Quantifying Banded Morwong, Bluethroat Wrasse and Purple Wrasse abundance and movements to sustain key fisheries in Tasmania - postgraduate

Funded Activity Summary

This project will harness existing information to implement strategic and cost-effective data collections on the abundance of key species of reef fishes in Tasmania along gradients in environmental condition and fishing intensity. The outcomes are intended to improve current stock assessment approaches and to establish a fishery-independent monitoring program that will help ensure the long-term sustainability of some of the most productive commercial fisheries in the state. More specifically, the project aims to collate data on reef fish abundance and movements collected in the context of multiple previous research projects, and to collect new data that fill current gaps in knowledge about localised population depletion as well as population dynamics across different types of reef habitats. For Wrasse, our findings are expected to inform the appropriate scale of annual assessments of trends in catch, effort, and catch rates. The findings will further be used to define management units for data-poor stock assessment approaches, including “catch-only” methods. Importantly, for Banded Morwong, the study will be designed to address two critical sensitivities related to both the structure and parameterisation of the current stock assessment model, which is a fundamental tool in support of decisions on the Total Allowable Catch (TAC) for this species. Both model sensitives relate to current assumptions about the relative abundance and exchange of individuals among shallow and deep-water (>30 m) reef habitat, which are highly uncertain but have fundamental implications for management decisions on current and future TACs.

Objectives:
1. Recruit a suitable PhD candidate to conduct this research project
2. To quantify reef fish abundance along gradients in fishing intensity and across a variety of different types of reef habitat
3. To investigate relative reef fish population biomass and exchange among shallow and deep-water habitats
4. To refine current stock assessment approaches with a focus on the TAC-regulated Banded Morwong fishery

Funded Activity Details

Start Date: 01-10-2022

End Date: 30-09-2025

Funding Scheme: Funding Scheme not available

Funding Amount: $75,000.00

Funder: Fisheries Research and Development Corporation

Research Topics

ANZSRC Field of Research (FoR)

There are no FoR codes available for this funding activity

ANZSRC Socio-Economic Objective (SEO)

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Other Keywords

Abundance | Capacity Building | Data | RAC TAS | Recreational Fishing

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