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To View Asset Baywide Monitoring of Key Fishery Species in Seagrass Beds Sub-Program Progress Report No. 5 (April 2010) Neil Hutchinson & Greg Jenkins June 2010 Fisheries Victoria Technical Report Series No. 101 If you would like to receive this Copyright The State of Victoria, Department of information/publication in an Primary Industries, 2010. accessible format (such as large This publication is copyright. No part may be reproduced by any process except in accordance print or audio) please call the with the provisions of the Copyright Act 1968. Customer Service Centre on: Authorised by the Victorian Government, GPO 136 186, TTY: 1800 122 969, Box 4440, Melbourne, VIC 3001 or email Printed by Fisheries Victoria, Queenscliff, [email protected] Victoria Published: Fisheries Victoria Hutchinson, N. and Jenkins, G. (2010). Baywide Department of Primary Monitoring of Key Fishery Species in Seagrass Industries, Queenscliff Centre Beds Sub-Program. Progress Report No. 5 (April PO Box 114, Queenscliff, Victoria 2010). Fisheries Victoria Technical Report Series 3225 Australia. No. 101, June 2010. Fisheries Victoria, Department of Primary Industries, Queenscliff, Victoria, Australia. 10 pp. General disclaimer This publication may be of assistance to you but the State of Victoria and its employees do not ISSN 1835-4785 guarantee that the publication is without flaw of ISBN 978-1-74264-293-2 any kind or is wholly appropriate for your particular purposes and therefore disclaims all liability for any error, loss or other consequence which may arise from you relying on any information in this publication. Baywide Monitoring of Key Fishery Species in Seagrass Beds Progress Report #5 ii Table of Contents List of Tables ............................................................................................................................................................ iv List of Figures ........................................................................................................................................................... iv Introduction............................................................................................................ 1 This Report..................................................................................................................................................................1 Materials and Methods......................................................................................... 2 Field and laboratory methods..................................................................................................................................2 Exceptions ...................................................................................................................................................................2 Results and Discussion ........................................................................................ 3 Species Richness ........................................................................................................................................................3 Abundance ..................................................................................................................................................................3 Comparison with previous surveys........................................................................................................................3 Conclusion ..................................................................................................................................................................4 References ............................................................................................................... 5 Appendix 1 Data Plots.......................................................................................... 6 Appendix 2............................................................................................................ 10 Raw data ....................................................................................................................................................................10 Data Files...................................................................................................................................................................10 Baywide Monitoring of Key Fishery Species in Seagrass Beds Progress Report #5 iii List of Tables Table 1. Average abundance (No. haul -1; four hauls per site) of fish and squid sampled in deep and shallow seagrass beds at each site (Blairgowrie, Mud Islands and St Leonards) in April 2010 and total number of each species collected (species names from Gomon et al. (2008) and Museum of Victoria). Species not found during previous sampling events are marked in bold..................................................6 List of Figures Figure 1. CDBMP sampling sites for monitoring key fishery species in seagrass beds sub-program. .......... 2 Figure 2. Average (+SE) species richness recorded in seagrass beds at each site in PPB from April 2008 to April 2010. ...........................................................................................................................................................8 Figure 3. Average (+SE) fish abundance (totalled for all species) recorded in seagrass beds at each site in PPB from April 2008 to April 2010 (NB scale change between graphs). ....................................................9 Baywide Monitoring of Key Fishery Species in Seagrass Beds Progress Report #5 iv Introduction The purpose of the Monitoring Key Fishery Species in Seagrass Beds Sub-Program of the This Report Channel Deepening Baywide Monitoring This report summarises preliminary, qualitative Programs (CDBMP) for Port Phillip Bay (PPB) is results of the third autumn survey (April 2010) to improve the understanding of the fish species for the sub-program. using seagrass beds in the Bay. This sub- Length measurements recorded during April program is described in the CDBMP Detailed 2010, together with quantitative, statistically Design: CDP_ENV_MD_018 Rev 2.1 (PoMC analysed results for the survey, will be reported 2009). in Milestone Report No. 5. The objective is to collect data on the types and abundance of fish in shallow and deeper seagrass beds that will fill existing knowledge gaps and assist in understanding the significance of any observed changes in seagrass habitat for these fish. Surveys are undertaken to compare the distribution and abundance of fish in shallow (< 1 m) and deeper (2–8 m) seagrass beds in three areas of PPB. These surveys are conducted in spring and autumn each year between 2008 and 2011. The autumn (April) 2008, spring (November) 2008, autumn (April) 2009 and spring (November) 2009 surveys were reported in Smith et al. (2008), Hutchinson et al. (Hutchinson et al. 2009a; b) and Hutchinson et al . (2010) respectively. Baywide Monitoring of Key Fishery Species in Seagrass Beds Progress Report #5 1 Materials and Methods Field and laboratory methods Exceptions Field and laboratory methods utilised in the There were no exceptions for this study period present study are described by Smith et al. (2008) according to the Detailed Design - and PoMC (2009). CDP_ENV_MD_018_Rev 2.1 (PoMC 2009). During the autumn 2010 study period (this There were no significant field events observed, report), fish were sampled in shallow (< 1 m) and although an increase in the presence of the deeper (2–8 m) seagrass, Heterozostera nigricaulis , epifaunal bivalve Electroma georgiana was beds at three sites: Blairgowrie, Mud Islands and observed in deep sites at Mud Islands. No St Leonards (Figure 1). Samples were collected QA/QC issues were recorded during this between 16 April and 6 May 2010. reporting period. Figure 1. CDBMP sampling sites for monitoring key fishery species in seagrass beds sub-program. Baywide Monitoring of Key Fishery Species in Seagrass Beds Progress Report #5 2 Results and Discussion A total of 48 fish species (43 finfish, two ray and lowest, wide-body pipefish, prickly toadfish three squid) from 22 families (18 families for (Contusus brevicaudus ) and blue sprat occurred in finfish, one family for ray and three families for the greatest numbers. squid) were sampled for all sites. Summary data The abundance of fish (total for all sites) was for species richness and abundance at all sites for higher in shallow seagrass (2883 fish) than deep the reporting period are provided in Appendix 1 seagrass (97 fish). Shallow seagrass was (Table 1). Data files for this reporting period are dominated by wide-body pipefish (821 fish), summarised in Appendix 2. silver fish (820 fish) and blue sprat (263 fish). Fish species sampled in April 2010 were Deep seagrass was dominated by a range of indicative of those collected in and around species including wide-body pipefish (39 fish), seagrass beds in previous surveys (Smith et al. opalescent sandgoby ( Nesogobius sp. 2 ; 17 fish) 2008; Hutchinson et al. 2009a; b; Hutchinson et al. and bridled leatherjacket ( Acanthaluteres 2010) and in previous studies of PPB (Jenkins et spilomelanurus ; 5 fish). al. 1997; Hindell et al. 2001). Wide-body pipefish (syngnathids), silver fish (atherinids), blue sprat Comparison with previous (clupeids) and smallmouth hardyhead (atherinids) were the dominant species. surveys During this survey, nine species of fish were Species Richness sampled that were not found during the previous surveys. The majority of these species occurred in Species richness (i.e. the number of species relatively low abundances:
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