ORCID Profile
0000-0002-4863-485X
Current Organisation
Reef Ecologic
Does something not look right? The information on this page has been harvested from data sources that may not be up to date. We continue to work with information providers to improve coverage and quality. To report an issue, use the Feedback Form.
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 18-01-2023
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 18-12-2022
DOI: 10.1111/EMR.12547
Abstract: Scientific, tourism and non‐government organisations collaborated to design and undertake a small‐scale coral outplanting intervention at Fitzroy Island, the Great Barrier Reef (GBR), Cairns, Australia. Activities were implemented to assist recovery of a reef showing signs of reduced coral cover after recent coral bleaching and to trial potential for implementation of work of this kind by community members. In December 2017, 240 coral fragments were collected and deployed on mid‐water coral nursery infrastructure. Ten months later, 96 corals (˜15 cm) were outplanted onto bare sections of the surrounding reef rock at depths of 2–8 m. Monitoring was undertaken to measure changes in coral cover at treatment and control locations to determine the potential of using coral outplanting intervention to assist the recovery of degraded reefs. We found no significant difference in live coral cover between controls and treatment over a 12‐month period. Although statistically insignificant, we observed an increase in live coral cover in treatment plots (9.8%) and control plots (2.2%), indicating natural recovery processes occurring across the reef. Total number of fish species and abundance increased significantly over time. Although the outplanting may not have been needed in this case, as a pilot project and the first coral nursery and active reef restoration project in the GBR Marine Park, the research provided valuable lessons associated with project collaboration and planning, site selection, monitoring and natural recovery vs restoration.
Publisher: MDPI AG
Date: 18-10-2022
Abstract: We developed and applied a method to quantify spearfisher effort and catch, shark interactions and shark depredation in a boat-based recreational spearfishing competition in the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park in Queensland. Survey questions were designed to collect targeted quantitative data whilst minimising the survey burden of spearfishers. We provide the first known scientific study of shark depredation during a recreational spearfishing competition and the first scientific study of shark depredation in the Great Barrier Reef region. During the two-day spearfishing competition, nine vessels with a total of 33 spearfishers reported a catch of 144 fish for 115 h of effort (1.25 fish per hour). A subset of the catch comprised nine eligible species under competition rules, of which 47 pelagic fish were weighed. The largest fish captured was a 34.4 kg Sailfish (Istiophorus platypterus). The most common species captured and weighed was Spanish Mackerel (Scomberomorus commerson). The total weight of eligible fish was 332 kg and the average weight of each fish was 7.1 kg. During the two-day event, spearfishers functioned as citizen scientists and counted 358 sharks (115 h effort), averaging 3.11 sharks per hour. Grey Reef Sharks (Carcharhinus amblyrhynchos) comprised 64% of sightings. Nine speared fish were fully depredated by sharks as spearfishers attempted to retrieve their catch, which equates to a depredation rate of 5.9%. The depredated fish included four pelagic fish and five reef fish. The shark species responsible were Grey Reef Shark (C. amblyrhynchos) (66%), Bull Shark (Carcharhinus leucas) (11%), Whitetip Reef Shark (Triaenodon obesus) (11%) and Great Hammerhead (Sphyrna mokarran) (11%). There were spatial differences in fish catch, shark sightings and rates of depredation. We developed a report card that compared average catch of fish, sightings of sharks per hour and depredation rate by survey area, which assists recreational fishers and marine park managers to assess spatio-temporal changes. The participating spearfishers can be regarded as experienced (average 18 days a year for average 13.4 years). Sixty percent of interviewees perceived that shark numbers have increased in the past 10 years, 33% indicated no change and 7% indicated shark numbers had decreased. Total fuel use of all vessels was 2819 L and was equivalent to 6.48 tons of greenhouse gas emissions for the competition.
Location: United States of America
Location: Australia
No related grants have been discovered for Adam Smith.