Mr MILLS - 2000-05-18
Last week the minister told the House about some of the excellent initiatives the CLP government has in place in relation to recreational fishing. Can the minister outline any other fisheries initiatives that his department is currently undertaking?
ANSWER
Mr Speaker, Territorians, and particularly recreation anglers, will have no doubt in their minds that over the last few years the increased production of the mud crab fishery, not only in terms of total numbers but also in terms of the size of those crabs, is directly related to actions taken by this government some years ago to lift the size of jennies taken from the fishery from 130mm across the carapace to about 140mm across the carapace.
We did that because we became aware through research undertaken by my fisheries division that by the time they had attained 140mm across the carapace most females had bred. It was something like 40% of the 130mm jennies and something like 80% of the 140mm jennies.
As I said, as a result of research conducted by my department there is no doubt that the mud crab fishery has improved enormously.
With that in mind, my department in conjunction with the Queensland Department of Primary Industries and the Fisheries Research and Development Corporation has signed an agreement to further research the mud crab fishery. The Fisheries Research and Development Corporation is putting in $692 000 with in-client support from my department, from QDPI, and indeed from the Northern Territory Seafood Council. The total value of the project over 3 years will be something like $2m.
What the project entails is to provide techniques or to develop techniques for the estimation of abundance of mud crabs, and we will do that in a number of ways.
Firstly, the responsibility of the Queensland DPI will be to image the habitat and that will be done by aerial photographs, satelliting imagery, and ground-truthing techniques.
My department, the DPI in the Northern Territory, will develop techniques for the abundance estimation so that, in time, using satellite imagery or aerial photographs, it will be fairly easy for fisheries managers to estimate the abundance of crabs in any particular system.
This project, which began from the impetus of the Northern Territory Seafood Council, will ensure that into the future there is an abundance of crabs available for both commercial and recreational fisherpeople. It is another sign of this government’s ongoing support and commitment to both the recreation and commercial fishing sectors.
ANSWER
Mr Speaker, Territorians, and particularly recreation anglers, will have no doubt in their minds that over the last few years the increased production of the mud crab fishery, not only in terms of total numbers but also in terms of the size of those crabs, is directly related to actions taken by this government some years ago to lift the size of jennies taken from the fishery from 130mm across the carapace to about 140mm across the carapace.
We did that because we became aware through research undertaken by my fisheries division that by the time they had attained 140mm across the carapace most females had bred. It was something like 40% of the 130mm jennies and something like 80% of the 140mm jennies.
As I said, as a result of research conducted by my department there is no doubt that the mud crab fishery has improved enormously.
With that in mind, my department in conjunction with the Queensland Department of Primary Industries and the Fisheries Research and Development Corporation has signed an agreement to further research the mud crab fishery. The Fisheries Research and Development Corporation is putting in $692 000 with in-client support from my department, from QDPI, and indeed from the Northern Territory Seafood Council. The total value of the project over 3 years will be something like $2m.
What the project entails is to provide techniques or to develop techniques for the estimation of abundance of mud crabs, and we will do that in a number of ways.
Firstly, the responsibility of the Queensland DPI will be to image the habitat and that will be done by aerial photographs, satelliting imagery, and ground-truthing techniques.
My department, the DPI in the Northern Territory, will develop techniques for the abundance estimation so that, in time, using satellite imagery or aerial photographs, it will be fairly easy for fisheries managers to estimate the abundance of crabs in any particular system.
This project, which began from the impetus of the Northern Territory Seafood Council, will ensure that into the future there is an abundance of crabs available for both commercial and recreational fisherpeople. It is another sign of this government’s ongoing support and commitment to both the recreation and commercial fishing sectors.
Last updated: 09 Aug 2016