R&D News

Final reports

FINAL reports on these recently-completed R&D projects are available online or by post from FRDC, or the other sources named.

Big picture
The best way to maximise Australia’s wild fisheries production may be to achieve long-term overall catch rates set at 80 per cent of theoretical maximum sustainable yield, according to this first comprehensive physical accounting of the national seafood industry. Principal Investigator Bob Kearney, now Board Chair of the World Fish Centre in Penang, Malaysia, said modelling suggested that by 2050 such an approach would produce 50,000t a year more than a continuous fishing strategy that attempted to maintain 1990s catch rates. Over the next five decades, he said, the cumulative difference would be 1.7 million tonnes. 1999/160

Comparing uses
This project resulted in the publication of Valuing Fisheries: An Economic Framework, now regarded as the definitive guide to measuring the economic values of different uses of fisheries resources. Author and Principal Investigator Tor Hundloe of the University of Queensland said the aim was to improve decision-making so everyone could enjoy a seafood meal, drop a line in the water or watch fish in their natural environment without unnecessary conflict. But he said there was no evidence yet that the proper economic framework had been used for allocation decisions made since publication. 1998/165

Eel potential
Optimised, Australian eel aquaculture could produce 1500t a year, worth more than $30m, according to this development strategy and business analysis. The key is national management of the catch of seed-stock glass eels immigrating from the sea to rivers. Principal Investigator Geoff Gooley of Primary Industries Research Victoria said an annual national intake of up to 750kg was needed to achieve the optimum production goal, assuming growers aimed to market bigger, more profitable eels of 1kg. For an individual intensive producer with a minimum intake of 50kg of glass eels he projected an internal rate of return of up to 40 per cent, based on best practice. 2000/264

GBR future
Marine park zoning on the Great Barrier Reef can sustain a high biomass of mature line fish species despite an active fishery, a collaborative study has found. Principal Investigator Bruce Mapstone of the CRC Reef Research Centre said the objectives of commercial, charter and recreational fishers could be met by a combination of area closures and effort reductions. However the current high level of fishing effort would markedly reduce the prospects of fishers in all sectors realising their objectives. He said it was significant that coral trout populations in areas open to fishing remained relatively robust under all strategies considered. The study delivers direct comparisons of potential management trade-offs in what its authors describe as a common currency that makes the costs and benefits of the options more transparent to all stakeholders than might otherwise be the case. 1997/124

RL compliance
An analysis of factory data in this project has allowed Western Australia to sharpen compliance in its rock lobster fishery. Principal Investigator John McKinlay of the WA Department of Fisheries said inspections were now matched to changing conditions and to predicted regional catch levels. Habitual offenders were tracked, targeting was based on consignment history and compliance levels for individual factories and locations were monitored. Advocating greater co-management to encourage fisher cooperation, he nevertheless described commercial compliance as exemplary, with between 1.1 and 2.4 illegal lobsters found in every 1000 checked. Illegal catch consigned to processors in 2000-01 was estimated at 0.15 per cent of the total landed. 1998/156

Flathead revealed
Stocks of sand and rock flathead in Victoria appear largely unaffected by fishing pressure, according to this study by Primary Industries Research Victoria. It shows that sand flathead recruitment in Port Phillip Bay correlates strongly to environmental factors rather than fishing pressure and suggests an apparent decline there is not related to fishing. With no previous attempt to assess stocks, biological data has been folded into an integrated, age-based population model. Principal Investigator Alexander Morison said this would help managers assess options for both species. 2000/120

Mackerel measured
Sampling of Spanish mackerel landed from four Queensland regions has shown the recreational catch to be bigger and more diverse in length and age than the commercial one. Principal Investigator Andrew Tobin of the CRC Reef Research Centre said the annual recreational take was between 680t and 850t, with the more selective to commercial take ranging between 380t and 720t. He said data from the project would result in better stock assessments and more accurately-targeted resource monitoring. 2001/019

