The WRL industry needs to adopt new digital technology to benefit from the digital economy and ensure industry is efficient, highly productive and world-leading in all its management practices and policies. This is fundamental to achieving the WRL Strategic Plan objectives and aims to develop the western rock lobster industry’s competitiveness in digital technologies and ensure that the industry can draw the full benefits from digital innovation.
Discussions on 2017/18 research prioriti ....The WRL industry needs to adopt new digital technology to benefit from the digital economy and ensure industry is efficient, highly productive and world-leading in all its management practices and policies. This is fundamental to achieving the WRL Strategic Plan objectives and aims to develop the western rock lobster industry’s competitiveness in digital technologies and ensure that the industry can draw the full benefits from digital innovation.
Discussions on 2017/18 research priorities and potential areas for collaboration were discussed extensively at the FRDC Annual Stakeholder Workshop in August 2017 with digital technology a commonality across all groups, including scoping data collecting and analysis innovations for policy, management and operations; New apps for commercial recreational catch, management, markets and effort; and Monitoring and sensor (environment to consumers).
There is a need for the WRL to seek expertise to create a new digital platform that will be capable of adding new modules and applications in to the future as required as well as interoperability with other systems. Industry wants to generate and manage its own data (noting that it will make every effort to be compatible with a national industry data management project) and supply the requested data to government when it is required and in the appropriate form. This will require trust but industry needs to accept this responsibility if it wants to act fast and make the most of opportunities in the digital economy. Industry can't rely on government to achieve this.
The WRL needs to identify and implement new digital applications that will improve process efficiency and assist fishers, managers, scientists, regulators and key stakeholders to make more informed and better decisions.
The WRL needs to scope what other fisheries and non-fishing industries are doing nationally and internationally with collecting data and using it in new and innovative ways to improve operations, management, policy, science and decision making.
This program needs to make provision for extension areas such as a new on-line OH&S standards and automatic reporting, digitised traceability from catch to plate, new auto entry catch application, and new monitoring and sensor technologies. Objectives: 1. Scope national and international data collection and analysis innovation to assist policy development and fisheries management 2. Develop and extend a fully digitised database to achieve at least three management objectives 3. Expand database to meet non-managment objectives. Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE200100922
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$408,490.00
Summary
Foresight: Anticipatory decision-making in water resource management. Long-term planning is vital to secure Australia’s water resources in the face of environmental disruption. This project aims to contribute to sustainable and equitable water management by examining the efficacy of anticipatory decision-making approaches. Qualitative research will be used to examine how scientific knowledge is used or contested in water reform within the Murray-Darling Basin. Intended outcomes include improved ....Foresight: Anticipatory decision-making in water resource management. Long-term planning is vital to secure Australia’s water resources in the face of environmental disruption. This project aims to contribute to sustainable and equitable water management by examining the efficacy of anticipatory decision-making approaches. Qualitative research will be used to examine how scientific knowledge is used or contested in water reform within the Murray-Darling Basin. Intended outcomes include improved capacities to plan for future change and establishing anticipatory decision-making within Australian natural resource management. This should provide significant benefits based on an integrated approach to science and decision-making that addresses trade-offs between stakeholders to identify shared action pathways.Read moreRead less
Abalone Council Australia Ltd Management Of The National Wild Catch Abalone Research, Development And Extension Program (2024 To 2029)
Funder
Fisheries Research and Development Corporation
Funding Amount
$760,000.00
Summary
Implementing an Industry Partnership Agreement (IPA) was necessary to provide a more coordinated approach to RD&E and ensure that research funds were utilised in the more cost effective and strategic manner. It also “quarantined” funds to be overseen by the ACA for investment in Abalone specific research, giving the industry greater opportunity for input into the research that was funded and greater relevance of project outputs.
The second ACA/FRDC IPA expired in early 2024 and the AC ....Implementing an Industry Partnership Agreement (IPA) was necessary to provide a more coordinated approach to RD&E and ensure that research funds were utilised in the more cost effective and strategic manner. It also “quarantined” funds to be overseen by the ACA for investment in Abalone specific research, giving the industry greater opportunity for input into the research that was funded and greater relevance of project outputs.
The second ACA/FRDC IPA expired in early 2024 and the ACA Board and FRDC are now establishing a new IPA for the period 2024 to 2029.
