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Evaluating Baseline Conditions and Resulting Changes in Demersal Fish

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Evaluating baseline conditions and resulting changes in demersal fish communities of South East Australia ! ! Novaglio Camilla BSc., MSc. Submitted in fulfillment of the requirements for the Doctor of Philosophy in Quantitative Marine Science Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies University of Tasmania November 2015 ! 1! Statements and declarations Declaration of Originality This thesis contains no material which has been accepted for a degree or diploma by the University or any other institution, except by way of background information and duly acknowledged in the thesis, and to the best of my knowledge and belief no material previously published or written by another person except where due acknowledgement is made in the text of the thesis, nor does the thesis contain any material that infringes copyright. Authority of Access This thesis may be made available for loan and limited copying and communication in accordance with the Copyright Act 1968. Camilla Novaglio Hobart, November 2015 ! 2! Acknowledgements First of all I wish to express my sincere thanks to my supervisory team: Dr. Tony Smith, Prof. Stewart Frusher, and Dr. Francesco Ferretti. Thanks for all the knowledge and experience you made available for this thesis, and for being always positive and supportive. Without your many reassuring words I would have abandoned the journey long ago and not been writing the acknowledgment of my PhD thesis right now. Many others have also contributed to this thesis. Thanks to Neil Klaer, Ken Graham and Jeremy Lyle for providing valuable data and lots of advice. Thanks to Franzis Althaus for her assistance with fishing effort data retrieval and analysis, and to Mike Fuller for his help in creating nice maps. Thanks to John Pogonoski and Daniel Gledhill for sharing taxonomic expertise. Thanks to the stock assessment team, in particular Jemery Day, Sally Wayte, Robin Thompson (it was a pleasure to share an office with all of you), Geoff Tuck and Malcolm Haddon for patiently replying to all my questions about stock assessment. Thanks to Simon Wotherspoon, Miriana Sporcic and Scott Foster for statistical advice. Thanks to Tony Harrison for the pleasant chats on the history of fishing in Tasmania. Friends, my life during these years would have not been as smooth without you. Lizzie Dougan, Dale Cooke, Daniela Farias, Jorge Mardones, Claudio Castillo, Sandra Curin, Malinda Auluck, Maximiliano Farias and Gigi Astorga, you’ve been the best housemates ever! I will never forget the flow of food and laughs running through the house. Lara Marcus, Kathy Alter and Makrina thanks for your loyal friendship and for coping with my always-changing mood. Olive Mia Southern, my ! 3! two-year-old best friend, thanks for sharing the joy of playing until collapsing strengthless. You made my messed up days carefree. Thanks to my family and friends in Italy. Despite the distance, you’ve always known how to cheer me up. A special thanks goes to my life companion, Marco Zanetti. Your excitement and believe in everything I do had been essential for the accomplishment of my PhD. Dedicato alla mia cara nonna Lina. ! ! 4! Abstract Knowledge of the full extent and severity of ecological changes in human-influenced ecological systems is needed to identify today’s management priorities and to set realistic restoration objectives for the future. However, reconstructing ecosystem baselines and understanding the causes and rates of ecological changes is often hampered by the scarcity of data about population and community status before exploitation, and by the challenges of fitting these (historical) data into modern analytical methods. This study aimed to identify the main sources of fishing impacts on marine communities of South East Australia and to gather and examine historical data available for the region that can provide information on baseline (pre-fishing) conditions to compare changes in fish communities as the fishing industry developed. South East Australia provides an ideal case study as its history of exploitation is relatively recent and there were surveys undertaken prior to exploitation. While a range of commercial fisheries have evolved in South East Australia since European colonization, during the last century bottom trawling has been the major fishing activity in the region. Bottom trawl surveys that included information on demersal species abundance and community structure were carried out both before and at different stages since trawling exploitation begun, and thus provide insights into the full extent of fishing impacts on South East Australian demersal fish communities. These surveys, covering the period 1898-1997, were performed by various research agencies, which collected and organized catch and effort data in different formats. ! 5! Additionally, the detail of the information reported changes across surveys and over the years. Hence, the initial need was to collect, digitalize and standardize all the information available. The bottom trawl survey dataset resulting from this step contained a total of 3,083 tows sampling 574 species among chondrichthyes and osteichthyes. It spans the entire history of trawling exploitation and is analyzed in this study as an entire dataset for the first time. A comparison of pre- with post-trawling exploitation data (1898-1910 and 1980s- 2010s, respectively) revealed marked changes in the structure of demersal fish communities of South East Australia. These included shifts in the catch composition of the main families, as well as sharp declines in the total and individual family catch rate, most likely related to the effect of fishing. Among the steepest declines were those of key commercial families, such as flatheads and morwongs, on the continental shelf of Tasmania. The effect of trawling on demersal fish communities of South East Australia was also revealed by the application of species accumulation curves to the survey dataset. Specifically, the rate of species accumulation with area decreased as trawling intensity increased, suggesting that trawling modified community structure through the removal of particular species and through changes in the abundance and spatial distribution of the remaining species. This study’s findings have direct application to management and monitoring of the natural resources in South East Australia, and important implications for sustainable use and conservation prioritization. The study also provides a framework and approach that can be of guidance for the collection, standardization and analysis of analogous, patchy, unbalanced and overlooked historical datasets around the world. ! 6! Table of Contents 1 Chapter 1 – Introduction .................................................................................... 13 1.1 Thesis structure ........................................................................................................ 19 2 Chapter 2 - Historical overview of fishing exploitation and scientific bottom trawl surveys in South East Australia ...................................................................... 21 2.1 Abstract ..................................................................................................................... 21 2.2 Introduction .............................................................................................................. 21 2.3 Aboriginal and colonial fisheries ............................................................................ 24 2.3.1 Aboriginal fishing ............................................................................................... 24 2.3.2 Sealing and whaling ............................................................................................ 25 2.3.3 Finfish fisheries .................................................................................................. 27 2.4 Commercial trawling ............................................................................................... 31 2.4.1 Steam trawling .................................................................................................... 31 2.4.2 Diesel powered trawling ..................................................................................... 35 2.4.3 The trawl fishery today ....................................................................................... 38 2.4.4 Overview of the trawl fishery ............................................................................. 41 2.4.5 Other sources of impacts .................................................................................... 44 2.5 Long-term datasets .................................................................................................. 46 2.5.1 Bottom trawl surveys ......................................................................................... 46 2.5.2 Other sources of data .......................................................................................... 53 2.6 Discussion .................................................................................................................. 54 3 Chapter 3 – Bottom trawl survey data collection and standardization .......... 57 3.1 Introduction .............................................................................................................. 57 3.2 Methods ..................................................................................................................... 57 3.2.1 Data collection and digitalization ....................................................................... 57 3.2.2 Data standardization ..........................................................................................
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