Aquacultural chemicals
Australian aquaculturists will be able to obtain protective chemicals such as formaldehyde and hydrogen peroxide under a single consolidated permit as soon as the National Aquaculture Council resolves funding and legal liability issues. A producer-driven system that gives all sectors access to such registered chemicals for ‘minor uses’ has been developed using a model that allows each sector to advise a NAC-appointed coordinator of its requirements. Principal Investigator Peter Taylor said the coordinator would assess environmental affects and possible alternatives and, where possible, combine the requests with similar ones from other sectors for a single permit. 2001/256

Remote stocks
Stock assessment methods developed in this project for Australia’s sub-Antarctic fisheries are now also being used by the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources. Principal Investigator Geoffrey Tuck of the CSIRO said a Bayesian belief network study of Macquarie Island toothfish information increased the likelihood of the existence of both resident populations and transient fish. He said an unquantified illegal catch and other unknowns challenged managers to use strategies that recognised these uncertainties but still achieved sustainable development. 2000/109

Salmon protection
The salmonid sector can now identify and isolate fish infected by the potentially deadly Piscirickettsia salmonis and related pathogens, using reagents and procedures developed by the Australian Animal Health Laboratory. Principal Investigator Mark Crane said such isolation would enhance Australia’s ability to control and possibly eradicate piscirickettsiosis, which can cause losses. The internationally-recognised diagnostic technique and the required materials have been made available to State authorities and have already been used in Tasmania. 2001/624

Aquabirnaviruses
A standard diagnostic technique has been developed to detect and identify infectious pancreatic necrosis viruses - the aquabirnaviruses that are pathogenic to salmonids. Principal Investigator Ken McColl of the Australian Animal Health Laboratory said this project had also developed a means of distinguishing the apparently innocuous MH isolate known as Tasmanian aquabirnavirus from others that are potentially pathogenic. He said the generic test worked well on viruses isolated from infected fish, but was much less sensitive for direct detection. The laboratory is working on a molecular means of increasing that sensitivity. 2001/620

Slaughter compensation
This study shows fish farmers how to obtain financial compensation if a government orders stock to be slaughtered in a disease emergency. Principal Investigator Iain East of the Australian Government Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry said a case study detailed the costs and mechanisms of the salmonid sector positioning itself for compensation by joining Animal Health Australia and becoming a signatory to its hitherto terrestrial disease response agreement. 2003/600

Web database
An aquatic disease database is up and running at www.daff.gov.au/content/ forms/fishdiagnostic/search.cfm. Its information on 10 laboratories, 70 pathogens and 16 diagnostic tests allows users to select a laboratory able to diagnose a suspected disease, says Principal Investigator Iain East of the Australian Government Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry. 2003/647

Conference CD
Proceedings of the first FRDC Aquatic Animal Health Subprogram scientific conference are available on CD-ROM. The conference concentrated on the planning and management of responses to disease emergencies by canvassing parasites, finfish and crustacean health, pilchards, bacteriology, finfish immunology, infectious salmon anaemia, training and tools. The CD is bundled with hard copies of the final report. 2003/640

Managing disease
More than 30 industry and government representatives have attended training courses in Broome, Hobart and Brisbane to familiarise themselves with operational and confidentiality guidelines for the national Aquatic Consultative Committee on Emergency Animal Diseases. The real test of this training and of its resulting information package would be the committee’s management of a disease emergency, said Principal Investigator Linda Walker of the Australian Government Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry. 2002/660

Arrow squid
From Western Australia to northern NSW, the arrow squid of southern Australia are a single, multiple-spawning species. But there is evidence of population sub-structuring off the east coast, suggesting there may be more that one stock, according to the University of Tasmania’s Institute of Antarctic and Southern Ocean Studies. Principal Investigator George Jackson said samples taken from four States over two years showed complex differences in size, age and maturity from site to site over time. Life spans of less than one year meant that fisheries each season targeted a new generation. 1999/11

NPF monitoring
Uncertainties about stocks in the Northern Prawn Fishery will be reduced by the introduction of long-term monitoring of both target and byproduct species that will produce an independent index of abundance. Principal Investigator Catherine Dichmont of the CSIRO said there were important differences in species composition, distribution and abundance between regions and recruitment indexes needed to be made annually in each. At this stage it was unclear if spawning index surveys also should be repeated annually until a stock recovery could be independently verified. 2002/101

