Tactical Research Fund: Sustainable Shark Fisheries - A National Research, Development And Extension Framework
Funder
Fisheries Research and Development Corporation
Funding Amount
$34,977.96
Summary
Recent risk assessment work for elasmobranchs caught in marine fisheries has highlighted their vulnerability to fishing pressure and many species are now a high priority for research and management attention. This, combined with their key ecological role, and an increasing community awareness and attention on the sustainability of shark fisheries; as well as the need for increasingly efficient use of fisheries research funding, demonstrates the need for a defined framework for shark fishery RD& ....Recent risk assessment work for elasmobranchs caught in marine fisheries has highlighted their vulnerability to fishing pressure and many species are now a high priority for research and management attention. This, combined with their key ecological role, and an increasing community awareness and attention on the sustainability of shark fisheries; as well as the need for increasingly efficient use of fisheries research funding, demonstrates the need for a defined framework for shark fishery RD&E, both nationally and regionally, and at a tactical and strategic level.
There is also a requirement to co-ordinate FRDC investments in RD&E projects for shark-associated fisheries with key national investments in infrastructure such as the IMOS Australian Acoustic Tagging and Monitoring System. The huge distances moved by individual sharks and the widely dispersed nature of many shark populations will require cross-jurisdictional research and management responses that should be informed by these new technological opportunities.
Given the constraints for fisheries RD&E funding, and recognising the business challenges confronting many fishing operators, shark related fishery RD&E must reflect management priorities and help deliver practical cost-effective solutions to identified problems. Furthermore, projects must demonstrate strong and relevant collaboration, both for efficiency and development of RD&E capacity. Without these, and other key attributes, shark-oriented RD&E will not achieve its potential to drive demonstrable improvements in management outcomes for these species and fisheries. Objectives: 1. Develop a national Research, Development and Extension Framework to underpin improved management outcomes for Australian commercial, recreational, and indigenous fisheries where shark species are caught. Read moreRead less
DAFF National Agriculture Traceability Regulatory Technology Research And Insights Grant: Australian AgriFood Data Exchange - Ag Sector Traceability Transformation Delivered Through An Interoperable Data Platform And Exchange
Funder
Fisheries Research and Development Corporation
Funding Amount
$500,000.00
Summary
Regulatory efficiency and compliance across agricultural supply chains is hindered by inefficient, incompatible or unavailable data and systems that prevent creation of robust, interoperable traceability solutions. The Australian AgriFood Data Exchange (AAFDX) will solve this challenge by creating a secure, cloud-based platform enabling government, industry and other participants to share, re-use and merge data from disparate systems in a secure, controlled manner. The AAFDX will be a modern, ef ....Regulatory efficiency and compliance across agricultural supply chains is hindered by inefficient, incompatible or unavailable data and systems that prevent creation of robust, interoperable traceability solutions. The Australian AgriFood Data Exchange (AAFDX) will solve this challenge by creating a secure, cloud-based platform enabling government, industry and other participants to share, re-use and merge data from disparate systems in a secure, controlled manner. The AAFDX will be a modern, efficient, internationally recognised data infrastructure enabling regulators and industry to better manage compliance, stimulate innovation and supply chain performance, assure consumers, coordinate biosecurity and export market access, through enhanced traceability. The funding will build the minimal viable product, with expansion to specific traceability and compliance applications. The AAFDX will endure beyond the funding period with partner co-investment and a user pays revenue stream Objectives: 1. Deliver a minimum viable product (MVP) of the Australian Agrifood Data Exchange services 2. Develop a platform that facilitates applications/solutions that increase traceability, productivity, compliance, profitability 3. Develop governance arrangements to ensure that data security, and in turn users trust in ag-tech is not compromised 4. Build digital maturity of the fisheries and aquaculture sectors to engage in the potential, permissioned shared data offers Read moreRead less
Identification Of A Y-chromosome Marker In Atlantic Salmon (extension To FRDC 95/80)
Funder
Fisheries Research and Development Corporation
Funding Amount
$113,479.00
Summary
Genetic variation The results we have obtained in the current project are encouraging for SALTAS, as they confirm the earlier allozyme results of little loss of genetic variation. However, the results are also suggestive of a potential long term trend in loss of genetic variation. A sample collected and analysed in January 1997 (1993 year-class parents) would provide evidence to substantiate this trend or indicate whether the current results were a sampling artifact. The analysis of a 1997 ....Genetic variation The results we have obtained in the current project are encouraging for SALTAS, as they confirm the earlier allozyme results of little loss of genetic variation. However, the results are also suggestive of a potential long term trend in loss of genetic variation. A sample collected and analysed in January 1997 (1993 year-class parents) would provide evidence to substantiate this trend or indicate whether the current results were a sampling artifact. The analysis of a 1997 sample would be the second of a proposed regular 4 to 5 year assessment of the status of the Tasmanian stock, and would help to describe the nature and speed of any long term trends.
