were deployed on commercial fishing gear from February to May 2024 to collect fine scale temperature data. Industries included the commercial Southern Rock Lobster, octopus and scalefish fisheries. Once the data was collected, it was cleaned and complied and used to compare to SST outputs for marine heatwave (MHW) monitoring.
 
Temperature data was collected across the state for the period from February to May 2024. Outputs in the form of letters containing the data they collected where provided back to participant fishers. This included a map of where the loggers were deployed, a per deployment temperature summary, the in-water temperature profile compared to seasonal averages and thresholds and overlapped on MHW classification plots. In addition, all data collected was developed into a spatially aggregated temporal summary to visualise the scope of data collected during the project.
 
These methods will be an essential tool for the management of fisheries in future MHW events, allowing for the tracking of temperature through the seafood supply chain and providing the framework to compile spatially and temporally robust datasets. End users of this data will be industry, researchers and government looking to better understand and manage MHW conditions as they become increasingly common into the future. Monitoring temperature through deployments with commercial operators will help to improve decision making for fishing locations, give marine farming better preparation around stock flows and allow for strategic decisions to be taken to adapt to changing environmental conditions. Overall, the method developed through this project fills an identified gap at a local level, which allows fishers to monitor temperature at industry-relevant and at a spatial scale that is indicative of fishing activities.
Final Report • 2024-08-01 • 3.57 MB
2023-099-DLD.pdf

Summary

Marine heatwaves can have devastating impacts on marine ecosystems, with a strong El Nino event forecast in Australia for the summer/autumn of 2023-24. Forecasts by CSIRO indicated sustained increases in water temperatures down the east coast of Tasmania with potential to significantly affect fisheries, aquaculture, and marine habitat. While sea surface temperature (SST) outputs from Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) can provide information regarding broadscale patterns, missing is fine-scale, near-coastal and below surface information that is highly relevant to fisheries, aquaculture and marine coastal environments.
This project aimed to develop methods of collecting data at a scale and in locations that are relevant to fisheries in Tasmania. Methods were developed for both the deployment of instrumentation on fishing gear, along with R routines for efficiently and effectively presenting and reporting on the data. HOBO temperature loggers were deployed on commercial fishing gear from February to May 2024 to collect fine scale temperature data. Industries included the commercial Southern Rock Lobster, octopus and scalefish fisheries. Once the data was collected, it was cleaned and complied and used to compare to SST outputs for marine heatwave (MHW) monitoring.
 
Temperature data was collected across the state for the period from February to May 2024. Outputs in the form of letters containing the data they collected where provided back to participant fishers. This included a map of where the loggers were deployed, a per deployment temperature summary, the in-water temperature profile compared to seasonal averages and thresholds and overlapped on MHW classification plots. In addition, all data collected was developed into a spatially aggregated temporal summary to visualise the scope of data collected during the project.
 
These methods will be an essential tool for the management of fisheries in future MHW events, allowing for the tracking of temperature through the seafood supply chain and providing the framework to compile spatially and temporally robust datasets. End users of this data will be industry, researchers and government looking to better understand and manage MHW conditions as they become increasingly common into the future. Monitoring temperature through deployments with commercial operators will help to improve decision making for fishing locations, give marine farming better preparation around stock flows and allow for strategic decisions to be taken to adapt to changing environmental conditions. Overall, the method developed through this project fills an identified gap at a local level, which allows fishers to monitor temperature at industry-relevant and at a spatial scale that is indicative of fishing activities.
Final Report • 2024-08-01 • 3.57 MB
2023-099-DLD.pdf

Summary

Marine heatwaves can have devastating impacts on marine ecosystems, with a strong El Nino event forecast in Australia for the summer/autumn of 2023-24. Forecasts by CSIRO indicated sustained increases in water temperatures down the east coast of Tasmania with potential to significantly affect fisheries, aquaculture, and marine habitat. While sea surface temperature (SST) outputs from Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) can provide information regarding broadscale patterns, missing is fine-scale, near-coastal and below surface information that is highly relevant to fisheries, aquaculture and marine coastal environments.
This project aimed to develop methods of collecting data at a scale and in locations that are relevant to fisheries in Tasmania. Methods were developed for both the deployment of instrumentation on fishing gear, along with R routines for efficiently and effectively presenting and reporting on the data. HOBO temperature loggers were deployed on commercial fishing gear from February to May 2024 to collect fine scale temperature data. Industries included the commercial Southern Rock Lobster, octopus and scalefish fisheries. Once the data was collected, it was cleaned and complied and used to compare to SST outputs for marine heatwave (MHW) monitoring.
 
