Biosecurity Threats And Vulnerabilities Of The Southern Rock Lobster Fishery
Funder
Fisheries Research and Development Corporation
Funding Amount
$61,330.00
Summary
SRL industry has been buffeted by various issues in recent years, associated with COVID-19, trading partner non-tariff trade barriers (ostensibly biosecurity or food safety based) and repeated harmful algal blooms (HAB). In particular, HAB remain an ongoing threat, for example with range expansion of Alexandrium tamarense/warming climate, resulting in repeated closures of the east-coat Tasmanian SRL fishery. Other regions of Australia may also face an increased risk of HAB. In addition, access ....SRL industry has been buffeted by various issues in recent years, associated with COVID-19, trading partner non-tariff trade barriers (ostensibly biosecurity or food safety based) and repeated harmful algal blooms (HAB). In particular, HAB remain an ongoing threat, for example with range expansion of Alexandrium tamarense/warming climate, resulting in repeated closures of the east-coat Tasmanian SRL fishery. Other regions of Australia may also face an increased risk of HAB. In addition, access to alternative markets with new sanitary and food safety requirements adds biosecurity and sanitary complexity.
Nearly every animal sector that is involved in harvest (e.g. fisheries) or production has seen rapid change associated with external factors such as spread of invasive species and pests, diseases (both emerging and introduced/exotic) and global issues such as climate change. For example, the Australian Prawn industry has been damaged by emergence and repeated outbreaks of White Spot Syndrome Virus in Australia. Ausvet has recently modelled surveillance data for WSSV on behalf of FRDC and the Australian Prawn Farmers Association and it is clear that WSSV has the potential to spread further south. WSSV affects most crustaceans, although SRL may only be vectors and not show clinical disease. Regardless, such issues can become trade barriers.
Thus, the SRL industry has a need to understand biosecurity risks and how these relate to the ability to harvest, sustain a productive fishery or trade globally. Understanding biosecurity risks are the key building blocks for biosecurity planning which has become an essential part of protecting animal production in Australia and globally, across terrestrial and aquaculture systems. This project will inform biosecurity planning for SRL fisheries. This project concentrates on assisting the broader SRL industry to identify and prioritise emerging, future or existing risks. In addition, it will identify industry capacity and barriers to managing risks. This information can then be used during future industry-wide biosecurity planning. Objectives: 1. Enable improved biosecurity planning within the Southern Rock Lobster industry Read moreRead less
Novel Fishery Independent, Biological And Economic-processing Methods To Underpin Expansion Of Australia's Fastest Growing Fishery, The Western Rock Octopus
Funder
Fisheries Research and Development Corporation
Funding Amount
$650,260.00
Summary
The Western Rock Octopus fishery has become Australia’s fastest growing fishery, with a 5-year average growth of 50% per annum between 2017 and 2022. Despite this expansion, there are still significant gaps in knowledge and practice that do not allow this fishery to grow and develop in an optimum sustainable and socio-economic manner. This project will fill the information gaps and develop pro-active management and economic policy settings that facilitate a comprehensive development of the fishe ....The Western Rock Octopus fishery has become Australia’s fastest growing fishery, with a 5-year average growth of 50% per annum between 2017 and 2022. Despite this expansion, there are still significant gaps in knowledge and practice that do not allow this fishery to grow and develop in an optimum sustainable and socio-economic manner. This project will fill the information gaps and develop pro-active management and economic policy settings that facilitate a comprehensive development of the fishery to its natural capacity. It meets FRDCs two main outcomes of the 2020-2025 R&D plan; growth for enduring prosperity, best practices and production systems, and also meets Enabling Strategy IV: Building capacity and capability. Objectives: 1. Quantify species mix, growth, population connectivity, and reproduction of the unexplored South Coast and deep-water West Coast stocks of Octopus djinda. 2. Develop and test an octopus trap mounted camera system as fishery independent survey tool for density, bycatch, habitat, and environmental data. 3. Develop a bioeconomic model for octopus fishery management and expansion in Australia. Read moreRead less
