Assessing The Capacity For Sustainable Finfish Aquaculture In The Vicinity Of Seagrasses
Funder
Fisheries Research and Development Corporation
Funding Amount
$478,825.00
Summary
Globally, aquaculture accounts for over 50% of fish production. However, if poorly planned, rapid expansion to meet the ever increasing demand for seafood brings with it an environmental risk associated with eutrophication and organic enrichment of the seabed, adversely affecting marine coastal ecosystems. Approximately 75-85% of the nitrogen discharged from finfish aquaculture is dissolved and dispersed to nearby habitats. A major spatial constraint on aquaculture in nearshore areas around much ....Globally, aquaculture accounts for over 50% of fish production. However, if poorly planned, rapid expansion to meet the ever increasing demand for seafood brings with it an environmental risk associated with eutrophication and organic enrichment of the seabed, adversely affecting marine coastal ecosystems. Approximately 75-85% of the nitrogen discharged from finfish aquaculture is dissolved and dispersed to nearby habitats. A major spatial constraint on aquaculture in nearshore areas around much of Australia is the potential for these dispersed nutrients to negatively affect seagrasses. Seagrasses can be sensitive to increases in nitrogen, which can lead to habitat loss. This loss can have significant environmental and economic impacts with potential losses of ecosystem services including decreases in commercial and recreational fisheries catches, increases in sand instability and erosion, reduced biodiversity, loss of nitrogen assimilation and cycling, and loss of carbon sequestration.
In other situations, small increases in nutrients may have a positive effect on seagrasses, and thus it is not clear what the consequences of aquaculture derived nutrients will be. Subsequently, we can’t robustly determine the level of finfish aquaculture that can be sustainably supported by seagrass ecosystems. There is therefore a need to develop a process to determine the likelihood of seagrass growth (or loss) due to aquaculture derived nutrient inputs. This work will develop metrics that can be used in other aquaculture developments and in long-term regional monitoring.
Clean Seas Seafood Pty Ltd are developing a new lease for the sea-cage aquaculture of 4500 tonnes of yellowtail kingfish (YTK) in the Fitzgerald Bay region. The nearshore habitats throughout the region are dominated by long-lived Posidonia seagrass. While Fitzgerald Bay was the original focus of YTK aquaculture in SA, it has not been utilised for ~10 years, essentially giving us the potential to study this system prior to the commencement of aquaculture (currently planned for ~ July 2019), as well as while production is increasing, and it thus provides an ideal case study for assessing how to sustainably farm finfish in a seagrass dominated ecosystem.
Objectives: 1. Determine cost-effective approaches to assessing the influence of finfish aquaculture derived nutrients on seagrasses, and using Fitzgerald Bay as a case study, what that influence is. 2. Develop a predictive modelling ability to estimate carrying capacity and allow scenario analysis of future aquaculture development and how it might affect seagrasses, to allow managers to make informed decisions about where to place future developments, and how much to allow existing developments to expand. 3. Use Fitzgerald Bay as a case study to document seagrass condition using a range of metrics both before the commencement of finfish aquaculture, and once production has reached a substantial level. 4. Develop a range of cost-effective indicators for monitoring the effects of aquaculture on adjacent seagrass beds. Read moreRead less
Integrating Recreational Fishing Information Into Harvest Strategies For Multi-sector Fisheries
Funder
Fisheries Research and Development Corporation
Funding Amount
$444,676.00
Summary
Integration of recreational fishing (RF) into harvest strategies (HS) is necessary for many fisheries in Australia, to account for catches that can equal or exceed commercial catch for some key species and to address biological and experiential objectives of the RF sector. Both the Productivity Commission’s report Marine Fisheries and Aquaculture (2016) and the ICES Report from the Working Group Recreational Fishing Surveys (2018) recommend formal integration of RF into stock assessments and har ....Integration of recreational fishing (RF) into harvest strategies (HS) is necessary for many fisheries in Australia, to account for catches that can equal or exceed commercial catch for some key species and to address biological and experiential objectives of the RF sector. Both the Productivity Commission’s report Marine Fisheries and Aquaculture (2016) and the ICES Report from the Working Group Recreational Fishing Surveys (2018) recommend formal integration of RF into stock assessments and harvest strategies. Failure to do so puts sustainable management goals and legislated state and Commonwealth fisheries requirements at risk.
Equitable and quantitative inclusion of RF in harvest strategies is rare. This stems from a traditional focus on the commercial sector and budgetary challenges involved with representatively sampling RF. It is therefore unclear: 1) what types of RF data and monitoring best service stock assessments, (2) which data also track indicators of recreational objectives (often related to the fishing experience), and (3) how to integrate harvest strategy components for multiple sectors. The need to address these knowledge gaps was highlighted by the FRDC priority research call in 2018 - “Integrating recreational fishery data into harvest strategies for multi-sector fisheries in New South Wales”. NSW provides an important test case for addressing issues around RF integration that are faced by most jurisdictions.