Finfish models
Two models with Excel interfaces will allow biologists to assess South Australian snapper and garfish stocks annually. Principal Investigator Richard McGarvey of the South Australian Research and Development Institute said age-and-length dynamic formalism allowed a clean separation of legal and undersize fish in each cohort and model time step. Unrepresentative age sub-sampling could be corrected and assessors could choose an optimal strategy to sub-sample fish to be aged. 1999/145

Catch-and-release
The survival rate of barramundi hooked on lures then released is higher in winter than in summer, this study by the Northern Territory Department of Business, Industry and Resource Development suggests. Monitoring of small samples for seven days after release resulted in 100 per cent survival in winter and 80 per cent in summer. Principal Investigator Roland Griffin said blood taken from a bigger, separate sample of barramundi held in recovery pens after being hooked for specified times showed the physiological response to capture was significant, with concentrations of the stress indicators plasma cortisol and plasma lactate peaking one hour after capture. Longer hooked time significantly increased lactate levels but did not affect cortisol response. 2002/039

Micro-algal sampling
Inaugural courses to help salmonid and tuna farmers identify micro-algae capable of causing mass deaths proved valuable and should be held annually to track new species and train staff, said Principal Investigator Judith-Anne Marshall of the University of Tasmania. She said both sectors believed algal monitoring was the most practical initial means of detection and aeration was seen as a first step to counter algal blooms. Both sectors also now recognised that algal blooms may be the cause of lost productivity resulting from reduced feeding, as well as being a predisposing factor in fish health problems. 2003/670

Bait harvesting
Commercial and recreational harvesting of inter-tidal yabbies for bait significantly reduces the abundance of migratory shore birds, this University of Queensland study declares. Principal Investigator Gregory Skilleter said this was because associated habitat disturbance reduced the numbers of crabs and worms on which the birds fed along the southern Queensland coast. Harvesting of bloodworms from sea grass beds also had a downside. More than half the recreational harvesters in a focussed study removed prohibited species, ignored bag limits and did not replace dug seagrass. Pits in seagrass beds dug by more methodical commercial worm harvesters were still evident 20 months later and experiments suggested that in both cases seagrass loss had widespread effects on non-target sediment dwellers. 1998/224

Prawn handbooks
Two handbooks produced in this project for sea-caught prawn fisheries are available from Seafood Services Australia, phone 1300 130 321. They are Handling Prawns at Sea, a guide for crew at level one and Handling Prawns at Sea, a guide for trawler skippers and crew at advanced level. Individual copies are $22; the pair are $33. 1999/351

Prawn diagnosis
An easier, faster, more cost-effective means of detecting spawner-isolated mortality virus (SMV) in farmed prawns has been developed at James Cook University. Principal Investigator Leigh Owens said the PCR/ELISA test was much more sensitive than previous methods, worked with prawn tissue, post-larvae and prawn faeces; and the assay did not cross-react with other viruses, species, cell lines or bacteria against which it was tested. 2001/625

White spot
A written strategy to tackle white spot disease in farmed prawns becomes the latest edition to the Aquavetplan series of manuals. The immediate result will be lower farm losses, but the wild fishery would benefit also from the maintenance of export markets and premium pricing, said Principal Investigator Chris Baldock of AusVet Animal Health Services. 2002/647

Snapper protection Western Australia’s Shark Bay prawn trawl fishery has agreed to a boundary change to reduce its bycatch of juvenile snapper. An earlier investigation showed the trawlers each year catch 25 percent of the juvenile snapper in Denham Sound; and two types of chemical analyses of otoliths in this WA Department of Fisheries study have proven that these juveniles would have recruited to the depleted stock of inner Shark Bay’s western gulf. Principal Investigator Daniel Gaughan said the otolith results showed that juvenile snapper did not move much in their first year and that each of the region’s juvenile groups could be responsible for recruitment to specific localities. Snapper are Shark Bay’s principal commercial and recreational finfish. 2001/061