Understanding The Economics And Markets Of The Western Rock Lobster Industry
Funder
Fisheries Research and Development Corporation
Funding Amount
$749,000.00
Summary
The Program is required to enable the economics research required over the next 3-4 years by retaining the WRL Economist and engaging a WRL Data Analyst to :
1. undertake research and demonstrate the effects of COVID-19 and international trade disruptions on the industry’s financial wellbeing and economic contribution, as a narrative incorporating the pre-, current and post-disruption era;
2. investigate and implement enhancements to the WRL MEY model based on verified stakehol ....The Program is required to enable the economics research required over the next 3-4 years by retaining the WRL Economist and engaging a WRL Data Analyst to :
1. undertake research and demonstrate the effects of COVID-19 and international trade disruptions on the industry’s financial wellbeing and economic contribution, as a narrative incorporating the pre-, current and post-disruption era;
2. investigate and implement enhancements to the WRL MEY model based on verified stakeholder feedback; • MEY modelling is based on (among other factors) expected longer-term beach prices for lobster achieved by fishers. Beach prices are themselves underpinned by prices achieved in domestic and export markets for live, frozen and other processed forms of western rock lobster, and supply chain costs — all of which have changed markedly over the past couple of years and have influenced the longer-term outlook considerably. o Domestic markets have absorbed higher volumes of Australian product over the past two years than in the previous ten, encouraging a pivot by processors to include more cooked, frozen and other processed product in the product portfolio. o Frozen and chilled product has also been demonstrated to have general acceptance in overseas markets, albeit at lower prices than achieved by similar live product. o Air and sea freight costs and reliability have been adversely compromised in the face of the continuing COVID-19 pandemic, with the medium-term outlook for freight costs expected to be a multiple of pre-COVID rates – affecting the relative attractiveness of domestic versus export markets. o Processors and marketers have explored alternative export markets and paths to market in the wake of political uncertainty and trade disruptions. There is a need to understand the implications of this market shift on the net beach prices achievable by fishers, which will be achieved through a better understanding of the changes in market access and supply chain costs (transport, live holding, handling, additional processing, freight forwarding by air and by sea). o Taken together, this suite of change constitutes a significant, and potentially longer-term, challenge to the western rock lobster industry that has high potential to bring about changes in industry structure.
3. research and implement mechanisms by which individual fishers / business owners can benchmark their businesses against relevant industry economic standards.
• Benchmarking aims to improve the internal performance of fishers' private business operations by providing each business with an opportunity to compare itself to the industry's performance • Benchmarking is not limited to economic metrics, including physical metrics such as fuel use that enable a more granular understanding of the carbon footprint of the fishing fleet. • The aim is to generate an understanding of the range of cost structures in the fishing fleet, to better inform the cost elements of MEY modelling for economic sustainability of the fishery.
4. investigate and implement enhancements to the WRL Global Trade Report.
• The pandemic and its ongoing turmoil, combined with trade disruptions to Australia’s live exports, has brought about a change in global lobster trade flows into the highest volume, highest value market – at Australia’s expense. o The resultant situation includes a loss of market share and value to alternative suppliers of live spiny lobster, other lobster species, and other high value crustaceans. o Consumer preferences have shown signs of changing in response to COVID and associated health policies, regulations and restrictions. During the course of the pandemic, consumption of rock lobster pivoted to at-home consumption, with some preference-shifting to frozen product, particularly in countries with aggressive health policies that enacted operating restrictions on restaurants and larger gatherings.
