Management of ‘tough fish syndrome’ in tropical Saddletail Snapper to re-instill market confidence
Tactical Research Fund: SETFIA Accreditation of Commonwealth Trawl Sector skippers toward improved environmental operation in fishery
This project has been developed in line with SETFIA's strategic aim to reduce some of trawling's environmental impacts.
A weakness within the current Association model is that when current fishing behaviours are improved to reduce environmental impacts, there is no guarantee that those changes will be enduring. The lack of consistency is highlighted in that the CTS operates two industry codes of practice on seal interactions and responsible fishing. Both are arguably in need of updating, however, there is no process control on compliance to these codes. Informal surveys have shown that although operators are aware of the existence of theses codes, and that they are often physically on the vessel, that through a combination of time and crew turnover crew are not able to recount the key elements of either code.
Increasingly, industry are undertaking self management arrangements that including voluntary area closures and split stock management (without formal quota areas). Although communications are sent to SETFIA members, the messages are not always passed from the vessel owners to the skippers. The industry needs a conduit though which to improve compliance to regulations and voluntary undertakings.
Final report
Investigation of methods to age abalone
Final report
Management of the valuable Australian abalone fishery is difficult because catch/effort information for abalone does not provide warnings of declining stocks. In fact abalone fisheries in Alaska, California and Mexico have collapsed or declined dramatically, with little warning. Management must rely on a detailed knowledge of how fast abalone grow, when they become adult, how many eggs they produce, and how fast they die of natural causes. But these statistics vary between areas, and it would be very costly to measure them at enough sites for efficient management. Management of finfish stocks has been revolutionised by accurate methods to age fish, using layers in the ear bones. Ageing abalone was identified as a high priority as long ago as 1986 in an abalone research review for the then FIRDC. An ageing method would allow biologists to work out growth, natural death rates etc. rapidly and at low cost. The industry would benefit from increased security, as uncertainty about the state of the stocks is a major problem for stakeholders. A reliable method would be used by state organisations to assess stocks more effectively, thus reducing the risk of a collapse or severe fluctuations in quota.
Previous work showed layers in the spire of the shell might be useful to age both blacklip and greenlip abalone, but the evidence relates only to juveniles , and in some areas layers did not correspond to age. We proposed to show when and how age could be estimated from layers, by "timestamping " tagged abalone at sites in each state. "Timestamping" involves staining the shell layer that they deposit over a few days. When the abalone were recovered, the number of layers deposited after the timestamp stain would show how regularly layers are deposited. We set out to mark abalone shells with fluorochrome stains , used by dentists to look at the growth of teeth, and to timestamp rings in fish ear bones. Work in New Zealand had also shown that abalone could be marked with a fluorochrome.
The project began in December 1992. By June 1993 we had established that abalone were stressed and often died after injecting stains, but they were unaffected when immersion in seawater dosed with the stains, and we had tested and compared five stains in the laboratory, and identified concentrations and immersion times that produced strong marks. This achieved our first milestone. Milestone 2 was the demonstration of the "timestamping" method in the field. By the end of 1993 we had developed underwater staining tanks, and collected, tagged and stained abalone with two fluorochrome stains underwater. Our results were reported at abalone divers meetings , and the international abalone conference in Hobart in February 1994. The symposium paper is now published.
Study of the biology and fishery of balmain and smooth bugs (Ibacus spp.) in NSW
Final report
Prawn presentation and product development
Final report
Australia is one of the few countries in the world where much of the domestic catch of prawns is landed chilled after being cooked onboard the vessel. In most other fisheries the catch is chilled thoroughly and then brought into port. This gives the buyer or processor a much greater range of options in determining which products to prepare according to the market demand. This flexibility of approach is currently not evident, although it is common overseas. Before these options can be fully explored, it is necessary to have reliable information on the storage life of prawns chilled and transported by appropriate methods. It is also essential to take into account variation between species and, most importantly, the nature of the bacterial flora which occurs naturally on the prawn and which is encouraged to predominate under the conditions of storage.
The work in this project was based on the assumption that the processing and development of prawn products will take place in land-based premises, not at sea. In order to provide sufficient options for product development, processors must receive chilled raw prawns in good condition.