Crustacean manual
The freshwater crustacean sector now has a manual outlining strategies to deal with an outbreak of crayfish plague, as yet unreported here, but a serious disease of freshwater crayfish in Europe. Principal Investigator Frances Stephens of Aquatilia Healthcare, Kalamunda, Western Australia, says Australian freshwater crayfish are susceptible to its infectious agent, which produces fungus-like hyphae and zoospores. The manual was produced through FRDC’s Aquatic Animal Health Subprogram. 2002/641

Inland exercise
An exercise simulating an aquatic disease outbreak in the Murray-Darling Basin has resulted in 27 recommendations for improvements in communications between jurisdictions. Principal Investigator Iain East of the Australian Government Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry said the exercise was well-received by industry and Commonwealth, State and Territory government representatives. 2003/669

Pearl Aquaplan
A need for better emergency planning has been identified at a combined Commonwealth- Western Australia workshop to test industry and government reactions to a disease outbreak in Abrolhos Island pearl farms. Principal Investigator Brian Jones of the WA Department of Fisheries said recommendations from the 2002 workshop had been incorporated in the producer association’s environmental code of practice. 2002/668

RL post-harvest
The best ideas produced by FRDC’s Rock Lobster Post-harvest Subprogram have been delivered to industry subtly, through a revised code of practice, according to Principal Investigator Bruce Phillips of Curtin University of Technology. In this report he outlines the administration of the Subprogram, its updated 2002-07 strategic plan and its achievements to date. 2000/250

FAO shrimps
A paper now available outlines operating principles for sustainable ‘shrimp’ culture adopted at an international consultation staged jointly by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization and the Australian Government in Brisbane in 2000. FAO Fisheries Report 659 (77p) is available at www.fao.org/DOCREP/005/Y3213E/y3213e02.

Label imports — or else

AUSTRALIAN seafood retailers have been given a wake-up call on labelling, with a Queensland retailer ordered to pay $3500 in fines and costs for failing to label unpackaged prawns as imported.

Queensland’s Environmental Health Manager Sophie Dwyer said that under the national food standards code, country of origin labelling was required for packaged and unpackaged fish and fish products, including those sold off ice from retail cabinets. The only exception was seafood produced in Australia or New Zealand.

She said compliance by retailers improved the confidence of consumers and allowed them to make informed decisions about what they eat. Fines under the code peak at $52,500.

Meanwhile Australian Government Fisheries Minister Ian Macdonald says he will take the issue to the next level if a turnaround in what he describes as the high number of outlets breaching seafood labelling regulations is not recorded in the upcoming months.

The Federal minister wrote to his State counterparts in April asking that they ensure their laws were being obeyed, but said subsequent reports that up to a quarter of all fish sold in Australia may be deceptively labelled were worrying.

“This issue may need to be raised at the next meeting of State and Federal ministers to ensure everyone knows their responsibilities.

“If imports are labelled as local, people will buy what is often an inferior product in the belief it was caught sustainably on their doorstep,” he said.

MORE: State and local government health departments.

Chefs the key to connecting

THE F-word used to be a bad word in the seafood industry. Farmed products were often poor quality. Producers didn’t appear to be concerned about the quality of the end product. They delivered produce that was consistent in size, price and freshness but was never better than B-plus in flavour.

I know there are three absolutes in customers’ perceptions of seafood that can never be sacrificed or compromised: taste, appearance and value.

A customer’s perspective has to be the single driving force behind a serviceoriented business. This seemingly selfevident statement continues to separate the good from the outstanding service businesses.

Seems obvious, but does it normally happen? Evidence says not. We tend to drive decisions based on cost, operational constraints and owner’s perceptions of what customers want.

The idea of connecting with the consumer is right. But at a wholesale level this is done through middlemen and that’s me — the chef.

Good relationship-building — supplier to retailer, retailer to chef, chef to front of house, then to the customer and back up the chain is what outstanding businesses do very well.

