Trypaea Australiensis) in South-Eastern Australia
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University of Wollongong Research Online University of Wollongong Thesis Collection 1954-2016 University of Wollongong Thesis Collections 2004 Fisheries biology, ecology and recreational harvesting of ghost shrimp (trypaea australiensis) in south-eastern Australia Douglas Rotherham University of Wollongong Follow this and additional works at: https://ro.uow.edu.au/theses University of Wollongong Copyright Warning You may print or download ONE copy of this document for the purpose of your own research or study. The University does not authorise you to copy, communicate or otherwise make available electronically to any other person any copyright material contained on this site. You are reminded of the following: This work is copyright. Apart from any use permitted under the Copyright Act 1968, no part of this work may be reproduced by any process, nor may any other exclusive right be exercised, without the permission of the author. 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Recommended Citation Rotherham, Douglas, Fisheries biology, ecology and recreational harvesting of ghost shrimp (trypaea australiensis) in south-eastern Australia, PhD thesis, School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Wollongong, 2004. http://ro.uow.edu.au/theses/376 Research Online is the open access institutional repository for the University of Wollongong. For further information contact the UOW Library: [email protected] Fisheries biology, ecology and recreational harvesting of ghost shrimp (Trypaea australiensis) in south-eastern Australia A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the award of the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY from UNIVERSITY OF WOLLONGONG By DOUGLAS ROTHERHAM, BSc. (Hons) EARTH AND ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES 2004 II “Doing what little one can to increase the general stock of knowledge is as respectable an object of life, as one can in any likelihood pursue” Charles Darwin III Dedicated to my wife Leanne and son Lachlan, for the precious time lost. & To my parents, David and Judith Rotherham for a lifetime of support, encouragement and inspiration. IV Thesis Declaration I, Douglas Rotherham, declare that this thesis, submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the award of Doctor of Philosophy, in the School of Earth and Environment Sciences, University of Wollongong, is wholly my own work unless otherwise referenced or acknowledged. The document has not been submitted for qualifications at any other academic institution. Douglas Rotherham 31 August 2004 V Acknowledgements I sincerely thank Associate Professor Ron West from the University of Wollongong for his supervision of the project. Ron has imparted a great deal of knowledge, advice, guidance, inspiration and motivation throughout this research project and during earlier periods of my academic career, for which I am truly indebted. Professor John Morrison (Head of Environmental Science Unit) is also thanked for his support. I am also grateful to the general staff within the Environmental Science Unit at the University of Wollongong for providing logistic support, especially the administrative assistant, Sandra Quinn, as well as professional officers Marina Mcglinn and Mark O’Donnell. Northwest Marine Technology Inc kindly subsidised the cost of ViAlpha and VIE tags thanks to Jan Sanburg and Pete Bergman. Gary Henry (NSW Fisheries) provided unpublished raw data on recreational harvesting of T. australiensis from the National Recreational and Indigenous Fishing Survey, which was greatly appreciated. Paulo Pezzuto is thanked for providing a copy of the REGRANS program for analyses of relative growth. I would also like to thank Dr Charles Gray, Dr James Scandol and Leeanne Raines of NSW Department of Primary Industries (formerly NSW Fisheries), for their support during the final stages of this project. Their flexibility in allowing me to take time off from work commitments was instrumental in the completion of this thesis. My colleagues at NSW DPI are also thanked for their interest and support, especially Julian Hughes, Dr John Stewart and Veronica Silberschnider. VI Thankyou to the field assistants that helped with the collection of samples, namely David & Judith Rotherham, Ray Sloan, Adam Rotherham and Greg Masters. This research would not have been possible without the provision of an Australian Postgraduate Award by the Commonwealth Government of Australia, as well as financial assistance from the School of Earth and Environmental Sciences (formerly the Environmental Science Unit) at the University of Wollongong. Extra special thanks go to my wife Leanne and my son Lachlan for their unconditional love and support, particularly during the times when it all seemed too hard. I could not have done it without you. I look forward to moving on with the next stage of our lives and making up for the many sacrifices that were made during the course of this research, particularly the countless nights and weekends I spent locked away in front of the computer. I also extend many thanks to the rest of my family and friends for their support and encouragement, particularly my brothers Adam and Andrew and in-laws Raymond, Dianne and Michael Sloan. The musical talents of Paul Millar, Adam Rotherham and Hayden Moore helped maintain my sanity and perspective. Finally, I thank my parents David and Judith Rotherham, for providing me with an opportunity to attend university for such a long period of time, which has involved a massive financial commitment. More importantly, I thank them for instilling in me the personal qualities and attributes needed to undertake a PhD and for never allowing me to lose faith in my abilities. Doug Rotherham, 2004 VII Table of Contents Thesis Declaration...............................................................................................IV Acknowledgements................................................................................................V List of Tables .........................................................................................................X List of Figures................................................................................................... XIV List of Plates ..................................................................................................XVIII ABSTRACT...................................................................................................... XIX CHAPTER 1 .......................................................................................................... 1 Introduction........................................................................................................... 1 1.1 General background...........................................................................................................1 1.2 Statement of the problem...................................................................................................3 1.3 Present gaps in knowledge.................................................................................................8 1.4 Thesis objectives..............................................................................................................12 1.5 Thesis structure................................................................................................................13 1.6 Description of the study region........................................................................................15 1.6.1 Coastal and geological environment ........................................................................15 1.6.2 Climate and oceanography.......................................................................................18 1.6.3 Study locations.........................................................................................................19 1.7 Taxonomy of Trypaea australiensis................................................................................26 CHAPTER 2 ........................................................................................................ 30 Comparison of methods for sampling populations of ghost shrimp, Trypaea australiensis.......................................................................................................... 30 2.1 Introduction .....................................................................................................................30 2.2 Materials and methods.....................................................................................................31 2.2.1 Experiment 1: Comparison of core size...................................................................31 2.2.2 Experiment 2: Determination of suction pump effort ..............................................32 2.2.3 Experiment 3: Comparison of catches from coring and suction pumping methods.33 2.3 Results .............................................................................................................................35 2.3.1 Experiment 1: