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Managing herring in Western Australia
No full textFollowing the recovery of the Australian herring stock in 2021, DPIRD formed the Australian Herring Future Management Working Group, made up of recreational and commercial representatives, to help us determine the best way forward for management of the species in WA
Fisheries research report no. 351: Ecological risk assessment for the Western Australian southern nearshore fish resource
No full textOn 3 December 2024, the Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development (DPIRD, the Department) convened an ecological risk assessment (ERA) of the fisheries that access the Southern Nearshore Fish Resource (Resource). This Resource comprises a range of temperate fish species including Australian herring, Australian salmon, whiting, garfish, tailor and sandy sprat.
This document contains the results of the ERA as well as the background information used to support the ERA risk scoring process. This includes an overview of the Western Australian commercial, recreational and charter fisheries that access the Resource
Pastoral land condition: Kimberley land condition standards
No full textThis report outlines the conceptual basis and quantitative land condition standards that define acceptable pastoral land condition for the Kimberley, Western Australia (WA), to meet the regulatory requirements of the Land Administration Act 1997 and the Soil and Land Conservation Act 1945.
The Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development (DPIRD) develops regional-level pastoral land condition standards for WA to implement the Framework for sustainable pastoral management – Revised edition, which is designed to address the Office of the Auditor General’s recommendations to improve the management of pastoral lands in WA. The application of these standards is expected to result in improved pastoral land condition.
Section 2 of this report summarises the Kimberley’s regional geography, climate and pastoral history. Section 3 describes how land condition and land management are used to determine the risk of future land degradation. Section 4 explains how the standards were developed. Section 5 provides detailed information about the Kimberley rangeland types, key rangeland vegetation groups and the standards for each rangeland type.
DPIRD will apply the principles outlined in Section 4 to develop land condition standards for each of the pastoral regions of WA
Potential parasitoids for management of fall armyworm (Spodoptera frugiperda J. E. Smith [Lepidoptera: Noctuidae]) in horticulture systems of tropical Australia
No full textThe fall armyworm, Spodoptera frugiperda, is a highly polyphagous pest, native to the tropical and subtropical regions of the Americas that invaded the Australian mainland in 2020. Since its incursion into Australia, management has largely relied on the use of different synthetic insecticides. Given pesticide resistance genes and reduced sensitivities to a variety of pesticides are already present in the population, there is a need to investigate alternative management approaches that can be incorporated into an IPM programme such as biological control. A fundamental step in establishing the potential of biological control is identifying the potential natural enemies that may be deployed in pest management. In this study, we undertook a series of surveys to identify potential parasitoids for fall armyworm and assessed parasitism rates in Western Australia (WA) and the Northern Territory (NT). Approximately, 1900 larvae of fall armyworm were sourced from maize, sweet corn, okra and sorghum fields, reared and observed for the emergence of parasitoids. Ten species of larval parasitoids from five families were recorded during the surveys with Cotesia ruficrus (Haliday) (56.14%) and Exorista xanthaspis (Wiedemann) (50%) being the most abundant larval species in WA and NT, respectively. Other parasitoids found include four recently described species, Euplectrus frugiperdata Fagan-Jeffries, Chelonus trojanus Fagan-Jeffries, Coccygidium necatrix Atkin-Zaldivar & Fagan-Jeffries, Coccygidium mellosiheroine Atkin-Zaldivar & Fagan-Jeffries, and previously named species, Megaselia scalaris (Loew) and some unidentified Tachinidae. Two species of egg parasitoids, Trichogramma pretiosum (Riley) and Telenomus remus (Nixon), were recovered with field parasitism rates of 7.81% and 10.16%, respectively. Overall, the occurrence of potential egg and larval parasitoids in Australian horticulture systems provides a unique platform to develop a conservation or augmentative biological control approach to manage fall armyworm in Australia
Advancing fishery dependent and independent habitat assessments using automated image analysis: A fisheries management agency case study