SALTAS, as the principal Atlantic salmon hatchery in Australia, has a long term requirement to maintain industry and investor confidence in their product, and the ability to confirm the reliability of its breeding practices is important for the sustainability of the industry.
Loss of genetic variation in a cultured population will provide an early indicator of potential inbreeding, which could have grave consequences as deleterious recessive genes are exposed and stocks lose vigour dependent on genetic variance. Any loss of genetic variation in Tasmanian Atlantic salmon could be difficult or impossible to recover due to the restrictions on importation of new broodstock.
Y-chromosome marker A number of molecular genetic techniques for trait or marker screening have been developed since the original proposal was submitted. We propose to apply some of these new techniques to the screening of Atlantic salmon DNA for a potential Y-chromosome marker. These approaches will greatly increase our chances of finding such a marker.
The new techniques we propose include: Representational Difference Analysis (RDA); PCR-Select cDNA Subtraction Technique; the application of other modified subtractive hybridization and differential display techniques that have proved useful in other species; AFLP (amplified fragment polymorphism) technique; and the application of a number of commercial RAPD (random amplified polymorphic DNA) primers.
We have also established contact, and will collaborate during the proposed project extension, with workers who have a Y-chromosome marker for brook trout and arctic char, and other workers in this field working with other teleosts.
We believe that a continuation of the current project (95/80) is the best approach to further tackle this Y-chromosome marker issue. It will allow us to best utilise the expertise and momentum we have established on this problem, rather than completed our current objectives and then revisit this issue in a year or two.
If we are successful in locating a Y-chromosome marker either during the remainder of the current schedule or early in the 1997 grant extension, resources will then be directed to isolate and further characterize that marker. Objectives: 1. To locate a Y-chromosome marker in Atlantic salmon by applying a range of molecular genetic techniques. 2. To establish the rate of change in genetic variation in Tasmanian Atlantic salmon by comparing the genetic (microsatellite and allozyme) variation expressed in progeny from 1993 year-class parents with that present in 1989 year-class parents and the parental Nova Scotia population. Read moreRead less
Development Of A Fisheries Stream In A New An Innovative Online Course In Environmental Statistics Offered By The University Of Canberra
Funder
Fisheries Research and Development Corporation
Funding Amount
$8,000.00
Summary
Statistics is an indispensable tool in modern research. All involved in research and development require some grounding in statistics, whether it be to design and implement a research program and analyse the results, or to properly evaluate the published results of others, or to assess the promise of a proposal put forward for funding.
Fisheries management is grounded in science, and good science requires an underpinning of sound experimental design, sampling and statistical analysis. T ....Statistics is an indispensable tool in modern research. All involved in research and development require some grounding in statistics, whether it be to design and implement a research program and analyse the results, or to properly evaluate the published results of others, or to assess the promise of a proposal put forward for funding.
Fisheries management is grounded in science, and good science requires an underpinning of sound experimental design, sampling and statistical analysis. There is a need to increase the base level of competency in statistics at the workplace and for all levels of people involved particularly in the developing countries, and in so doing, provide support for the research effort that underpins the management of our fisheries resources. Objectives: 1. To develop a graduate certificate course in environmental statistics specifically targeted at fisheries and aquaculture and to deliver it to individuals in their current working environment by delivering the course online. Read moreRead less
Aquatic Animal Health Subprogram: Development Of Improved Molecular Diagnostic Tests For Perkinsus Olseni In Australian Molluscs
Funder
Fisheries Research and Development Corporation
Funding Amount
$305,561.00
Summary
Improved diagnostic methods for endemic and exotic pathogens of aquatic animals have been identified as a Key Research Area in the 2009-12 FRDC AAHS R&D plan (6.2.3 Endemic and exotic aquatic animal disease diagnostics).
Since Perkinsus olseni was first described in Australian abalone by Lester and Davies in 1981, histology and culture in Ray’s medium have been the most commonly applied diagnostic procedures for detection of Perkinsus sp.. Although these tests are relatively straight f ....Improved diagnostic methods for endemic and exotic pathogens of aquatic animals have been identified as a Key Research Area in the 2009-12 FRDC AAHS R&D plan (6.2.3 Endemic and exotic aquatic animal disease diagnostics).