5. research and implement mechanisms by which WRL's Global Trade Report, MEY Model and Markets Dashboard would work together with DPIRD's Harvest Strategy to underpin TACC setting into the future, adding considerable benefit to government as the resource manager by supplying timely, independent, industry-oriented information to the consideration set
Objectives: 1. Enable the Global Trade Report the MEY Model and the Markets Dashboard to work together with the Harvest Strategy to underpin TACC setting and ensure the continued sustainability of the stock. 2. Demonstrate the effects of the SARSCoV2 pandemic and trade disruptions on the industry’s resilience, economic contribution and adaptation to changing market forces. 3. Develop benchmarks for use by fishers’ businesses against industry economic standards to enhance industry reslience and adaptation to trade disruptions. 4. Ensure usability of economics data by driving further integration of data sets, models and tools, and building into the digitization program. Read moreRead less
Tropical Fish Traps – Addressing Ghost Fishing Impacts And Refinements To Catch Reporting/sampling
Funder
Fisheries Research and Development Corporation
Funding Amount
$150,000.00
Summary
The negative impacts of lost fish traps ghost fishing are well documented and of concern to all parties involved with the sustainable harvest of seafood from the aquatic environment (Macfadyen et al 2009; Newman et al 2011; Vadziutsina & Rodrigo 2020). Essentially, lost fishing gears that continue to kill/harm fish represent an inefficiency in the fish production process, and in essence are a form of waste associated with the harvesting process, that ultimately reduces the yield and casts a bad ....The negative impacts of lost fish traps ghost fishing are well documented and of concern to all parties involved with the sustainable harvest of seafood from the aquatic environment (Macfadyen et al 2009; Newman et al 2011; Vadziutsina & Rodrigo 2020). Essentially, lost fishing gears that continue to kill/harm fish represent an inefficiency in the fish production process, and in essence are a form of waste associated with the harvesting process, that ultimately reduces the yield and casts a bad light on the fishery itself. This project does not meet any specific FRDC priority in the current round, hence the lodgment under (Other), although because of what it attempts to address and minimise, it is likely to gain strong support from those concerned with appropriate management of fisheries i.e., minimising the wasteful use of renewable food resources at a time when there is a food crisis in the world, with parties including the FRDC, AFMA, ENGO's and the fishing industry. Objectives: 1. Quantification of fish trap (various designs) loss rates, both in the distant past and more recently, together with the main factors influencing the loss rate. 2. Quantification of how well “dumped” or unattended traps catch fish, together with the main factors affecting the performance (including the presence of trap disabling mechanisms). 3. Apply refinements* to fishing practices/gear to address loss rates and ghost fishing and assess performance (*utilising observations made in the first year of project). 4. Apply refinements to fishing activity reporting to assist with the management of effort creep, trap loss, and ascertaining appropriate harvest levels for the target species. Read moreRead less
Research To Support The Development Of A Tasmanian Sardine Fishery
Funder
Fisheries Research and Development Corporation
Funding Amount
$447,000.00
Summary
This project is needed to facilitate the development of a Tasmanian Sardine Fishery. To date, information available on the South-eastern Sardine stock has been cobbled together from surveys targeting other species (i.e., Jack Mackerel) that did not cover the entire spawning area of Sardine. This project will address this knowledge gap by providing robust information about the size, distribution and potential productivity of the South-eastern Sardine stock that is needed by NRE Tas to develop man ....This project is needed to facilitate the development of a Tasmanian Sardine Fishery. To date, information available on the South-eastern Sardine stock has been cobbled together from surveys targeting other species (i.e., Jack Mackerel) that did not cover the entire spawning area of Sardine. This project will address this knowledge gap by providing robust information about the size, distribution and potential productivity of the South-eastern Sardine stock that is needed by NRE Tas to develop management arrangements for the new fishery. The FRDC-funded component of this project (Attachment 1, Figure 1) is designed to complement and utilize data from a concurrent AFMA-funded survey of Jack Mackerel that covers the eastern component of the South-eastern Sardine stock (Attachment 2). This proposal was developed at the request of NRE Tas and has been endorsed by SPF RAG (Attachment 1). The methods that will be used in the project are consistent with those that have been used to underpin the development and management of the SASF (Ward et al. 2021a; Grammer and Ivey 2022; Grammer et al. 2021) and SPF (e.g. Grammer et al 2022a, b; Ward et al. 2020, 2021c). Objectives: 1. To investigate the size, distribution and potential productivity of the South-eastern stock of Australian Sardine. 2. To provide advice to the Department of Natural Resources & Environment Tasmania (NRE Tas) to inform the establishment of management arrangements for the new Tasmanian Sardine Fishery. Read moreRead less
