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Queensland Reef Fish and Scallops Department of Agriculture and Fisheries PHYSICAL OCEANOGRAPHIC INFLUENCES ON Queensland reef fish and scallops Final Report FRDC 2013/020 December 2015 A. J. Courtney, C. M. Spillman, R. T. Lemos, J. Thomas, G. M. Leigh and A. B. Campbell CS4992 12/15 CS4992 © 2015 Fisheries Research and Development Corporation. All rights reserved. ISBN: 9780734504500 Physical oceanographic influences on Queensland reef fish and scallops FRDC 2013/020 2015 Ownership of Intellectual property rights Unless otherwise noted, copyright in this publication is owned by the Fisheries Research and Development Corporation and the Department of Agriculture and Fisheries, Queensland. This publication (and any information sourced from it) should be attributed to A. J. Courtney, C. M. Spillman 1, R. Lemos 2, J. Thomas 2 , G. M. Leigh and A. B. Campbell. Department of Agriculture and Fisheries, Queensland, 1Centre of Australian Weather and Climate Research, Australian Government Bureau of Meteorology, 2Centre for Applications in Natural Resource Mathematics, School of Mathematics and Physics, University of Queensland Creative Commons licence All material in this publication is licenced under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Australia Licence, save for content supplied by third parties, logos and the Commonwealth Coat of Arms. Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Australia Licence is a standard form licence agreement that allows you to copy, distribute, transmit and adapt this publication provided you attribute the work. A summary of the licence terms is available from creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/au/deed.en. The full licence terms are available from creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/au/legalcode. Inquiries regarding the licence and any use of this document should be sent to: [email protected] Front cover image credits are as follows: 1. Satellite image of Queensland coast and Capricorn Eddy (source: IMOS OceanCurrent, http://oceancurrent.imos.org.au/) 2. Plectropomus leopardus on the Great Barrier Reef (source: Graham Edgar, www.reeflifesurvey.com, Creative Commons by Attribution licence for non-commercial use). 3. Severe Tropical Cyclone Yasi off the Queensland east coast on 1 February 2011 (source: University of Wisconsin—CIMSS, Creative Commons by Attribution licence). 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 reader’s 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. Researcher Contact Details FRDC Contact Details Name: Dr. Tony Courtney Address: 25 Geils Court Address: Level 1, Ecosciences Precinct, 41 Boggo Road, Deakin ACT 2600 Dutton Park QLD 4102 Phone: 02 6285 0400 Phone: 07 3255 4227 Fax: 02 6285 0499 Fax: 07 3846 1207 Email: [email protected] Email: [email protected] Web: www.frdc.com.au In submitting this report, the researcher has agreed to FRDC publishing this material in its edited form. Contents 1 Acknowledgements ........................................................................................................................ 1 2 Abbreviations/Acronyms ............................................................................................................... 1 3 Executive Summary ....................................................................................................................... 2 3.1 Objectives ................................................................................................................................ 2 3.2 Background ............................................................................................................................. 2 3.3 Results and Recommendations .............................................................................................. 3 3.3.1 Cyclones and reef fish .................................................................................................................... 3 3.3.2 Saucer scallops and coastal and oceanographic influences ............................................................ 3 4 Introduction .................................................................................................................................... 5 4.1 Background ............................................................................................................................. 5 4.2 Need .......................................................................................................................................... 6 5 Objectives ....................................................................................................................................... 6 6 Methods ........................................................................................................................................... 7 6.1 Coastal and oceanographic influences on the Queensland saucer scallop fishery ............ 7 6.2 Saucer scallop larval advection ............................................................................................. 8 6.3 Influence of tropical cyclones and other low-pressure systems on reef fish ...................... 9 7 Results ............................................................................................................................................. 9 7.1 Influences on saucer scallop catch rates ............................................................................... 9 7.2 Does inclusion of oceanographic covariates improve scallop stock assessment? ............ 11 7.3 Simulating larval advection ................................................................................................. 13 7.4 Influence of low-pressure systems on the reef fin-fish fishery .......................................... 16 8 Discussion ..................................................................................................................................... 18 8.1 Coastal and oceanographic influences on scallop catch rates ........................................... 18 8.2 Scallop larval advection ....................................................................................................... 19 8.3 Effects of cyclones and other low-pressure systems on reef fish ...................................... 19 9 Conclusion .................................................................................................................................... 20 10 Implications .................................................................................................................................. 22 11 Recommendations ........................................................................................................................ 23 12 Further development ................................................................................................................... 23 13 Extension and Adoption .............................................................................................................. 25 14 Project materials developed ........................................................................................................ 25 15 Appendix 1. Staff .......................................................................................................................... 25 16 Appendix 2. Intellectual property .............................................................................................. 25 17 Appendix 3. References ............................................................................................................... 26 18 Appendix 4. Review of relevant literature, data and physical oceanographic features ......... 36 18.1 Physical oceanographic features of the Queensland east coast......................................... 36 18.1.1 Geology ........................................................................................................................................ 36 18.1.2 East Australian Current ................................................................................................................ 37 i 18.1.3 The Capricorn Eddy ..................................................................................................................... 38 18.2 Examples of coastal and oceanographic influences on fisheries ....................................... 38 18.2.1 Coral bleaching ............................................................................................................................ 39 18.2.2 Oceanography and aquaculture .................................................................................................... 39 18.3 Ocean modelling.................................................................................................................... 40 18.3.1 A synopsis of data, numerical, and assimilation modelling ........................................................
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