You must value direct relationships at each level of the food chain. I source the best local produce I can afford, do as little as possible to it and sell it as quickly as possible. It matters little to me if it’s farmed or wild — it just has to be the best.

I was approached by Angus Cameron from Watermark Seafoods to taste his soft shell crabs about two and a half years ago — good relationship building! I knew soft shells — how to prepare and present them. I had spent a year at Christopher’s Grill off Drury Lane in London, where we used all US product — Maine lobsters, Connecticut Bluepoint oysters, soft shells from Chesapeake Bay.

So I also knew that soft shells were always well received and that I could charge good money for them.

I was excited by what Angus was trying to do and at Bretts Wharf we did everything we could to assist Watermark in the lead-up period — like hosting numerous lunches with potential investors and the media. We wrote press releases for Angus and got an extraordinary amount of coverage — newspaper, food magazines, numerous TV segments, radio, the lot.

We were putting our money — our time really — where our mouth was, because we passionately wanted Angus to get Watermark off the ground and were prepared to invest as much support in that as we could.

At the time it was highly speculative because the Star Ship Enterprise installation that Angus was building was costing millions and there were no guarantees the project would get off the ground.

We educated ourselves on the product too and went on a sojourn to the DPIQ research station at Bribie Island, where scientists had done a lot of work on predicting when the beasties were about to moult.

I find that knowing as much as possible about a product really helps in every aspect of the business — and again it’s good relationship-building.

When I received the first batch of soft shell crabs, we had to decide what portion size suited our guests, what preparation garnered the most positivity.

We prompted and received more feedback on our early soft shell creations than I have had on any dish that has gone through the swing door in 15 years.

At first we were only able to get 20 or so soft shells at a time — so we listed then as specials (see recipe elsewhere in this issue).

When we got enough to put them on the menu, which we print daily, soft shells were so little known in Australia that we also printed an educational flier for customers and held a big training session with our staff so they all knew what this seafood was about.

And this is what soft shells are about: a crab sheds its shell every four to six weeks. In the wild they hide for the 24 hours or so when their shells are soft and in aquaculture 24 hours is the window of harvesting opportunity.

To avoid what can be a 10 per cent attrition Angus keeps up to 40,000 crabs in individual houses and a robotic arm watches over them and ascertains when they are about to moult.

It’s a world first. The robot firstly determines whether there’s a crab in the house. If so, it feeds that crab, knowing it will stop eating about three days before it moults. When the crab has moulted the robotic arm removes it from the water.

I do regular cooking demonstrations and often demo soft shells because consumers just can’t get enough of them. No more picking, cracking, digging — just eat the whole damn thing. The idea of eating shell, claws and all seems strange if not impossible. But once you try them you’ll be hooked.

It was pretty savvy of Angus getting us on board. Brett’s Wharf is renowned for using only the best quality product and we serve at least 1500 people a week. From a culinary perspective, a la carte restaurants are the cutting edge where innovation and style are forged.

I would recommend this relationship approach to any seafood producer — I’m sure you’ll find chefs most welcoming in assisting you in your R&D stage.

­ Alastair McLeod email alastairmcleod@brettswharf.com.au

Survival insights emerge

UNITED STATES research suggests mouth-hooked fish have a significantly better chance of survival on release than those hooked in gills, gullet, or stomach.

Gene Wilde, Associate Professor in the Wildlife and Fisheries Management Institute of Texas Tech University combined his study of largemouth bass with earlier results to show that fish hooked in the mouth had almost double the survival rate of those hooked in the gullet.

