Synthesis of Existing Information, Analysis and Prioritisation of Future
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OCEANS AND ATMOSPHERE FLAGSHIP Synthesis of existing information, analysis and prioritisation of future monitoring activities to confirm sustainability of the red‐legged banana prawn sub‐fishery in the Joseph Bonaparte Gulf Jarrett, A., Dennis, D.M., Buckworth, R.C., Bustamante, R., Haywood, M.D.E, Fry, G. C., Tonks, M., Venables, W. and Barwick, M. March 2015 FRDC Project No 2013/047 © 2015 Fisheries Research and Development Corporation. All rights reserved. ISBN 978‐1‐4863‐0524‐7 Synthesis of Existing Information, Analysis and Prioritisation of Future Monitoring Activities to Confirm Sustainability of the Red‐legged Banana Prawn Sub‐fishery in the Joseph Bonaparte Gulf FRDC Project: 2013/047 March 2015 Ownership of Intellectual property rights Unless otherwise noted, copyright (and any other intellectual property rights, if any) in this publication is owned by the Fisheries Research and Development Corporation, NPF Industry Inc. and CSIRO. This publication (and any information sourced from it) should be attributed to Jarrett, A., Dennis, D.M., Buckworth, R.C., Bustamante, R., Haywood, M.D.E, Fry, G. C., Tonks, M., Venables, W. and Barwick, M. NPF Industry Inc., CSIRO 2015 Synthesis of Existing Information, Analysis and Prioritisation of Future Monitoring Activities to Confirm Sustainability of the Red‐legged Banana Prawn Sub‐fishery in the Joseph Bonaparte Gulf Creative Commons licence All material in this publication is licensed 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] 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. Researcher Contact Details FRDC Contact Details Name: Annie Jarrett Address: 25 Geils Court, Deakin ACT 2600 Address: NPF Industry PTY LTD PO Box 756 Phone: 02 6285 0400 Caloundra, QLD 4551, Australia Phone: +61 7 54370513 Fax: 02 6285 0499 Fax: + 61 7 54372226 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 Acknowledgments ................................................................................................................................. 1 2 Executive Summary ............................................................................................................................... 2 3 Introduction .......................................................................................................................................... 5 3.1 Fishery Description ..................................................................................................................... 5 3.2 Ecological Impact Assessment .................................................................................................... 6 3.3 Need ............................................................................................................................................ 7 4 Objectives .............................................................................................................................................. 8 5 Method .................................................................................................................................................. 9 5.1 Analysis of JBG “at‐risk” species status and monitoring ............................................................. 9 5.2 Analysis of JBG Habitats and their vulnerability ......................................................................... 9 5.3 Analysis of key elements required to develop a qualitative model of the JBG ecosystem ...... 10 5.4 Statistical analysis of sufficiency of observer data for ecological impact assessment ............. 11 6 Results ................................................................................................................................................. 12 6.1 “At‐risk” species status and monitoring in JBG ........................................................................ 12 6.2 Composition of Habitats and their vulnerability in JBG ............................................................ 19 6.3 Sufficiency of available data for qualitatively modelling the JBG ecosystem ........................... 24 6.4 Sufficiency of observer data for statistical analysis .................................................................. 31 7 Discussion ............................................................................................................................................ 32 8 Conclusion ........................................................................................................................................... 33 9 Implications ......................................................................................................................................... 35 10 Recommendations .............................................................................................................................. 36 11 Extension and Adoption ...................................................................................................................... 37 12 References ........................................................................................................................................... 38 13 Appendices .......................................................................................................................................... 42 13.1 Intellectual Property ................................................................................................................. 42 13.2 Staff ........................................................................................................................................... 42 13.3 Bycatch species sampled from commercial trawls in Joseph Bonaparte Gulf (from Tonks et al. 2007); or recorded by scientific observers (*). Threatened Endangered Protected (TEP) species identified through the NPF ERA (Griffiths et al. 2007) and priority species identified through the NPF Ecological Risk Management process (AFMA 2012) are shown. ............................. 42 13.4 Threatened, endangered and protected (TEP) species theoretically occurring in NPF waters (from AFMA, 2012). ................................................................................................................. 49 13.5 Catch in numbers of TEP and ‘at high risk’ bycatch species recorded from the NPF Logbook Program between 1998 and 2011. Figures in brackets are catches from the JBG sub‐ fishery. ................................................................................................................................................. 54 13.6 Catch in numbers of TEP and ‘at high risk’ bycatch species recorded from the NPF Crew Member Observer (CMO) Program between 2003 and 2012. Figures in brackets are catches from the JBG sub‐fishery. .................................................................................................................... 56 Synthesis of existing information, analysis and prioritisation of future monitoring activities to confirm sustainability of the red‐legged banana prawn sub‐fishery in the Joseph Bonaparte Gulf | i 13.7 Generalised habitat map showing potential distribution of habitats and biological communities in Joseph Bonaparte Gulf (Figure 4.1 in Przeslawski et al. 2011).................................. 60 ii | Information Synopsis and prioritisation of future monitoring of the Joseph Bonaparte Gulf sub‐fishery Figures Figure 1 Total fishing effort (vessel days) for the NPF tiger prawn and banana prawn sub‐fisheries between 1970 and 2012. .................................................................................................................................. 16 Figure 2 Percentage of fishing days monitored by crew member observers in the NPF tiger prawn sub‐ fishery between 2003 and 2012. ...................................................................................................................... 17 Figure 3 Number of NPF tiger prawn sub‐fishery trawl shots monitored by the crew member observer program between 2003 and 2012. ..................................................................................................................