Relationships Between Fish Faunas And Habitat Type In South-western Australian Estuaries
Funder
Fisheries Research and Development Corporation
Funding Amount
$480,277.84
Summary
Since estuaries constitute such an important environment for many recreational and commercial fish species, plans for their management must be based on reliable data if they are to be useful in protecting and, if necessary, restoring crucial estuarine fish habitats. Managers thus require the following. 1. Sound quantitative data on the ways in which commercially and recreationally-important fish species and their different life cycle stages are distributed among the different types of habita ....Since estuaries constitute such an important environment for many recreational and commercial fish species, plans for their management must be based on reliable data if they are to be useful in protecting and, if necessary, restoring crucial estuarine fish habitats. Managers thus require the following. 1. Sound quantitative data on the ways in which commercially and recreationally-important fish species and their different life cycle stages are distributed among the different types of habitat found in south-western Australian estuaries. 2. An ability to identify rapidly and reliably the type of habitat to which any site in an estuary should be allocated and therefore also to predict the likely composition of the fish fauna at that site. 3. Knowledge of the extent and distribution of the various habitat types within and amongst different estuaries which can serve as benchmarks against which the impacts of future environmental changes on the fish faunas can be gauged. 4. An understanding of the relationships between the benthic invertebrate components of the fauna, particularly those that make major contributions to the diets of fish, and the different types of habitat in estuaries. This will facilitate an assessment of the broader implications of changes in the estuarine environment on the fauna as a whole.
This project is necessary to underpin the following conservation planning and programmes. Western Australian Marine Conservation Reserve Program under the CALM Act (1984), the Comprehensive Management Plan (parts c, d) in the Environmental Protection Policy for Swan and Canning Rivers (Government Western Australia 2003), the Peel Development Commission in sustaining environmental health of the Peel-Harvey Estuary, the Recfishwest Policy detailing their Guiding Principles for Responding to Coastal, Marine, Riverine and Impoundment Development Proposals, and the Fish and Fish Habitat Protection Program undertaken by the Department of Fisheries WA. . . Objectives: 1. Determine the suite of environmental criteria that are most useful for readily and quantitatively assigning any site in a particular estuary in south-western Australia to its appropriate habitat type. 2. Determine statistically how the compositions of the fish and benthic invertebrate assemblages in particular south-western Australian estuaries are related to habitat type. 3. Formulate a readily usable and reliable method for predicting which fish species are likely to be abundant at any particular site in an estuary. Read moreRead less
Objectives: 1. To identify whether the effects of estuary hauling over seagrass meadows is identifiable at the estuary level. 2. To assess the 'within-estuary' impacts of hauling, if any, on seagrass frond height, density and cover. 3. To interpret the results in relation to known information on the utilisation of the seagrass habitat by fish.
Objectives: 1. Examine status of Clarence River finfish fishery; assess impact of Red Spot on the commercial fishery 2. Identify possible causes of red spot disease
Functional links between estuaries and their catchments: How does land use change affect estuarine ecological and bio-geochemical function? Estuaries are iconic recreational areas of high ecological and socio-economic value. Estuarine health is strongly linked to the catchments that feed them, yet we have no detailed understanding of these links. This project will use a number of state of the art approaches to better understand how land use affects estuarine health.
Objectives: 1. To extend an ongoing study to make the work relevant to the general coastline of eastern Australia 2. To identify key degraded wetlands on the NSW coast that have the potential to be rehabilitated
Hydrodynamics of Intermittently Closing and Opening Lakes and Lagoons. Intermittently closing and open lakes and lagoons are shallow coastal water bodies that are connected intermittently to the ocean. Sixty of the 135 estuaries in New South Wales are considered to be ICOLL's. The closure of the Lake/Lagoon entrance to the ocean prevents water exchange that can lead to poor water quality. Detailed field and numerical model studies in two ICOLLS (Coila Lake and Wamberal Lagoon) are proposed us ....Hydrodynamics of Intermittently Closing and Opening Lakes and Lagoons. Intermittently closing and open lakes and lagoons are shallow coastal water bodies that are connected intermittently to the ocean. Sixty of the 135 estuaries in New South Wales are considered to be ICOLL's. The closure of the Lake/Lagoon entrance to the ocean prevents water exchange that can lead to poor water quality. Detailed field and numerical model studies in two ICOLLS (Coila Lake and Wamberal Lagoon) are proposed using modern instrumentation. It is recognised that a fundamental understanding of the circulation and mixing characteristics of ICOLLs is imperative for the development of proper management strategies for these systems.Read moreRead less
Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment And Facilities - Grant ID: LE200100083
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$310,000.00
Summary
A 4D habitat-modelling facility to support marine ecological research. The loss and modification of natural habitats is a major threat to biodiversity that requires evidence-based management supported by excellent science. To this end, this project will create a facility for 4D habitat modelling (i.e. assessing changes in 3D habitat structure over time) that will underpin research innovation in marine systems. The new aerial and subtidal image acquisition technology will also be used to accurate ....A 4D habitat-modelling facility to support marine ecological research. The loss and modification of natural habitats is a major threat to biodiversity that requires evidence-based management supported by excellent science. To this end, this project will create a facility for 4D habitat modelling (i.e. assessing changes in 3D habitat structure over time) that will underpin research innovation in marine systems. The new aerial and subtidal image acquisition technology will also be used to accurately measure changes in marine plants and algae over time, improve habitats provided by coastal protection infrastructure and support ecological field research. The new equipment will allow scaling up of field experiments and monitoring to enhance their impact and capacity to support effective management.Read moreRead less
New tools to detect ecological effects of contaminants in estuaries. Identifying risks to estuarine environments from pollutants is difficult for environmental managers, who must choose between laboratory toxicity testing that is precise, but hard to generalise to field situations, and more realistic field-based monitoring, which is expensive, with a high signal to noise ratio. New molecular techniques may provide more options. Metabolomics can provide insights into the health of animals, and ec ....New tools to detect ecological effects of contaminants in estuaries. Identifying risks to estuarine environments from pollutants is difficult for environmental managers, who must choose between laboratory toxicity testing that is precise, but hard to generalise to field situations, and more realistic field-based monitoring, which is expensive, with a high signal to noise ratio. New molecular techniques may provide more options. Metabolomics can provide insights into the health of animals, and ecogenomics offers a way to rapidly assess the composition of an ecological community. These techniques offer great promise, but they must be cross-validated against existing methods to derive the best ’toolbox’. Working with Melbourne Water and CSIRO the investigators aim to do this using demonstration estuaries in Victoria.Read moreRead less
Genetic solution or dilution: can selective breeding future-proof oysters? This project aims to test whether the flow of beneficial genes from farmed oysters into wild oysters can make natural oyster beds and the ecological communities that they support more resilient to environmental change. Wild oysters are critical to the function of coastal ecosystems. However, wild oyster populations are threatened by environmental change in Australia and around the world. Selectively bred oysters bearing s ....Genetic solution or dilution: can selective breeding future-proof oysters? This project aims to test whether the flow of beneficial genes from farmed oysters into wild oysters can make natural oyster beds and the ecological communities that they support more resilient to environmental change. Wild oysters are critical to the function of coastal ecosystems. However, wild oyster populations are threatened by environmental change in Australia and around the world. Selectively bred oysters bearing stress resistance genotypes are now commercially farmed in many estuaries on Australia's east coast and may be used to bolster wild oyster populations. This project endeavours to develop novel genetic strategies to future-proof oysters. Thus, the outcome of this project has potential to benefit entire ecosystems that depend upon oysters.Read moreRead less