The survival rate for mouth-hooked bass was 99.8 per cent, plus or minus 1.4 per cent. For those gullet-hooked, survival dropped to 52.5 per cent, plus or minus 5.7 per cent. Results were not influenced by water temperature. Speaking in Australia about a modelling approach to support FRDC’s

National Strategy for the Survival of Released Line-caught Fish, he confirmed that major factors affecting survival were:

• Fish size
• Hook size, number, design
• Water temperature, salinity, dissolved

• Anatomical hooking location
• Hooked and handling time
• Capture depth

On the water, the survival predictors were:

• Water temperature
• Barotrauma - capture depth
• Hooked and handling time
• Hooking location
• Scale loss
• Bleeding

Gene Wilde suggested future R&D should attempt to improve and calibrate these predictors, so survival could be predicted using a few easily-recorded variables. He also quoted an Australian barramundi study in which all lurecaught fish were mouth-hooked and had an estimated survival rate of 98.8 per cent. But a significant proportion of those caught on bait were gut-hooked and for them the survival rate dropped to 83.3 per cent, well below the foulhooked survival rate of 93.3 per cent.

FRDC funding for the survival initiative will continue for a further three years. An anglers’ guide to maximising survival of released fish is available from Bill Sawynok, Infofish, phone 07 4928 6133.

MORE: Gene Wilde, email gene. wilde@ttu.edu; Infofish, email infofish@zbcom.net; Catch-andrelease, Final reports, elsewhere in this edition.

Meeting at Lakes Entrance

AUSTRALIAN Government Science Minister Peter McGauran was among the locals who turned up for a FRDC-hosted gathering of industry representatives, researchers and others at the Victorian fishing port of Lakes Entrance.

The get-together gave FRDC Directors the opportunity to familiarise themselves with the local industry and its R&D priorities ahead of their board meeting in the town.

It gave Peter McGauran, also the federal Member for Gippsland, an opportunity to put his government’s perspective on the value of R&D to rural-coastal communities.

FRDC Executive Director Peter Dundas-Smith said the Board considered it essential to meet in Lakes Entrance, given the region’s importance to the fishing industry.

FRDC had invested more than $16m in fisheries R&D in Victoria in the past 10 years, he said.

Applications approved for 04-05

FRDC will fund the following projects in 2004-2005. Project information is available from the contact person named. Some other applications are still being considered or developed and those that are approved will be listed in a later edition.

Click here to download the list of projects

Queensland to map its southern seabed

THE launch of a $1.17m research vessel will allow Queensland to produce its first 3-D maps of seabed habitat between the southern end of the Great Barrier Reef and the NSW border.

The 14m catamaran Tom Marshall will do the mapping with an echo sounder-based seabed scanner.

“This will allow us to link habitats to the distribution of valuable species such as scallops, blue swimmer crabs and spanner crabs,” said Fisheries Minister Henry Palaszczuk.

Scarborough-based, the Tom Marshall can accommodate eight scientists and crew for voyages of up to six days. Its computer and communications equipment allows information to be sent ashore for analysis as it is gathered.

The catamaran’s name commemorates the first Queensland government fisheries scientist, who died in 1976.

MORE: Kirby Anderson, phone 0418 197 350.

Better tuna stock indicators

NEW indicators of change in fish populations are being identified by CSIRO scientists to improve the sustainability of Australia’s wild fisheries for tuna and billfish.

The indicators will be incorporated in management plans for the Eastern Tuna and Billfish Fishery and the Southern and Western Tuna and Billfish Fishery, which had a combined value of $112 million in 2002.The three-year project is being co-funded by FRDC and industry, with the support of managers of Australian and international fisheries.

“Movements in catch rates and fish size are the traditional indicators of population change,” said Principal Investigator Marinelle Basson.

“But by focussing on a single indicator, such as fish size, important changes in population distribution or reproduction rates may be missed.

“In the first phase of this project we are seeking to identify a suite of indicators that will reflect several aspects of population change.

“A second phase will look at when and by how much fishing limits should be adjusted, in response to changes in indicators, to meet production and conservation goals.”

Tuna and billfish harvested off southern and western Australia are part of Indian Ocean stocks, with fishing under the managerial control of the Indian Ocean Tuna Commission.

Tuna and billfish harvested off the east coast are part of the western and central Pacific stocks, which form the basis of a fishery about to be managed separately by the Western and Central Pacific Tuna Convention.

Both fisheries target broadbill sword- fish, bigeye tuna and yellowfin tuna.

MORE: Marinelle Basson, phone 03 6232 5492; email marinelle.basson@csiro.au.