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The research team will be the
first to study how density affects the growth rates and
survival of greenlip abalone under various fishing
pressures. Research
group leader and senior lecturer at the University's
Department of Zoology Dr Robert Day said the group was
hoping to gain a greater understanding of how to operate a
sustainable abalone fishery and even boost its productivity.
"This type of ecological
knowledge is vital for the sustainable management of both
our marine and terrestrial environment and it is an area
that Australia is at the leading-edge of," he said.
"Australia has the world's
largest abalone fishery and the industry is concerned that
some abalone reefs might be in danger of collapsing down to
levels where they can't be fished any more.
"Unknown levels of poaching
and lack of scientific knowledge make it difficult to assess
the sustainability of the abalone industry. We just don't
have effective ways of finding out how fish stocks respond
to being fished."
Dr Day said as its first
task, the research team experimentally manipulated the
number and density of adults and juveniles established on
reefs. The group then measured the effects of these
manipulations on the abalone's growth and survival, their
available food supply and on their competitors and
predators.
Dr Day said initial findings
were promising with a high percentage of juveniles seeded
onto the reefs surviving and growing.
The research is supported by
around AUD 360,000 in funding from the
Australian Research Council
and the Abalone Industry of South Australia.
Australia supplies nearly
three-quarters of the abalone imported into Tokyo and the
South Australian industry alone is worth in excess of AUD 36
million annually.
By Stan Gorton
FIS.com
Photo courtesy of:-
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