Department of Agriculture and Food Western Australia
Department of Agriculture and Food, Western Australia (DAFWA): Research LibraryNot a member yet
10920 research outputs found
Sort by
State of the fisheries: Status reports of the fisheries and aquatic resources of Western Australia 2023/24
No full textThis edition of the “State of the fisheries” continues the tradition of annually reporting on the status of exploited fish and their habitats in Western Australia. Critically, the reports provide overviews of the science outcomes that underpin management of fishing across the state.
Scientifically assessing the status of fish resources and potential impacts on ecosystems is inherently challenging; I acknowledge and thank the dedicated fisheries science teams and various support staff for again producing outstanding, robust scientific results that are summarised herein. I similarly acknowledge (i) the fisheries management team who use the science outcomes in policy development and to adjust regulatory settings; and (ii) the compliance team for ensuring regulations are enforced.
While fisheries science is a highly-applied branch of science directed towards policy and regulation, maintaining close links to the academic world is paramount for ensuring our science is contemporary with global standards, and hence, the best it can be. In this regard, the DPIRD fisheries science team strives to maintain collaborative networks with other national and international experts around the world.
Additionally, they pursue publication of scientific work in independent, peer-reviewed science journals.
Meeting new challenges, such as climate change, better engaging with Aboriginal peoples, community projects (e.g., Fish Aggregating Devices) and contributing to marine spatial planning requires ongoing consideration of the balance between focussing just on the current business-as-usual assessments versus exploring innovative ways of working in the future. For example, better positioning ourselves to embrace new technologies and machine learning (“AI”) just doesn’t happen by itself. These new challenges/opportunities require considerable focussed effort.
Strategically, working towards future directions must occur at the same time as the core science tasks that deliver world-class science outcomes for management. In turn, this dictates that fisheries science in Western Australia needs to continually evolve to meet contemporary community expectations, that world-class management is based on world-class assessment of our state’s aquatic resources.
Dr Dan GaughanChief Fisheries Scientisthttps://library.dpird.wa.gov.au/an_sofar/1016/thumbnail.jp
Key monitoring times for the ewe flock
No full textTo ensure sheep are in the right condition at the right time, they should be frequently monitored and their nutrition adjusted throughout the year. Frequent monitoring is especially important at times of drought, or at the change of season when paddock condition can change rapidly
Button grass and its management
No full textButton grass (Dactyloctenium radulans) is a native species found throughout Australia. It is a common summer weed species that depletes soil moisture and nutrients, reducing the yield potential of the subsequent crop. It also acts as a green bridge for crop pests and disease.
The rapid emergence and growth of button grass after rainfall makes it important for the Australian plague locust.
It can be a valuable pasture species in arid areas, although overgrazing of button grass can result in toxicity for sheep and cattle
Rust disease and its management in faba beans
No full textFaba bean rust (Uromyces viciae-fabae) is host specific, meaning it does not infect cereals or other break crops. The rust is not widespread in Western Australia but low to moderate levels occur in the Esperance and Katanning regions. Individual crops suffer yield losses in some years.
Rust has also been recorded in the high rainfall region in the northern agricultural area, around Dongara.
This page summarises the symptoms, infection cycle, disease risk and spread, and management recommendations for faba bean rust disease
Septoria avenae blotch and its management in oats
No full textSeptoria avenae blotch (Phaeosphaeria avenaria f.sp. avenaria) is a stubble borne fungal disease of oats and is the most common oat disease in Western Australia and occurs throughout the cereal growing areas.It is host specific, meaning it only affects oats.
This page summarises the symptoms, factors favouring disease risk and spread, yield and quality losses, and management strategies for the diseas
Pest slugs and snails and their management in broadacre crops
No full textSlugs and snails cause damage to all broadacre crops. Numbers of slugs and snails have increased in broadacre cropping in Western Australia (WA) with the use of minimum tillage and stubble-retention practices. These systems increase the organic content of paddocks and soil moisture content, leading to higher survival levels of slugs and snails.
Slug and snail pests in Australia have come from other countries, mainly in the Mediterranean region. They have similar lifecycles, which means similar management techniques can be employed to control them in broadacre crops.