Harvest strategy development for multi-sector fisheries requires a transparent and defensible process due to complexities in addressing diverse objectives and apprehension among stakeholder groups. Structured workshops that use easily-understandable, interactive decision support tools and involve independent experts and stakeholder representatives are likely to provide best outcomes. ‘FishPath’ is a leading harvest strategy decision support tool and “bottom up” engagement philosophy that allows experts and stakeholders to interactively contribute to harvest strategy development in a transparent workshop setting. However, it requires additional development in recreational and multi-sector contexts.
Objectives: 1. Obtain information on recreational fishing objectives and facilitate improved understanding among recreational fishers of the role of harvest strategies. 2. Identify types of recreational fishing data and monitoring that provide reliable measures of both the biological and experiential performance of fished populations. 3. Interrogate and extend the FishPath decision support software tool to better characterise and integrate recreational fishing information into harvest strategy development for multi-sector fisheries. 4. Develop guidelines and recommendations for the integration of recreational fishing information into harvest strategies for multi-sector fisheries. 5. Develop draft harvest strategies for key multi-sector fisheries using outcomes from Objectives 1-4. Read moreRead less
Identifying Population Connectivity Of Shark Bycatch Species In NT Waters
Funder
Fisheries Research and Development Corporation
Funding Amount
$66,430.00
Summary
This project is needed for three main reasons:
1. It directly addresses a NT RAC priority in the 2019 call for funding applications relating to improving sustainable yield estimates to inform stock assessment programs for undefined target species and protected species in the Offshore Net and Line Fishery. The project will support sustainable fishing practices for important commercial fisheries in the NT and the development of new commercial opportunities within these fisheries: The impa ....This project is needed for three main reasons:
1. It directly addresses a NT RAC priority in the 2019 call for funding applications relating to improving sustainable yield estimates to inform stock assessment programs for undefined target species and protected species in the Offshore Net and Line Fishery. The project will support sustainable fishing practices for important commercial fisheries in the NT and the development of new commercial opportunities within these fisheries: The impacts of fishery activities on these species, either through bycatch or targeted harvest, are difficult to assess in the absence of information on population connectivity and stock structure.
2. The project will develop capacity for fisheries research and monitoring in NT waters. Genetics methods are widely applied to fisheries research and monitoring and training of an early career fisheries scientist in the application and interpretation of genetic data will be a key outcome of this project.
3. The project will provide key information to support the transition of these species from bycatch to a harvested byproduct species, including an evaluation of leading-edge genetic techniques in fisheries assessment and monitoring.
Objectives: 1. To develop population connectivity model for Whitecheek and Milk Shark 2. To develop capacity for research and monitoring of shark species within the Northern Territory 3. To evaluate the utility of genetic techniques in fisheries monitoring Read moreRead less
Estimating The Biomass Of Fish Stocks Using Novel And Efficient Genetic Techniques
Funder
Fisheries Research and Development Corporation
Funding Amount
$494,794.00
Summary
The effective management of fisheries resources implicitly requires accurate abundance estimates. But, even after more than a century of effort, this prerequisite need remains one of the greatest challenges facing fisheries scientists. Traditional methods of estimating abundance include parametric and empirical approaches that often rely on extensive time-series of size-at-age data (e.g. from otoliths). Acquiring these data can be expensive and therefore restricted to species that are most econo ....The effective management of fisheries resources implicitly requires accurate abundance estimates. But, even after more than a century of effort, this prerequisite need remains one of the greatest challenges facing fisheries scientists. Traditional methods of estimating abundance include parametric and empirical approaches that often rely on extensive time-series of size-at-age data (e.g. from otoliths). Acquiring these data can be expensive and therefore restricted to species that are most economically important or of conservation concern. Due to the cost of independent sampling, indicators of abundance usually involve fishery-dependent data, which have numerous biases that can affect accurately quantifying population trends.
The clear need for accurate and rapid stock assessments is increasingly apparent in the current climate of competing commercial, recreational and conservation interests. Specifically, marine protected areas have been implemented across all NSW coastal bioregions and are a source of political and public contention as a result of perceived inequalities in access to (and allocation of) fisheries resources, particularly among species shared by commercial and recreational fishers. Also, recent fish kills in NSW due to hypoxic water have sparked debate over the cause of poor water quality and longer-term effects on freshwater habitats. Rapidly quantifying existing and/or changing stock abundances of key species will be essential to inform recovery actions, and advise on the sustainable exploitation of commercial and recreational species. Sampling eDNA could meet these needs by directly facilitating cost-effective biomass and/or relative abundance estimates for population assessments in NSW where fishery-dependent data are scarce or unavailable.
