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River Flow Impacts on Estuarine Prawns in the Gulf of Carpentaria

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River Flow Impacts on Estuarine Prawns in the Gulf of Carpentaria Flow and fisheries: River flow impacts on estuarine prawns in the Gulf of Carpentaria Burford, M.A., Griffith University Kenyon, R.A., CSIRO Whittle, M., Curwen, G., Griffith University December 2010 FRDC Project 2007/003 ©Copyright Fisheries Research and Development Corporation and Griffith University and CSIRO 2010. This work is copyright. Except as permitted under the Copyright Act 1968 (Cth), no part of this publication may be reproduced under any process, electronic or otherwise, without the specific written permission of the copyright owners. Information may not be stored electronically in any form whatsoever without such permission. Disclaimer The authors do not warrant that the information in this document is free from errors or omissions. The authors do not accept any form of liability, be it contractual, tortious, or otherwise, for the contents of this document or for any consequences arising from its use or any reliance placed upon it. The information, opinions and advice contained in this document may not relate, or be relevant, to a readers’ particular circumstances. Opinions expressed by the authors are the individual opinions expressed by those persons and are not necessarily those of the publisher, research provider or the FRDC. The Fisheries Research and Development Corporation plans, invests in and manages fisheries research and development throughout Australia. It is a statutory authority within the portfolio of the federal Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, jointly funded by the Australian Government and the fishing industry ISBN: 978-1-921760-22-8 2 Table of contents 1. NON TECHNICAL SUMMARY......................................................................................................5 2. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .............................................................................................................10 3. BACKGROUND...............................................................................................................................11 4. NEED.................................................................................................................................................12 5. OBJECTIVES...................................................................................................................................12 6. METHODS........................................................................................................................................13 6.1 STUDY SITE...................................................................................................................................14 6.2 FORTNIGHTLY SAMPLING..............................................................................................................15 6.2.1 Beam trawls .........................................................................................................................16 6.2.2 Surface set nets ....................................................................................................................18 6.2.3 Analyses ...............................................................................................................................19 6.2.4 The Flinders River ...............................................................................................................19 6.2.5 Water quality in Norman River............................................................................................20 7 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION........................................................................................................23 7.1 BANANA PRAWN ABUNDANCE AND GROWTH, AND THE EFFECT OF FLOW .....................................23 7.1.1 Environmental conditions ....................................................................................................23 7.1.2 Prawn abundances...............................................................................................................23 7.1.3 Statistical analysis of prawn abundance in beam trawls .....................................................24 7.1.3.1 Creek Habitats.............................................................................................................................. 24 7.1.3.2 River Habitats............................................................................................................................... 25 7.1.3.3 Comparing creeks and rivers........................................................................................................ 26 7.1.4 Statistical analysis of prawn abundance in set nets .............................................................29 7.1.4.1 Creek Habitats.............................................................................................................................. 29 7.1.4.2 River Habitats............................................................................................................................... 29 7.1.4.3 Temporal and spatial trends in creeks and rivers.......................................................................... 30 7.1.4.4 Prawn growth ............................................................................................................................... 37 7.1.4.5 The Flinders River........................................................................................................................ 39 7.1.5 Discussion............................................................................................................................39 7.2 THE EFFECT OF FLOW ON WATER QUALITY ...................................................................................44 7.2.1 Physico-chemical parameters ..............................................................................................44 7.2.2 Nutrient concentrations........................................................................................................47 7.2.3 Chlorophyll a and TSS .........................................................................................................54 7.2.4 Correlations between water quality parameters..................................................................55 7.3 SUMMARY OF TRACK RESEARCH FINDINGS (CERF, SMART STATE AND LWA FUNDING) ..........57 7.3.1 Summary of TRaCK .............................................................................................................57 7.3.2 Effect of freshwater flow on mudflat production in the Norman R. estuary.........................58 7.3.3 Quantifying nutrient budgets in the Norman R. estuary.......................................................60 7.3.4 Water quality in the adjacent Flinders R. estuary................................................................62 7.3.5 Measurement of primary productivity and nutrient responses.............................................64 7.3.6 Algal production and nutrient release on inundated saltflats ..............................................67 7.4 EFFECTS OF FUTURE CATCHMENT DEVELOPMENT.........................................................................70 8. BENEFITS AND ADOPTION ........................................................................................................72 9. FURTHER DEVELOPMENT ........................................................................................................73 10. PLANNED OUTCOMES...............................................................................................................74 11. CONCLUSION...............................................................................................................................77 12. REFERENCES ...............................................................................................................................80 APPENDIX 1: INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY................................................................................83 APPENDIX 2: STAFF .........................................................................................................................83 APPENDIX 3: NUTRIENT, TSS AND CHLOROPHYLL DATA..................................................84 APPENDIX 4: SECCHI DEPTH DATA..........................................................................................110 3 APPENDIX 5: PHYSICO-CHEMICAL DATA ..............................................................................114 APPENDIX 6: BANANA PRAWN SIZE AND ABUNDANCE DATA.........................................134 4 1. Non Technical Summary 2007/003 Flow and fisheries: River flow impacts on estuarine prawns in the Gulf of Carpentaria PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATORS: Assoc Prof Michele Burford ADDRESS: Australian Rivers Institute Griffith University Nathan QLD 4111 Telephone: 07 3735 6723 Mr Robert Kenyon CSIRO Marine & Atmospheric Research PO Box 120 Cleveland QLD 4163 Telephone: 07 3826 7274 OBJECTIVES: 1. Estimates of the impact of land use change on river flow, estuarine system productivity and ultimately prawn juvenile growth, survival and emigration 2. Identification of the mechanisms whereby the river flow regime affects banana prawn (Penaeus merguiensis) production and emigration from a river in the Gulf of Carpentaria, and how this impacts on recruitment to the fishery 3. Provide recommendations to water and fisheries managers on appropriate methods of assessing the effects of flows on estuarine prawn production NON TECHNICAL SUMMARY: OUTCOMES ACHIEVED TO DATE The planned outcomes of this project were improved fisheries and resource management by identifying the effect of flow on estuarine fisheries. Specifically
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