No full textAdvances in artificial intelligence and machine learning have revolutionised data analysis, including in the field of marine and fisheries sciences. However, many fisheries agencies manage sensitive or proprietary data that cannot be shared externally, which can limit the adoption of externally hosted artificial intelligence platforms. In this study, we develop and evaluate two residual network-based automatic image annotation models to process fishery specific habitat data to support ecosystem-based fisheries management in the Exmouth Gulf Prawn Managed Fishery in Western Australia. Using an extensive dataset of 13,128 manually annotated benthic habitat images, we train a grid-based annotation model and an image-level object detection model. Both models demonstrated high overall accuracy, with the grid-based model achieving 90.8% and the image-level model 92.9%. Patch-wise accuracy of the image-level model was 74.2%, highlighting its ability to classify broader spatial context without requiring point-based labelling. Precision and recall values for both models often exceeded 70% for dominant habitat classes such as unconsolidated substrate, macroalgae, and seagrass. The development of these models supports the potential for cost-effective, robust, and scalable in-house habitat classification for fishery or ecoregion specific habitat data to support timely decision-making. Further, the grid-based model uniquely integrates spatial precision with compatibility to existing manual data workflows, enabling seamless adoption within many existing fisheries monitoring programs. Despite limitations, such as a class imbalanced dataset, both models present a scalable, data secure solution for fisheries management agencies. This study establishes a foundation for integrating artificial intelligence driven image analysis of proprietary fisheries data, to further support responsive, standardised and data-informed decision making
BEN Signage Installation Map - Town of East Fremantle
No full textBeach Emergency Number (BEN) Signage for the Town of East Fremantlehttps://library.dpird.wa.gov.au/gis_bens/1062/thumbnail.jp
Identifying capacity limitations and training needs using a stock assessment game
No full textThe technical capability of stock assessment analysts, along with characteristics of their operating environment, often limits the development of suitable population dynamics models and affects the accuracy of estimated quantities used for fisheries management. Following a series of training workshops focused on the Stock Synthesis and Stock Assessment Continuum Tool packages, Australian stock assessment scientists were invited to participate in a hypothetical stock assessment “Game” to explore the repercussions , for assessment, of different levels of experience and technical capability in an informal “consequence-free” manner. A fishery data set was generated using a simulation model that represented a stock distributed over 12 regions and harvested by three fishing fleets. The simulation model was made complex by including spatial structure, time-varying selectivity for some fleets, and changes over time in expected recruitment due to the effects of an environmental driver. The analysts self-organized into six (mostly within-agency) groups and reported estimates of current biomass, current depletion and advice regarding the possibility of local depletion. The results of the Game were used to evaluate the approaches used by the various groups and to identify areas where future training would be most beneficial. The results highlighted opportunities for additional training in spatially-explicit population dynamics modelling, the use of methods for pre-processing monitoring data to select appropriate fleet and population structures, as well as the use of methods to provide values related to growth and natural mortality. The groups treated the Game more seriously than was originally intended by the organizers, with several analysts concerned that any errors or assumptions that were mis-matched with the simulated reality may have brought embarrassment to themselves and their agency. Care should therefore be taken that simulation experiments intending to foster collaboration and learning do so in an explicitly understood risk-free environment. Overall, the Game proved valuable in contributing to the development of an Australian community of practice for stock assessment and identifying how to strengthen assessment capabilities
Resource assessment report no. 4: North Coast Demersal Scalefish Resource - Kimberley 2025 assessment
No full textThe North Coast Demersal Scalefish Resource (NCDSR) comprises ecological suites of tropical demersal fish species that occur predominantly in inshore waters (20–250 m deep) and offshore waters ( \u3e 250 m deep) of the North Coast Bioregion (NCB). More than 60 demersal species are landed by fisheries operating in the Kimberley and Pilbara regions of the NCB each year, including high-value snappers (Lutjanidae), groupers (Epinephelidae), and emperors (Lethrinidae). As outlined in the NCDSR Harvest Strategy (DPIRD, 2017), the Kimberley resource is currently monitored through annual reviews of total removals and catch rate trends of indicator species, as well as periodic (every 4–5 years) model-based stock assessments of each indicator species, and occasional assessments of non-indicator species to validate the indicator species approach and ensure that the status of other retained species remains at acceptable levels. The assessment and harvest strategies of these species are primarily based on estimates of spawning stock biomass (or an appropriate proxy for biomass), relative to internationally accepted target, threshold, and limit reference levels. Based on the inherent vulnerability and risk to the sustainability of the major species within the suite of inshore demersal scalefish in the NCB, the stocks of indicator species selected for assessing the status of the resource within the Pilbara and Kimberley include red emperor, bluespotted emperor, Rankin cod, and goldband snapper.