Historically, industry’s focus has been on management and stock sustainability, although the potential for growth through higher harvest levels via upward quota adjustment is limited. Indeed, since 2011/12, the total annual harvest has fallen from 4,450t to 1965 t in 2023/2024 (a reduction of 56%). The decreasing productivity of Australian abalone fisheries may be attributed to a number of “complex” causes of which fishing mortality is but one; others include: habitat loss due to Centrostephanus urchin, environmental change & marine heat waves, disease outbreak (AVG, Perkinsus), and reduced natural recruitment, all of which reduce fishery productivity.
Please refer to the below table which clearly shows the decreasing productivity of all abalone fisheries in Australia.
State TACC in tonnes 2011/2012 TACC in tonnes 2017/2018 TACC in tonnes 2022/2023 TACC in tonnes 2023/2024 Tasmania 2366 1333.5 794.5 756 South Australia 834 717.5 564.4 544 Victoria 806 595.3 610.9 457 Western Australia 349 143.4 123.5 108 New South Wales 94 100 100 100 TOTAL 4450 2889.70 2193.3 1965
Notwithstanding the lower harvest levels, the industry remains a significant exporter with a total GVP around $135 million in 2023/24.
Objectives: 1. To coordinate the planning, implementation, and reporting of abalone related R&D projects funded by the FRDC to achieve the outcomes specified in the third ACA Strategic Plan. Specifically, this must be at both the National level and regionally across WA, SA, VIC, NSW and TAS. 2. To facilitate the abalone industry participation in FRDC projects and the extension and utilization of the project results. 3. To deliver resources and processes that consolidates and coordinates Abalone related RD&E planning and funding so that overall RD&E outcomes are delivered in an efficient and cost-effective manner. Read moreRead less
Developing Spatial Based Assessment Methodologies And Tools For Small Scale Dive Fisheries: Case Study Of The Tasmanian Commercial Dive Fishery
Funder
Fisheries Research and Development Corporation
Funding Amount
$298,378.34
Summary
The Tasmanian Commercial Dive Fishery (TCDF) is transitioning from a fishery with minimal controls on catch with no annual assessment, to a carefully managed fishery with annual robust fishery assessments. Two of the three key species Shortspined Sea Urchin (Heliocidaris erythrogramma) and Wavy Periwinkle (Lunella undulata), have similar life histories to abalone, while the third – Longspined Sea Urchin (Centrostephanus rodgersii), has an intermediate life history. All three species have a time- ....The Tasmanian Commercial Dive Fishery (TCDF) is transitioning from a fishery with minimal controls on catch with no annual assessment, to a carefully managed fishery with annual robust fishery assessments. Two of the three key species Shortspined Sea Urchin (Heliocidaris erythrogramma) and Wavy Periwinkle (Lunella undulata), have similar life histories to abalone, while the third – Longspined Sea Urchin (Centrostephanus rodgersii), has an intermediate life history. All three species have a time-series of catch and effort data, and some level of biological data, and thus don’t fall into the class of data-poor fisheries. However, just as for haliotid fisheries, all the complexities identified by Orensanz et al (1995) for S-Fisheries (small-scale, spatial structured, sedentary target species) apply here, meaning that integrated assessment models assuming Dynamic Pool should not be used. Instead, Empirical Harvest Strategies based on standardised catch rates are the most appropriate approach to underpin annual assessments and determination of stock status. Given the similarities between these species and abalone (life history, habitat, fishing practices), it is desirable to utilise the considerable investment in research on data collection and assessment methods in that fishery. This project will therefore attempt to adopt and adapt ground-breaking research on Abalone, including utilization of high-resolution spatial data from GPS and depth data loggers, as a short-cut to worlds best practices in the TCDF.
Consideration of stock status for the TCDF species to date has been on the basis of graphical inspection of crude catch rates. As Empirical Harvest Strategies rely heavily on robust catch rate metrics, adopting a model for standardizing catch rates is a critical step for the TCDF fisheries. While there are a diversity of philosophies around catch rate standardization, choosing the optimal standardization model is only part of the challenge. The key challenge for the three key TCDF species are that catch is spatially and temporally fragmented. Both urchin species are highly seasonal, and Shortspined Sea Urchin and Wavy Periwinkle fisheries are spatially discrete with a few high catch areas, and a larger proportion of spatially and temporally disparate low productivity fishing grounds. Similarly, catch is largely landed by a small number of highly active participants, with a larger number of primarily part-time fisheries. This fragmented nature (time, space, people) of the dataset creates challenges for applying standardisation models to establish a robust time-series. Primarily this manifests as highly volatile time-series, that can flip above or below Reference Points over consecutive years. In some fisheries, this challenge is addressed by fitting a multi-year running mean through catch rates, essentially smoothing the trend. While this might have the desired effect of removing hyper-variability in catch rates, it will slow action required as the stocks decline, as well slow catch increases under rebuilding. Preferably, we will instead use environmental variables, quantify fisher experience and make use of fine-scale location data on fishing activity in our catch rate standardization methods.
