Project number: 2021-020
Project Status:
Completed
Budget expenditure: $31,890.00
Principal Investigator: John P. Keane
Organisation: University of Tasmania
Project start/end date: 30 Jun 2021 - 29 Jun 2022
Contact:
FRDC

Need

1. Tracing lobster origin
The need for determining whether stable isotopes are a useful tool for diet analysis and identification of catch location is a priority for the SRL fishery. If proved useful, this technology will allow for rapid identification and isolation of stock abnormalities – such as toxic algal blooms, which has potential to save a lot of time and money for fisheries management.

2. Invasive urchin controls
If results show that small lobsters do predate on urchins, this will be important for informing stock rebuilding targets and reference points relative to urchin control. Primarily we could advise on whether urchin control targets and performance indicators should be based on total lobster biomass or only large lobster biomass. For example, if small lobsters (140mm CL) are found to actively predate on small urchins, the pressure to rebuild the large lobster biomass (>140mm CL) may be reduced. This could in turn help to adapt the rebuild strategy, in line with effective urchin control.

Objectives

1. To determine the level of stable isotope variation within individual lobster tissues (e.g. muscle vs shell) and identify a non-lethal and minimally destructive method of sampling for stable isotopes.
2. To describe lobster diet off eastern Tasmania and quantify the role of smaller lobsters (&lt
140mm CL) in the predation and control of Longspined Sea Urchin in Tasmania.
3. To ascertain if stable isotopes can be used to identify catch location of individual lobsters post-harvest across SE Australia

Final report

ISBN: 978-1-922708-49-6
Authors: Jennifer E. Smith John Keane Michael Oellermann Craig Mundy & Caleb Gardner
Final Report • 2023-05-01 • 1.66 MB
2021-020-DLD.pdf

Summary

Scientists at IMAS conducted a stable isotope study on Southern Rock Lobster (Jasus edwardsii) collected from Southern Australian sites to determine whether or not capture site could be determined post-harvest.

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