Pilot phase trial to quantify the extent and relevance of any deepwater puerulus settlement that may have taken place in the Western Rocklobster Fishery

Funded Activity Summary

The low puerulus risk assessment report (attached- see bottom of page 9) suggests a 10-35% probability that the poor settlement on inshore collectors over the last 3 years could be caused by short term environmental changes. There is a growing concern amongst industry that short term environmental changes may indeed be responsible for a shift in the pattern of settlement from shallow to the deeper water. At the recent Western Rocklobster Council Congress it was suggested that industry driven research be undertaken, in collaboration with Department of Fisheries researchers, aimed at collecting post puerulus stage rocklobster in deep water to validate or refute anecdotal reports from fishermen of this phenomenon occurring in recent years.

It is envisaged that the findings of this study will assist in addressing the uncertainty around the suite of possible explanations for the poor puerulus settlement in the WRLF over the past three years and will aid in developing management arrangements now and into the future.


Objectives:
1. To establish whether a shift in post puerulus settlment is occuring from shallow to deeper water.
2. To establish a new technique for conducting future research into post puerulus settlement

Funded Activity Details

Start Date: 15-01-2010

End Date: 15-05-2010

Funding Scheme: Funding Scheme not available

Funding Amount: $73,079.57

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)

There are no SEO codes available for this funding activity

Other Keywords

Life History | Oceanography | Offshore | Reproduction | Risk reduction | Stakeholder | Stock Assessment | Wild Catch

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