An additional complication in the Tasmanian Commercial Dive fishery is mixed species fishing. This feature is also present in a sub-set of assessment areas within the Tasmanian Abalone fishery where H. rubra and H. laevigata co-occur, as well as in the Central and Western Zone abalone fisheries in South Australia. Developing a clear catch rate signal in these mixed species fisheries is challenging and an optimal solution has not yet been found, although spatial and depth information most likely will enable differentiation of fishing grounds across species. Through this project we will engage with South Australia specifically to collaborate on logger based approaches to improve assessment of mixed species fishing regions.
As with abalone fisheries, TCDA divers are able to modify their in-water fishing behaviour (swim faster and further) to achieve desired daily catches which has the effect of masking decline in abundance. However, this is not the only form of hyperstability expected in the TCDA fisheries. The highly fragmented stock structure and diver experience are likely to interact to create a second form of hyperstability more common in emerging fisheries, and that is serial depletion, or at least serial fishing of discrete patches. This latter form of hyperstability occurs when more experienced divers with greater knowledge are able to move when more accessible patches become over-exploited.
Local scale depletion is addressed by the establishment of size limits for Wavy Periwinkle and the Shortspined Sea Urchin. Robust size limits have recently been adjusted for Wavy Periwinkle (increase from 30 to 45 mm; FRDC 2011-024) and Shortspined Sea Urchin (increase from 60 to 75 mm FRDC 2017-033); No size limit is intended to be set for range-extending Longspined Sea Urchin, as the objective in this fishery continues to be to achieve localised depletion.
From the 2022/2023 season diver GPS and depth loggers will be compulsory to collect detailed spatial information about the fishery. Several key divers have been using dataloggers for the past eight years, providing a valuable time-series from the more experienced TCDF fishers. The availability of such data creates a new opportunity and leads to the key aim of this project, to develop methodologies and tools to incorporate the detailed spatial catch data into formal stock assessment and harvest strategies. In doing so, methods to facilitate the accurate standardisation of historical logbook data to facilitate transition into logger data to preserving the continuum of the time series is required. The development of reliable fishery dependent assessment metrics is essential in these smaller fisheries where there is no scope for cost-prohibitive fishery independent surveys.
In summary, this project is needed to develop strategies to produce robust standardized catch rate trends, that can be utilized in an Empirical Harvest Strategy. Spatial based Catch Per Unit Effort (CPUE) measures and spatial performance indicators and indices of hyperstability will be critical to facilitate the creation of appropriate stock assessment and harvest strategies for small scale dive fisheries, including smaller haliotid fisheries.
Objectives: 1. Determine optimal methods for production of time-series trends by standardisation of spatially and temporally fragmented fishing events. 2. Contrast suitability of effort measured as dive time vs area fished as the basis for catch rates (catch/effort) for highly spatially discrete target species. 3. Develop a strategy for determining reference periods and reference points for use in an Empirical Harvest Strategy. 4. Adapt the Tasmanian abalone Empirical Harvest Strategy for use in the TCDF. 5. Test for the presence of hyperstability in catch rates within the TCDF, and where appropriate, develop options to modify Empirical Harvest Strategy Control Rule settings accordingly. 6. Identify additional performance measures for inclusion in the Empirical Harvest Strategy 7. To build the capacity and capability of key stakeholders to contribute to the development of Tasmanian Commercial Dive Fishery (TCDF) assessment methodology and harvest strategy, facilitate succession planning, and lay a foundation for dive fishery assessment development nationally. Read moreRead less
Integrating Indigenous Fishing: Extending Adoption Pathways To Policy And Management
Funder
Fisheries Research and Development Corporation
Funding Amount
$33,000.00
Summary
THE NEED
The FRDC IRG has invested in a number of research projects to advance Indigenous rights, interests, opportunities and engagement in Australia's fisheries. However, fisheries management agencies across the jurisdictions appear to have struggled to engage with or make effective use of these outputs and to make progress with Indigenous fishing interests.
IRG is seeking to commission a project to assist in dealing with this issue. The project is intended to establish effe ....THE NEED
The FRDC IRG has invested in a number of research projects to advance Indigenous rights, interests, opportunities and engagement in Australia's fisheries. However, fisheries management agencies across the jurisdictions appear to have struggled to engage with or make effective use of these outputs and to make progress with Indigenous fishing interests.