Since Perkinsus olseni was first described in Australian abalone by Lester and Davies in 1981, histology and culture in Ray’s medium have been the most commonly applied diagnostic procedures for detection of Perkinsus sp.. Although these tests are relatively straight forward and practical, they are general in nature and neither identifies or differentiates specific species of Perkinsus. Despite a well developed framework for the molecular characterization of Perkinsus and modern PCR based molecular tests for some of the more commercially important Perkinsus species, these have rarely been applied in Australia. The first attempts to apply molecular methods to a small number (n=40) of Perkinsus infected abalone from disease outbreaks in NSW have already revealed a new variant which probably represents a new previously unrecognized species in Australia (Reece et al. 2010). This fact and the apparent variation in pathogenicity observed with Perkinsus in different areas, has raised several questions about which Perkinsus sp. are present in commercial mollusc populations.
Given that a significant depletion of blacklip abalone (Haliotis rubra) stocks in NSW over the last 20 years has been attributed to infection with Perkinsus (FRDC Project 2004/084) and localized areas of infection occur in a number of Australian states, from South Australia to northern Western Australia, the development and implementation of highly sensitive and rapid PCR based molecular methods to identify specific species of Perkinsus is essential. The development and application of such tests is necessarily underpinned by a detailed understanding of the molecular makeup of Perkinsus in these populations which is the subject of this application.
Objectives: 1. Undertake a targeted molecular, histological and cultural examination of known Perkinsus infected wild abalone populations from NSW, SA and WA to compare existing methods of detection. 2. Establish representative axenic (single species) cultures of Perkinsus sp. from infected abalone. 3. Use established PCRs and DNA sequencing methods to confirm the presence of P. olseni and determine the genetic diversity, including other Perkinsus sp. from these populations. 4. Develop and validate qPCR methods for the detection and identification of P. olseni in infected abalone. 5. Compare and evaluate the performance of the Objective 4 qPCR with existing conventional PCR methods for detection of P. olseni. Read moreRead less
BCA - Development, Application And Evaluation Of The Use Of Remotely Sensed Data By Australian Fisheries
Funder
Fisheries Research and Development Corporation
Funding Amount
$5,445.45
Summary
Objectives: 1. To develop computational procedures for the validation, analysis and interpretation of ocean colour data, and to provide derived data sets as input to the analysis of selected fisheries 2. To determine in conjunction with key industry operators of the east Australian tuna fisheries the utility of SeaWIFS and satellite temperature data in improving the catch and efficiency for yellowfin and skipjack tuna, and to determine the economic benefit-cost of the use of satellite ....Objectives: 1. To develop computational procedures for the validation, analysis and interpretation of ocean colour data, and to provide derived data sets as input to the analysis of selected fisheries 2. To determine in conjunction with key industry operators of the east Australian tuna fisheries the utility of SeaWIFS and satellite temperature data in improving the catch and efficiency for yellowfin and skipjack tuna, and to determine the economic benefit-cost of the use of satellite imagery in the operational fishery Read moreRead less
Development, Application And Evaluation Of The Use Of Remotely Sensed Data By Australian Fisheries
Funder
Fisheries Research and Development Corporation
Funding Amount
$680,942.56
Summary
Objectives: 1. To develop computational procedures for the validation, analysis and interpretation of ocean colour data, and to provide derived data sets as input to the analysis of selected fisheries 2. To determine in conjunction with key industry operators of the east Australian tuna fisheries the utility of SeaWIFS and satellite temperature data in improving the catch and efficiency for yellowfin and skipjack tuna, and to determine the economic benefit-cost of the use of satellite ....Objectives: 1. To develop computational procedures for the validation, analysis and interpretation of ocean colour data, and to provide derived data sets as input to the analysis of selected fisheries 2. To determine in conjunction with key industry operators of the east Australian tuna fisheries the utility of SeaWIFS and satellite temperature data in improving the catch and efficiency for yellowfin and skipjack tuna, and to determine the economic benefit-cost of the use of satellite imagery in the operational fishery Read moreRead less
Preliminary Feasibility Study On The Use Of New Age-pigment-based Methods For Age Determination Of Western Rock Lobster (Panulirus Cygnus)
Funder
Fisheries Research and Development Corporation
Funding Amount
$27,170.00
Summary
Objectives: 1. Preliminary feasibility study on the use of new age-pigment-based methods for age determination of western rock lobster (Panulirus cygnus)