Temperature data was collected across the state for the period from February to May 2024. Outputs in the form of letters containing the data they collected where provided back to participant fishers. This included a map of where the loggers were deployed, a per deployment temperature summary, the in-water temperature profile compared to seasonal averages and thresholds and overlapped on MHW classification plots. In addition, all data collected was developed into a spatially aggregated temporal summary to visualise the scope of data collected during the project.
 
These methods will be an essential tool for the management of fisheries in future MHW events, allowing for the tracking of temperature through the seafood supply chain and providing the framework to compile spatially and temporally robust datasets. End users of this data will be industry, researchers and government looking to better understand and manage MHW conditions as they become increasingly common into the future. Monitoring temperature through deployments with commercial operators will help to improve decision making for fishing locations, give marine farming better preparation around stock flows and allow for strategic decisions to be taken to adapt to changing environmental conditions. Overall, the method developed through this project fills an identified gap at a local level, which allows fishers to monitor temperature at industry-relevant and at a spatial scale that is indicative of fishing activities.
Final Report • 2024-08-01 • 3.57 MB
2023-099-DLD.pdf

Summary

Marine heatwaves can have devastating impacts on marine ecosystems, with a strong El Nino event forecast in Australia for the summer/autumn of 2023-24. Forecasts by CSIRO indicated sustained increases in water temperatures down the east coast of Tasmania with potential to significantly affect fisheries, aquaculture, and marine habitat. While sea surface temperature (SST) outputs from Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) can provide information regarding broadscale patterns, missing is fine-scale, near-coastal and below surface information that is highly relevant to fisheries, aquaculture and marine coastal environments.
This project aimed to develop methods of collecting data at a scale and in locations that are relevant to fisheries in Tasmania. Methods were developed for both the deployment of instrumentation on fishing gear, along with R routines for efficiently and effectively presenting and reporting on the data. HOBO temperature loggers were deployed on commercial fishing gear from February to May 2024 to collect fine scale temperature data. Industries included the commercial Southern Rock Lobster, octopus and scalefish fisheries. Once the data was collected, it was cleaned and complied and used to compare to SST outputs for marine heatwave (MHW) monitoring.
 
Temperature data was collected across the state for the period from February to May 2024. Outputs in the form of letters containing the data they collected where provided back to participant fishers. This included a map of where the loggers were deployed, a per deployment temperature summary, the in-water temperature profile compared to seasonal averages and thresholds and overlapped on MHW classification plots. In addition, all data collected was developed into a spatially aggregated temporal summary to visualise the scope of data collected during the project.
 
These methods will be an essential tool for the management of fisheries in future MHW events, allowing for the tracking of temperature through the seafood supply chain and providing the framework to compile spatially and temporally robust datasets. End users of this data will be industry, researchers and government looking to better understand and manage MHW conditions as they become increasingly common into the future. Monitoring temperature through deployments with commercial operators will help to improve decision making for fishing locations, give marine farming better preparation around stock flows and allow for strategic decisions to be taken to adapt to changing environmental conditions. Overall, the method developed through this project fills an identified gap at a local level, which allows fishers to monitor temperature at industry-relevant and at a spatial scale that is indicative of fishing activities.
Final Report • 2024-08-01 • 3.57 MB
2023-099-DLD.pdf