Reconfiguring women's professional sport - on and off the pitch. This project aims to develop a model that reconfigures how women’s professional sport is structured, valued and managed. The project intends to examine professional women’s competitions (AFL, cricket, football, Rugby League and Rugby Union), their co-existence within their respective national associations and the experiences of contracted women athletes. Expected outcomes include the development of a new model of women’s profession ....Reconfiguring women's professional sport - on and off the pitch. This project aims to develop a model that reconfigures how women’s professional sport is structured, valued and managed. The project intends to examine professional women’s competitions (AFL, cricket, football, Rugby League and Rugby Union), their co-existence within their respective national associations and the experiences of contracted women athletes. Expected outcomes include the development of a new model of women’s professional sport, advancing knowledge of inclusive gender relevancy at the individual, team and organisational levels. The adoption of strategies and policies to improve the support and playing experiences of women would position Australia globally at the forefront of changing approaches to women’s professional sport.Read moreRead less
Design Of A Fishery Independent Longline Survey For Chondrichthyans In Northern Australia
Funder
Fisheries Research and Development Corporation
Funding Amount
$82,125.00
Summary
Catch Per Unit Effort (CPUE) from commercial logbooks is often used as an index of abundance in stock assessments. However, the use of commercial CPUE as an indicator of relative abundance can be problematic as the underlying assumption that commercial catch rates change linearly with abundance is often compromised. Although some factors that are reported in logbooks can be used to standardise CPUE, there are other sources of variation including: • Modified fishing practices to target or ....Catch Per Unit Effort (CPUE) from commercial logbooks is often used as an index of abundance in stock assessments. However, the use of commercial CPUE as an indicator of relative abundance can be problematic as the underlying assumption that commercial catch rates change linearly with abundance is often compromised. Although some factors that are reported in logbooks can be used to standardise CPUE, there are other sources of variation including: • Modified fishing practices to target or avoid species to suit quota availability, meet market demands, or to comply with management arrangements. • Differences in selectivity of fishing gear and use of bycatch-reduction devices. • The combined impacts of multiple management restrictions on a fishery. For example, gillnet operations in what was once the Northern Territory’s Shark Fishery now almost exclusively target Grey Mackerel. This change in practice has resulted in an index that is losing its relevance in assessing shark species.
Over 140 elasmobranchs are listed on CITES Appendix II, with the likely-hood that more species will be added in the future. Of the 11,082t of shark landed by the fishery since 2000, CITES listed Hammerheads comprise 17.25% of the shark catch. Other sharks caught by the fishery that were recently added to CITES Appendix II at the Nineteenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties Panama City (Panama), 14 – 25 November 2022 include: Grey Reef Shark, Dusky Whaler, Sandbar Shark, Lemon Shark, Whitecheek shark and all other members of the family Carcharhinidae (which include the Blacktip Shark complex that is the main shark species caught by the fishery - 4688t or 42% since 2000). These species will require a positive Non-Detriment Finding (NDF) and CITES export permit in order to be exported following the 12-month delay in implementation (i.e., December 2023). The fishery also catches Threatened, Endangered and Protected Elasmobranchs, some of which are also CITES listed.
Gillnet and longline effort has decreased since 2000 and there is significant latent effort in the fishery. There is a desire to utilise this latent effort, however, the CITES listing of the majority of sharks species caught in the fishery will increase scrutiny from State, Commonwealth and International environmental agencies, as well as NGOs. This heightened scrutiny will provide greater impetus to demonstrate that shark stocks are at sustainable levels and that fishing is being undertaken sustainably.
There is a strong need for independent survey methods to gain a better understanding of the abundance patterns of shark species over time that can contribute to the development of appropriate management of these species that meets environmental, fisheries, and conservation needs.
Surveying Northern Australia using longlining methods would provide a fishery independent estimate of relative abundance for sharks that would improve economic security and public confidence in sustainability. However, to make an informed decision of the feasibility of a survey a full understanding of the scope of work and cost required is needed. There is a need to look at existing long line surveys undertaken worldwide (e.g. in the USA and Bahamas), to understanding the methods undertaken and the time period required to develop accurate abundance estimates.
Objectives: 1. Analysis of commercial logbook data to inform fishery independent survey design 2. Conduct a literature review to determine potential design of longline fishery independent survey 3. Hold a workshop to discuss options for a NT shark longline survey 4. Develop final design and costs for a NT shark longline survey Read moreRead less