Assessment of the impacts associated with the harvesting of marine benthic invertebrates for use as bait by recreational anglers

Funded Activity Summary

Coastal areas of Australia, especially those close to urban areas, are under increasing pressure from industrial and tourism developments, and the associated infrastructure to support them. These shallow-water coastal and estuarine areas will also continue to be the focus of attention by the recreational and commercial fishing sectors. An understanding of the impacts of damage to key intertidal habitats will allow managers to minimise the adverse impacts and developmental degradation on Australia's fisheries resources.

There is currently no detailed information available on the specific effects of loss or damage to intertidal estuarine habitats on the animal assemblages that utilise these habitats, despite the recognised importance of the habitats and the benthic invertebrates to fisheries resources. Studies which have examined the effects of damage to subtidal habitats have shown important links to fisheries utilising these habitats (e.g. Sainsbury et al., 1993). Similar studies should be a priority for critical intertidal estuarine habitats. Although this project focuses on damage to intertidal habitats caused by bait-harvesting, the results of this work will be applicable to other sources of damage to these habitats, providing an important database establishing causal relationships between effects on the physical structure of the habitat and impacts on the associated animals.

Objectives:
1. Assess the ecological impacts of commercial and recreational harvesting of yabbies and bloodworms on other components of the ecosystem.
2. Assess the impacts of bait-harvesting activities on the sustainability of populations of yabbies (Trypaea australiensis) and bloodworms (Marphysa sp.).
3. Develop a population assessment technique for yabbies and bloodworms.
4. Determine levels of recruitment of these species and assess whether harvesting affects recruitment.
5. Obtain estimates of the recreational harvest of these species.

Funded Activity Details

Start Date: 11-08-1998

End Date: 30-06-2004

Funding Scheme: Funding Scheme not available

Funding Amount: $346,425.88

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

Environmental Impact | Population Dynamics | Recreational Fishing

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