The demersal fish resources of the Kimberley region of the NCDSR (NCDSR-Kimberley) supports the second highest annual total retained catch of demersal scalefish in Western Australia, with the commercial fisheries taking the vast majority of the catch share (i.e., 99%) compared with the charter and recreational ( \u3c 1%) sectors. The commercial fishery principally targets higher-value species such as goldband snapper and red emperor, resulting in an economic value of $10–20 million. This indicates that this fishery has a high social amenity value and is an important asset locally. Since 2008, annual commercial catches have exceeded 1,000 t. Annual catches have ranged from 1,378 to 1,544 tonnes over the last 5 years. In 2025, management actions were implemented to reduce effort within specific Zones of the fishery by 10%.
The 2025 NCDSR-Kimberley assessment of the two indicator species, red emperor and goldband snapper, presented in this report incorporates catch and effort information collected up to 2024 (inclusive), as well as biological data on the sizes and ages of fish sampled from fisheries independent sampling up until 2021 (inclusive) for the two indicator species
Evolution of agricultural emissions calculations in Australia: Methodological and calculator refinements and their impact on Western Australia’s agricultural carbon footprint
No full textGreenhouse gas (GHG) emissions accounting is fundamental to positioning Australian agricultural products competitively in global markets, enabling supply chain stakeholders to make informed decisions, and understanding the trade-offs between market demands, policy requirements, consumer expectations, and intergenerational responsibilities.
Recent methodological refinements to emissions methodologies have enhanced the accuracy of GHG accounting in Western Australian (WA) agriculture. The Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development (DPIRD) has collaborated in these improvements through collaborative research with universities and federal agencies and advocacy for Western Australia-specific emission factors.
Methodological refinements have improved the accuracy of WA agricultural emissions estimates by 6% overall, providing more precise baselines that better reflect actual regional conditions. These improvements vary by industry, demonstrating the value of sector-specific research: feedlot emissions estimates are now 56% more accurate following adoption of Australian-specific models, while grain production estimates have been refined by 12–104% depending on regional rainfall and soil conditions. Rather than indicating instability, these adjustments correct previous overestimations and provide the agricultural sector with more competitive and realistic emissions profiles.
Continuously improving tools like the Environmental Accounting Platform (EAP), which allow retrospective updates, are essential for credible emissions tracking. Without such capability, stakeholders risk making misguided decisions and undermining progress, based on outdated information.
DPIRD continued investment in region-specific research ensures that emissions estimates reflect local realities and supports the sector’s transition to net zero by 2050
Estimating the carbon footprint of sheep production in Western Australia
No full textWestern Australia’s broadacre mixed farming systems combine cropping and sheep production and are the largest component of the state’s agricultural sector. The south west Western Australia (WA) agricultural area hosts about 98% of the state\u27s sheep flock. The sheep industry contributed $1.5 billion to the state’s economy in 2021-22 and accounts for about a quarter of on-farm greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Most sheep industry emissions (over 80%) come from methane produced by the sheep. Despite this environmental impact, only 9.9% of Australian sheep producers have estimated their emissions, which limits the industry\u27s ability to monitor and manage carbon footprints effectively. This report presents comprehensive carbon footprint estimates for sheep production across different agroecological zones (AEZs) within WA’s agricultural area, drawing on five years of industry benchmark data to establish regional emission baselines. We examine relationships between profitability, emissions, and emission intensity