Maintaining ship-shape northern marine ecosystems

Research in the Northern Fisheries and Ecosystems Stream of the CSIRO Wealth from Oceans Flagship supports the scientifically-based management of Australia’s northern Commonwealth and internationally-shared fisheries.

• 24 July 2008 | Updated 14 October 2011

• Research challenges
• Research activities
• Northern Prawn Fishery
• Great Barrier Reef

Scientists engaged in this research are based at the CSIRO Marine and Atmospheric Research laboratories at Cleveland, south of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.

Their research covers tropical and sub-tropical regions including the Gulf of Carpentaria, Torres Strait, Moreton Bay and Great Barrier Reef, and nearby nations including Indonesia and Papua New Guinea.

Historical research links are maintained with the Northern Prawn Fishery, and Torres Strait rock lobster and beche-de-mer fisheries.

The research contributes to:

• ecosystem characterisation
• stock assessment
• ecological risk assessment
• fishery monitoring
• bycatch management
• management strategy evaluation
• harvest strategies
• spatial management.

Research challenges

Modern fisheries management considers the effects of fishing regimes on:

• target (commercial) fish stocks
• the fishery ecosystem (non-target or ‘bycatch’ species, seabed habitats and communities)
• economic and social wellbeing of fishery participants.

This requires:

• a deep understanding of fishing practices and the fishery ecosystem (including links to rivers and estuaries, land-use and climate)
• reliable observations of fishing activity and ecosystems
• mathematical techniques for assessing the status of fish stocks and ecosystems, and testing alternative fishing regimes.

Specific challenges in northern regions include:

• economic pressures from falling market prices and rising fuel costs
• a lack of data for some fisheries
• the movement of species between nations, for example across the Arafura Sea
• the need to share marine resources among multiple users and nations.

Research activities

CSIRO Northern Fisheries and Ecosystems research combines expertise in:

• marine biology, ecology, and taxonomy
• hydrochemistry and oceanography
• marine resource and environmental economics
• statistical analysis and computer-based modelling
• risk assessment
• fishing practices and fishery monitoring
• observational techniques including engineering, electronics and data management.

Field research is carried out on a small and large scale using:

• trained fishery-crew-member observers
• chartered industry vessels
• research vessels such as the Marine National Facility Research Vessel, Southern Surveyor
• electronic and conventional tagging of marine species.

Northern Prawn Fishery

CSIRO has worked with Australia’s northern prawn fishery for more than 40 years, moving from world-class ecological research and stock assessments to the frontier science of management strategy evaluation (MSE).

A framework has been developed to assess simultaneously the impact of management options on prawn stocks, non-target species and seabed habitats, and the economic and social performance of the fishery.

Bycatch reduction devices and turtle excluder devices have been developed and tested to reduce the capture of bycatch species and a fishery-based monitoring program designed to assist in bycatch management.

Scientific surveys guide the efficient harvesting of prawns, tropical rock lobster and beche-de-mer at safe levels.

Great Barrier Reef

In the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area, a series of projects conducted in the past 15 years has documented the effects of prawn trawling and the subsequent recovery of seabed life.

A recent project sampled some 1 500 sites in inter-reef areas to characterise seabed habitat and its biodiversity.

The information gathered is the basis for ecosystem modelling in support of multiple-use management strategy evaluation for Great Barrier Reef and Torres Strait shallow tropical waters, assessing the effects of human activities - particularly trawling - and future climate change.

Other research looks at the impact of fishing on specific bycatch species such as sharks and rays, and the impact of illegal, unregulated and unreported fishing.

Read more about the Wealth from Oceans Flagship.