Effective management requires application of controls that coincide with different phases of the pest’s lifecycle. Each of the control measures outlined in this factsheet, if applied only by themselves, are unlikely to provide optimum control. An integrated approach needs to be considered to protect crops from damage by slugs and/or snails
Prevent weed seed introduction and spread
No full textGrowers can implement strategies to reduce and avoid unnecessary introduction and spread of weeds. These strategies will also reduce the risk of importing herbicide resistant weeds
Fisheries Research Report No. 349: South-west freshwater angling in Western Australia from 2000/01 – 2023/24: estimates of participation, effort and catch
No full textThe South-west Freshwater Angling fishery (SWFA) in Western Australia is a licensed, low participation fishery primarily targeting the introduced Brown Trout (Salmo trutta) and Rainbow Trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss), which are stocked in popular dams and rivers across the region. Other licensed species include the introduced Redfin Perch (Perca fluviatilis) and the native Freshwater Cobbler (Tandanus bostocki). Freshwater angling is also managed by input and output control rules including gear regulations (one rod and line or handline with a small landing net), minimum size limits and a daily mixed freshwater species bag limit of 4 individuals (excluding Redfin Perch which has no bag limit or minimum size limit)
Traditional and contemporary measures of recreational fishing activity to inform sustainable management of Blue Swimmer Crab (Portunus armatus) fisheries in Western Australia
No full textRecreational fishing is a popular activity that has many social and economic benefits. Monitoring has traditionally centred around measuring fishing effort and catch. However, contemporary measures, such as fisher demographics and behaviours, which may be linked to social and economic objectives, are now recognised as necessary to meet expectations that all aspects of resource use are considered for fisheries management. The challenge for recreational fisheries is how to regularly provide information across a growing diversity of metrics, and at a scale relevant to specific fisheries, with limited resources. The Blue Swimmer Crab (Portunus armatus) is one of the most commonly recreationally harvested species in Western Australia. This species served as a case study to explore if data from five broad-scale phone-diary surveys between 2011–2012 and 2020–2021 could be adapted to meet expanded information needs. Twelve discrete fisheries represented small spatial-scale areas for fisheries management, with some variation in management arrangements (i.e., bag limits). Robust estimates of traditional and contemporary measures could be produced for three fisheries: Peel-Harvey Estuary, Swan-Canning Estuary and Geographe Bay. Traditional measures of participation, fishing effort, total catch and harvest from 2011–2012 to 2020–2021 were generally consistent for Swan-Canning Estuary but decreased for Peel-Harvey Estuary and Geographe Bay. The proportion of harvest from recreational and commercial fishing varied from mixed use (Swan-Canning Estuary, Peel-Harvey Estuary) to recreational only (Geographe Bay). Variation in contemporary measures was also evident, with recreational fishing largely undertaken by local residents in Swan-Canning Estuary, while participation was more uniform between local and non-local residents in Peel-Harvey Estuary and Geographe Bay. We found that broad-scale surveys could be successfully adapted to meet the growing need for information on contemporary measures to support a holistic approach to sustainable fisheries management for small spatial-scale recreational fisheries
ICES Roadmap for Marine Recreational Fisheries (MRF)
No full textPurpose of the roadmap
The overarching goal of this roadmap is to guide the development of robust marine recreational fisheries (MRF) assessments through data and methodological improvements, in line with current and future management needs. To address the requirements of the policy and legislative instruments in relation to MRF and to plan future steps in ICES, there is need to further improve and operationalize the required MRF dataflows and assessment procedures. Better integration of MRF into advice is in line with ICES vision and mission alongside its advisory framework and principles. This will assist not only managers but also the angling community, fishing industry, and environmental NGOs in implementation of the relevant legislative instruments.
ICES Technical Report, Contributors (Authors)
Kieran Hyder; Zachary Radford; Fabio Grati; Bruce Hartill; Colm Lordan; Joanne Morgan; Henn Ojaveer; Karina Ryan; Lara Salvany; Harry Strehlow; Paul Venturelli; Jon Helge Volstad; Estanis Mugerza