Summary

Marine heatwaves can have devastating impacts on marine ecosystems, with a strong El Nino event forecast in Australia for the summer/autumn of 2023-24. Forecasts by CSIRO indicated sustained increases in water temperatures down the east coast of Tasmania with potential to significantly affect fisheries, aquaculture, and marine habitat. While sea surface temperature (SST) outputs from Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) can provide information regarding broadscale patterns, missing is fine-scale, near-coastal and below surface information that is highly relevant to fisheries, aquaculture and marine coastal environments.
This project aimed to develop methods of collecting data at a scale and in locations that are relevant to fisheries in Tasmania. Methods were developed for both the deployment of instrumentation on fishing gear, along with R routines for efficiently and effectively presenting and reporting on the data. HOBO temperature loggers were deployed on commercial fishing gear from February to May 2024 to collect fine scale temperature data. Industries included the commercial Southern Rock Lobster, octopus and scalefish fisheries. Once the data was collected, it was cleaned and complied and used to compare to SST outputs for marine heatwave (MHW) monitoring.
 
Temperature data was collected across the state for the period from February to May 2024. Outputs in the form of letters containing the data they collected where provided back to participant fishers. This included a map of where the loggers were deployed, a per deployment temperature summary, the in-water temperature profile compared to seasonal averages and thresholds and overlapped on MHW classification plots. In addition, all data collected was developed into a spatially aggregated temporal summary to visualise the scope of data collected during the project.
 
These methods will be an essential tool for the management of fisheries in future MHW events, allowing for the tracking of temperature through the seafood supply chain and providing the framework to compile spatially and temporally robust datasets. End users of this data will be industry, researchers and government looking to better understand and manage MHW conditions as they become increasingly common into the future. Monitoring temperature through deployments with commercial operators will help to improve decision making for fishing locations, give marine farming better preparation around stock flows and allow for strategic decisions to be taken to adapt to changing environmental conditions. Overall, the method developed through this project fills an identified gap at a local level, which allows fishers to monitor temperature at industry-relevant and at a spatial scale that is indicative of fishing activities.
Final Report • 2024-08-01 • 3.57 MB
2023-099-DLD.pdf

Summary

Marine heatwaves can have devastating impacts on marine ecosystems, with a strong El Nino event forecast in Australia for the summer/autumn of 2023-24. Forecasts by CSIRO indicated sustained increases in water temperatures down the east coast of Tasmania with potential to significantly affect fisheries, aquaculture, and marine habitat. While sea surface temperature (SST) outputs from Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) can provide information regarding broadscale patterns, missing is fine-scale, near-coastal and below surface information that is highly relevant to fisheries, aquaculture and marine coastal environments.
This project aimed to develop methods of collecting data at a scale and in locations that are relevant to fisheries in Tasmania. Methods were developed for both the deployment of instrumentation on fishing gear, along with R routines for efficiently and effectively presenting and reporting on the data. HOBO temperature loggers were deployed on commercial fishing gear from February to May 2024 to collect fine scale temperature data. Industries included the commercial Southern Rock Lobster, octopus and scalefish fisheries. Once the data was collected, it was cleaned and complied and used to compare to SST outputs for marine heatwave (MHW) monitoring.
 
Temperature data was collected across the state for the period from February to May 2024. Outputs in the form of letters containing the data they collected where provided back to participant fishers. This included a map of where the loggers were deployed, a per deployment temperature summary, the in-water temperature profile compared to seasonal averages and thresholds and overlapped on MHW classification plots. In addition, all data collected was developed into a spatially aggregated temporal summary to visualise the scope of data collected during the project.
 
These methods will be an essential tool for the management of fisheries in future MHW events, allowing for the tracking of temperature through the seafood supply chain and providing the framework to compile spatially and temporally robust datasets. End users of this data will be industry, researchers and government looking to better understand and manage MHW conditions as they become increasingly common into the future. Monitoring temperature through deployments with commercial operators will help to improve decision making for fishing locations, give marine farming better preparation around stock flows and allow for strategic decisions to be taken to adapt to changing environmental conditions. Overall, the method developed through this project fills an identified gap at a local level, which allows fishers to monitor temperature at industry-relevant and at a spatial scale that is indicative of fishing activities.