Two major factors affect the storage life of prawns, bacterial action and development of blackspot. Control of these problems leads to higher standard products with an optimum storage life.
The project work thus first concentrated on the quality of typical product in the marketplace, then on handling practices and storage of chilled prawns and their microbiology before investigating the effects of packaging and storage.
Establishment of a database of information on seafood post-harvest technology within the international food institute of Australia COMPLETED REFER 93/199
Research for allocation of north-west marine finfish resource among diverse user groups
Final report
Seafood CRC: seafood trade expert panel (SafeFish)
The members of the SAF (industry and government) have recognized the need to provide coordinated, cohesive and robust technical advice to support Australian negotiators and delegations dealing with trade and market access issues. While this expertise is variously available from different sources a more cohesive and collaborative approach will help:
a) ensure that the most appropriate technical expertise is available to support Australian trade negotiations relating to seafood
b) coordinate robust technical advice for input to international trade fora such as Codex and bilateral and multilateral trade agreement discussions
c) deliver a multi disciplinary approach to often very complex trade issues and ensure that Seafood CRC participant business operations and practices are considered in developing Australia’s negotiating positions
d) foster open communication between Australia’s technical trade experts and assist early detection of issues
e) provide a forum for debate and discussion about technical trade issues and their impact on the CRC participant businesses
f) create an international technical trade network and enable Australia’s experts to identify and act on opportunities for national and international collaboration
g) facilitate professional development of existing and new people with technical trade expertise.
Final report
SafeFish originated from the recognition by the members of the former Seafood Access Forum (SAF) (industry and government) of the need to provide coordinated, cohesive and robust technical advice to support Australian negotiators and delegations dealing with trade and market access issues related to food safety. While this expertise was variously available from different sources a more cohesive collaborative approach was required to bring together all relevant stakeholders (industry, scientists, government, and regulators) more collectively. This was the origin of the partnership approach known originally as the Seafood Trade Expert Panel which was then renamed SafeFish in 2011. This project was responsible for ensuring the most appropriate technical expertise was available to support Australian trade negotiations relating to seafood and to coordinate robust technical advice for input to international trade fora such as Codex and bilateral and multilateral trade agreement discussions.
SafeFish has been very successful in delivering a multi-disciplinary approach to often very complex trade issues which has ensured that Seafood CRC participant business operations and practices were considered in developing Australia’s negotiating positions
Project products
Establishing a recreational fishing working group to develop a national implementation plan R, D and E.
Clearly it is essential that the recreational sector is well organised and structured to allow for the best use of the R, D & E resources we have and to maximise the potential but more importantly ensure the sustainability of the sector.
There is currently a lack of a coordinated national approach to R, D & E from the sector.
There is no entity or vehicle in the recreational sector to manage and procure investment for R, D & E.
There is no mechanism or event for the recreational sector that allows a regular national conference.
There is no appropriate recogntion of the achievements by the sector in the field of research, management, advocacy, volunteering, etc.
Final report
Following the success of the National Strategy for the Survival of Released Line Caught Fish it was considered that a national approach needed to be developed to address a broader range of recreational fisheries R,D&E issues.
A workshop was held in Hobart in August 2005 to determine the national priorities for recreational fisheries R,D&E and identify a suitable entity to develop a national approach. The workshop was attended by a range of key people from industry and from government.
The workshop determined that the most appropriate entity to develop a national strategy was an expanded Released Fish Survival Steering Committee and the workshop nominated a number of additional members to the Steering Committee. That expanded the range of expertise on the committee to be able to deal with the broader range of issues. That Steering Committee would be an interim one until a permanent committee could be established.
Following that workshop a number of proposals were produced for consideration by the Steering Committee. Options for the development of the national strategy were through a FRDC sub-program model or through the current Steering Committee approach. It was considered that the Steering Committee approach was the most appropriate.
At the workshop it was determined that the interim committee should be known as the Recfishing Services Steering Committee however this was later changed to Recfishing Research to better reflect its business.
Also following the workshop a Business Plan for Recfishing Research was developed that identified the significance of each priority issue, its current status and the strategic response that Recfishing Research should take in relation to each issue.
Keywords: Recfishing Research; Recfish Australia; National strategy; Research, development and extension; Research priorities.