Objectives: 1. Assess the species-specific precision and importance of key influencing abiotic and biotic factors for determining abundances of mulloway and Murry cod using eDNA under controlled conditions. 2. Compare the utility of eDNA against directed fishery-dependant methods for assessing relative abundances of mulloway and Murray cod across appropriate spatio-temporal scales in the wild. 3. Based on results of phase 2, determine what additional factors affect concentration of eDNA such as depth of eDNA water sampling. 4. Assess if eDNA of other selected species collected from samples obtained during 2 above, correspond to routinely collected catch-and-effort data in New South Wales. Read moreRead less
Development And Evaluation Of Multi-species Harvest Strategies In The SESSF
Funder
Fisheries Research and Development Corporation
Funding Amount
$464,973.00
Summary
The current HSP has biomass target reference points. The problem however, is that research has shown that in multi-species fisheries with technical interactions (i.e. the mixture of different species catches with the same gear) and ecosystem interactions (e.g. competition or predation), it is not possible to maintain all species at the same target level, and there is no empirical basis to assume biomass of non-target species will always be below or at BMEY. In fact, it is likely that the biomas ....The current HSP has biomass target reference points. The problem however, is that research has shown that in multi-species fisheries with technical interactions (i.e. the mixture of different species catches with the same gear) and ecosystem interactions (e.g. competition or predation), it is not possible to maintain all species at the same target level, and there is no empirical basis to assume biomass of non-target species will always be below or at BMEY. In fact, it is likely that the biomass of some of these species will be greater than BMEY as well as below it. This was demonstrated for the SESSF by Smith et al (2107).
The new CHSP recognises that net economic returns for multi-species fisheries may be maximised by including differential targets in harvest strategies that are always above BLIM, but greater or lower than BMEY. In addition, recent recommendations by the SESSF Monitoring and Assessment Research Project (SMARP) into monitoring and assessment options, including multi-year TAC decision frameworks, require simulation testing. Thus, there is a critical need to develop, evaluate and operationalise a fishery-wide harvest strategy with multiple and appropriate reference points, and multispecies decision rules. The question is what would a multi-species harvest strategy that covers an entire fishery or component of it, rather than a number of single species harvest strategies, look like.
We need to develop and operationalise a fishery-wide harvest strategy with multiple and appropriate reference points, and multispecies decision rules.
This will need to be implemented by June 2020, so there is an urgent need to design and evaluate a range of options from which to select a candidate harvest strategy. The aim of this project is to develop a fit-for-purpose harvest strategy in the SESSF that meets the intent of the policy, is cost effective and maximises net economic returns. Objectives: 1. To develop and evaluate multi-species harvest strategies, including reference points and decision rules. 2. To evaluate future monitoring and assessment options identified in the SESSF Monitoring and Assessment Research Project. 3. To develop a process and set of design principles for multi-species harvest strategies. Read moreRead less
Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment And Facilities - Grant ID: LE210100137
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$881,758.00
Summary
Australian Environmental Specimen Bank: advancing specimen bank capability. The aim of this LIEF is to advance Australia’s specimen banking capabilities through a new, enhanced national facility, the Australian Environmental Specimen Bank (AESB). The AESB would be founded on a unique current archive of human and environmental samples established by the partners to the LIEF. Importantly, the AESB would be managed as a nationally available (to all public sector researchers), operationally self-fun ....Australian Environmental Specimen Bank: advancing specimen bank capability. The aim of this LIEF is to advance Australia’s specimen banking capabilities through a new, enhanced national facility, the Australian Environmental Specimen Bank (AESB). The AESB would be founded on a unique current archive of human and environmental samples established by the partners to the LIEF. Importantly, the AESB would be managed as a nationally available (to all public sector researchers), operationally self-funded resource for integrated exposure research into the future. The archive is expected to support longitudinal and cross-sectional studies to assess trends in exposure to chemical and biological hazards in the Australian population, identify emerging hazards, and provide a scientific basis for policy and regulatory actions.Read moreRead less
Can DNA From Routine Plankton Surveys Be Used To Measure Fish Spawning Areas And Monitor Changes In Pelagic Ecosystems?
Funder
Fisheries Research and Development Corporation
Funding Amount
$403,902.59
Summary
The National Marine Science Plan (NMSP) 2015-2025 identified the need to establish a National Marine Baselines and Monitoring Program to support future management of Australia's marine estate and growth of the blue economy.
The NMSP emphasised that an innovative, broad-based approach to funding will be needed to address the breadth of challenges and beneficiaries that will drive future research and monitoring initiatives.
Establishing cost-effective, broad-scale monitoring ....The National Marine Science Plan (NMSP) 2015-2025 identified the need to establish a National Marine Baselines and Monitoring Program to support future management of Australia's marine estate and growth of the blue economy.
The NMSP emphasised that an innovative, broad-based approach to funding will be needed to address the breadth of challenges and beneficiaries that will drive future research and monitoring initiatives.
