Trophic dynamics of the eastern shelf and slope of the South East Fishery: impacts of and on the fishery

Funded Activity Summary

The change in focus of fisheries management towards ecosystem-based management (Pitcher 2001) is a worldwide trend. Within Australia it is particularly evident in the requirements of the Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) Act, and in the development of regional marine plans (RMPs) under Australia’s Oceans Policy. The former requires strategic assessment of the ecological impacts of fishing, including assessing trophic impacts. The latter seeks to integrate management of entire regions through an ecosystem approach that considers impacts from all uses of the marine environment (including impacts of other users on fishery ecosystems). The southeast region is the first to be evaluated under Oceans Policy.

Even without the “stick” of EPBC and RMP, there are good reasons to attempt to synthesize current data and understanding of the SEF ecosystem, and to model the impacts of and on the fishery. Specific questions that need addressing include:
·What changes in the fish community have taken place in the past, and what are the consequences for current fishery production and value?
·What further changes might be expected under planned reduction or elimination of discarding in the SET?
·What are the implications for the fishery of current rapid recovery in seal populations?
·What are the reasons for and impacts of year-to-year variability in the SEF ecosystem (including regional circulation and primary productivity) on distribution and catches of quota species?

This study will provide a set of tools to explore answers to these questions.

Objectives:
1. Develop circulation and trophic models to describe the past and present structure and dynamics of the food web on the eastern shelf and slope of the South East Fishery, the impacts of variability in primary production on catches, and to predict future changes in response to recovery of marine mammals and major reductions in discarding.
2. Provide a quantitative assessment of food web related risks, in support of strategic assessment of the fishery under the Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act.
3. Contribute to a regional ecosystem model for use in the National Oceans Office’s Regional Marine Plan for the South East, including detailed scoping and preliminary trophodynamic models for the Eastern Bass Strait Shelf.
4. Identify key gaps in knowledge and priorities for future research.

Funded Activity Details

Start Date: 14-04-2002

End Date: 29-06-2006

Funding Scheme: Funding Scheme not available

Funding Amount: $201,435.00

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)

There are no SEO codes available for this funding activity

Other Keywords

Ecosystem | Fisheries Management | Food Web | Modelling | Policy | Population Dynamics | Risk reduction | Sustainability

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