A workshop was held in Darwin, the Northern Territory (NT) in May 1999, to develop a National Strategy for Research on Mud Crab ( Scylla sp.) in Australia. Fisheries managers and researchers from Western Australia, the NT and Queensland attended, along with Industry representatives from the NT.

The workshop participants shared existing information on the fishery and biological details on the species and evaluated that data to develop a strategy for research which would seek to fill existing gaps in knowledge.

A number of specific management and research issues were identified by each jurisdiction, but there was agreement that research should focus on opportunities for collaborative work with stakeholders and government agencies which would assist in addressing the key issues identified.

This led to the development of a five-year research strategy for the fishery as outlined in Table 3. In order to maximise the benefits of available resources it was decided to adopt a phased approach to the research strategy, with complementary FRAB proposals to be prepared for consideration by individual State/Territory prior to the development of an FROG proposal.

The key areas of new research identified were:

• Phase 1: To develop a process to estimate relative productivity of mud crab
  habitat based on satellite imagery and abundance estimation techniques;
• Phase 2: To use validated commercial catch and effort data as an index of
  stock abundance; and
• Phase 3: To develop a fishery independent index of stock abundance based
  on juvenile pre-recruit index.

Other outcomes arising from the above research would provide information relating to different fishery strategies and subsequent impacts on population characteristics such as sex ratios and fertilisation rates. Additionally, the information may assist in the long term goals of determining offshore migration patterns.

Support was also given to an existing project which seeks to identify, based on genetic identification, if there are discrete stocks within the mud crab population.