Establishing cost-effective, broad-scale monitoring programs in key regions is a pragmatic way to progress this "priority initiative" in the absence of a formal national overarching program.
The need for broad-scale ecological monitoring is particularly pressing off south-eastern Australia, where most Australian's live, the impacts from climate change are highest and many important marine industries are located.
Broad-scale ichthyoplankton surveys undertaken routinely to support management of the SPF and SASF cover almost the entire continental shelf (>350,000 square kilometres) between Sandy Cape, Fraser Island and the Head of Bight (Attachment 1).
These surveys are expensive to conduct (>$200,000 each). Currently, only a tiny fraction of the information about the marine environment collected during the surveys is harvested to produce datasets that could be used support management of Australia's marine estate and growth of the blue economy. Additional information could be obtained from samples collected during surveys at relatively low marginal cost.
This project is needed to evaluate the potential for using DNA-metabarcoding to harvest ecological data from routine broad-scale ichthyoplankton surveys to:
1) Monitor the spawning area and characterise the spawning habitat of data-poor fisheries species off south-eastern Australia;
2) Monitor the responses of the fish assemblage to future changes in environmental conditions and the impacts of new developments.
The project is also needed to determine if future surveys could be used as a basis for applying the DEPM to other species.
The modern broad-scale, low-cost approach to monitoring outlined in this proposal will complement and enhance the current National Ichthyoplankton Monitoring and Observing (NIMO) initiative.
Objectives: 1. Evaluate the potential for using DNA-metabarcoding of routine broad-scale ichthyoplankton surveys to characterise the spawning habitat and monitor the spawning area of key fish species. 2. Evaluate the potential for using DNA-metabarcoding of routine broad-scale ichthyoplankton surveys to monitor the responses of pelagic ecosystems to climate change and other pressures. Read moreRead less
Understanding Australia by analysing wastewater during the Census 2021 . This project aims to utilise the Australian Census 2021, a unique opportunity to link exposure to chemical and biological hazards with catchment socio-demographic data via systematic wastewater analysis. The project is expected to advance our capabilities to identify emerging hazards and understand factors that affect spatiotemporal trends in hazards across Australia. Moreover, in a world first, the project aims to assess c ....Understanding Australia by analysing wastewater during the Census 2021 . This project aims to utilise the Australian Census 2021, a unique opportunity to link exposure to chemical and biological hazards with catchment socio-demographic data via systematic wastewater analysis. The project is expected to advance our capabilities to identify emerging hazards and understand factors that affect spatiotemporal trends in hazards across Australia. Moreover, in a world first, the project aims to assess chemical fate on a national level by linking sales/use with fate and release from wastewater treatment plants and assess treatment efficiency at >100 plants around Australia. The project expects to provide insight for government, wastewater managers and industry into hazards that may affect environmental and human health.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE230100132
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$438,909.00
Summary
Population genetics from environmental DNA to revolutionise conservation. This project aims to revolutionise conservation monitoring by developing environmental DNA tools to rapidly and efficiently extract detailed genetic data on entire populations from a simple environmental sample. This project expects to significantly enhance conservation management by providing critical information on genetic diversity and population health. Expected outcomes include new techniques to collect population gen ....Population genetics from environmental DNA to revolutionise conservation. This project aims to revolutionise conservation monitoring by developing environmental DNA tools to rapidly and efficiently extract detailed genetic data on entire populations from a simple environmental sample. This project expects to significantly enhance conservation management by providing critical information on genetic diversity and population health. Expected outcomes include new techniques to collect population genetic information with increased speed and affordability, enhancing the capacity for both industry and government to address conservation questions. This project is likely to provide significant benefits for aquatic conservation, where traditional monitoring proves problematic for many cryptic, elusive or rare species.Read moreRead less
Ecohydrological forecasting: the pivotal role of root-zone soil moisture. This project aims to overcome the scientific and technological challenges preventing soil water and vegetation forecasting at useful land management scales (eg. 25 m). The significance is in enabling an unprecedented hyperresolution modelling capability for Australia through the integration of new ecohydrological theory with a range of satellite observations. Outcomes include more accurate, spatially-detailed information o ....Ecohydrological forecasting: the pivotal role of root-zone soil moisture. This project aims to overcome the scientific and technological challenges preventing soil water and vegetation forecasting at useful land management scales (eg. 25 m). The significance is in enabling an unprecedented hyperresolution modelling capability for Australia through the integration of new ecohydrological theory with a range of satellite observations. Outcomes include more accurate, spatially-detailed information of current soil water amounts, and reliable forecasts of vegetation condition several months into the future. This will greatly enhance timely decision making and forward planning by farmers, fire agencies, and other land and water managers, with corresponding increases in productivity, sustainability and community safety.Read moreRead less