IRG is seeking to commission a project to assist in dealing with this issue. The project is intended to establish effective means for Indigenous fishing R&D outputs to deliver policy and management outcomes. To do this, the project will engage with agencies to understand: their information needs; current progress, impediments and opportunities in integrating Indigenous fishing R&D outputs into their policies and management; and develop a template that can be used by all future PIs to frame IRG research outputs in a form useful to agencies.
There is also an identified need to build Indigenous leadership capacity to shape fisheries policy and management at the highest level. This project involves an Indigenous collaborator and a focus on their development through participation and professional executive coaching. The Indigenous collaborator, will also bring cultural advice and insight to the project.
In terms of IRG priorities, this project has the potential to contribute to:
Establishing the primacy of first nations in the fisheries areas Acknowledgement of Indigenous Cultural Practices Self-determination of Indigenous rights to use and manage cultural assets and resources Economic development opportunities arising from Indigenous peoples cultural assets and associated rights Capacity building opportunities for Indigenous people are enhanced.
MEASURING SUCCESS
Success for the project can be measured by:
Development through participation of an Indigenous collaborator and increased cultural awareness in wider participants Usefulness of a report identifying agency priorities, opportunities and impediments to incorporating Indigenous R&D outputs in policy and management Indigenous R&D outputs being more readily adopted in policy and management Usefulness of a template to ensure ongoing adoption and engagement of IRG outputs Objectives: 1. Document the impediments and opportunities for Indigenous engagement and adoption of IRG project outputs across fisheries management jurisdictions in Australia. 2. Identify the priorities for Indigenous fishing in jurisdictions with a focus on the 5 IRG RD&E priorities. 3. Develop a report synthesizing the impediments, opportunities and priorities for Indigenous fishing engagement and adoption to guide future IRG investment. 4. Develop a template for future IRG projects that will ensure engagement and adoption are maximized. 5. Provide professional development and capacity building for an Indigenous collaborator and grow cultural awareness in wider participants. Read moreRead less
Integrating Indigenous Fishing: Extending Adoption Pathways To Policy And Management
Funder
Fisheries Research and Development Corporation
Funding Amount
$140,000.00
Summary
See Opportunities section Objectives: 1. Document the impediments and opportunities for Indigenous engagement and adoption of IRG project outputs across fisheries management jurisdictions in Australia. 2. Identify the priorities for Indigenous fishing in jurisdictions with a focus on the 5 IRG RD&E priorities. 3. Develop a report synthesizing the impediments, opportunities and priorities for Indigenous fishing engagement and adoption to guide future IRG investm .... See Opportunities section Objectives: 1. Document the impediments and opportunities for Indigenous engagement and adoption of IRG project outputs across fisheries management jurisdictions in Australia. 2. Identify the priorities for Indigenous fishing in jurisdictions with a focus on the 5 IRG RD&E priorities. 3. Develop a report synthesizing the impediments, opportunities and priorities for Indigenous fishing engagement and adoption to guide future IRG investment. 4. Develop a template for future IRG projects that will ensure engagement and adoption are maximized. 5. Professional development and capacity building of the Indigenous Principal Investigator and grow cultural awareness in wider participants. Read moreRead less
Integrating Indigenous Fishing: Extending Adoption Pathways To Policy And Management
Funder
Fisheries Research and Development Corporation
Funding Amount
$140,000.00
Summary
See Opportunities section Objectives: 1. Document the impediments and opportunities for Indigenous engagement and adoption of IRG project outputs across fisheries management jurisdictions in Australia. 2. Identify the priorities for Indigenous fishing in jurisdictions with a focus on the 5 IRG RD&E priorities. 3. Develop a report synthesizing the impediments, opportunities and priorities for Indigenous fishing engagement and adoption to guide future IRG investm .... See Opportunities section Objectives: 1. Document the impediments and opportunities for Indigenous engagement and adoption of IRG project outputs across fisheries management jurisdictions in Australia. 2. Identify the priorities for Indigenous fishing in jurisdictions with a focus on the 5 IRG RD&E priorities. 3. Develop a report synthesizing the impediments, opportunities and priorities for Indigenous fishing engagement and adoption to guide future IRG investment. 4. Develop a template for future IRG projects that will ensure engagement and adoption are maximized. 5. Professional development and capacity building of the Indigenous Principal Investigator and grow cultural awareness in wider participants. Read moreRead less