Noosa Fish Health Investigation Taskforce interim report

source: Primary Industries and Fisheries (Qld)
"The Noosa Fish Health Investigation Taskforce was established by the Minister for Primary Industries and Fisheries in January 2009. The role of the taskforce was to further investigate fish health problems at the Sunland Fish Hatchery on the Sunshine Coast and broader fish health issues associated with the Noosa River catchment. This interim report provides a brief summary of the investigations to date, taskforce actions over the previous four months and reports on the initial findings from the taskforce scientific sub-committee."

Shellfish reefs at risk: a global analyis of problems and solutions

Source: Nature Conservancy
"Once dominant features in many temperate estuaries around the world, native oyster reefs are critically important ecologically and economically. Centuries of intensive fisheries extraction exacerbated by more recent coastal degradation have put oyster reefs near or past the point of functional extinction globally, but sensible solutions that could ensure conservation of remaining reefs and even reverse losses to restore ecosystem services are available. These solutions involve wider application of area-based conservation approaches, improvements in fisheries management, enhanced restoration for multiple ecosystem services (e.g., water filtration, nutrient removal, shoreline protection and fish habitat provision), and partnerships to improve water quality."

Ocean acidification: from ecological impacts to policy opportunities

Source: Current: the journal of marine education, vol.29,no.1 (2009)
"This issue of Current highlights ocean acidification, a term used to describe the ongoing global scale changes in seawater chemistry caused largely by human combustion of fossil fuels. Ocean acidification will have severe consequences for marine life and humankind, and has been nicknamed global warming’s “evil twin.” The articles in this special issue focus on multiple facets of ocean acidification, including threats to marine organisms, economic implications for fisheries and ecosystem services, and policy options for mitigating negative impacts. Because the dangers posed by ocean acidification are so serious, responsible carbon policy must be implemented immediately at all levels of government and individuals must do their part to curtail carbon consumption, in the hope of safeguarding the future of our oceans."

The state of world fisheries and aquaculture 2008

Source: FAO
"According to the latest edition of the UN agency’s The State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture (SOFIA), existing responsible fishing practices need to be more widely implemented and current management plans should be expanded to include strategies for coping with climate change."

Healthier oceans, healthier economies

Source: Oceanea
"Oceana released a new report, Healthier Oceans, Healthier Economies, today that shows how the World Trade Organization (WTO) is in a key position to help ensure the long-term viability of the world’s fisheries. The report, produced in conjunction with the International Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development (ICTSD), establishes the need and urgency for the WTO to produce a successful agreement in its ongoing fisheries subsidies negotiations."

Fisheries and climate change

Source: Secretariat of the Pacific Community
"The aim of this brief is to:
• alert governments to some of the risks that climate change poses to the fisheries priorities of the Pacific Plan and the actions identified in the Vava’u Declaration on Pacific Fisheries Resources; and
• identify how the fishing industry and fishing communities can begin to adapt to changing environments to help maintain the benefits of fisheries."

Revisiting the Cassandra syndrome: the changing climate of coral reef research

Source: Coral reefs, vol.27 (2008)
"Climate change will be with us for decades, even with significant reductions in emissions. Therefore, predictions made with respect to climate change impacts on coral reefs need to be highly defensible to ensure credibility over the timeframes this issue demands. If not, a Cassandra syndrome could be created whereby future more well-supported predictions of the fate of reefs are neither heard nor acted upon. Herein, popularising predictions based on essentially untested assumptions regarding reefs and their capacity to cope with future climate change is questioned. Some of these assumptions include that: all corals live close to their thermal limits, corals cannot adapt/acclimatize to rapid rates of change, physiological trade-offs resulting from ocean acidification will lead to reduced fecundity, and that climate-induced coral loss leads to widespread fisheries collapse. We argue that, while there is a place for popularising worst-case scenarios, the coral reef crisis has been effectively communicated and, though this communication should be sustained, efforts should now focus on addressing critical knowledge gaps."

Climage change and commercial fishing: a one-two punch for sea turtles

Source: Oceana
"Oceana experts fear that optimistic preliminary estimates of the 2008 sea turtle nesting season - which formally ends Friday, October 31 - fail to express the dire status of the species. Oceana continues to call upon the U.S. government for increased protections of sea turtle populations that are threatened with, or in danger of, extinction. Nesting data from the Archie Carr National Wildlife Refuge in Florida, the most important nesting habitat for loggerhead sea turtles in the United States, shows that although we are seeing a slight rise in nesting from dismal 2007 levels, the long-term trend illustrates an enormous decline."

Fitzroy catchment fish sampling and health assessment 2008

Source: DPI&F
"Catfish were caught and reported to Biosecurity Queensland by a fisherman from Tartarus Weir on 3 September 2008 with symptoms of redness of all fins. Concerns about the water quality in the Fitzroy River Catchment were subsequently raised in conjunction with reports of release of waters from Ensham Coal Mine, Emerald. A initiative to investigate these concerns was commenced with a fish sampling, testing and assessment surveillance by the Department of Primary Industries and Fisheries as part of wider monitoring activities by the Environmental Protection Agency, Queensland Health, Department of Natural Resources and Water; working together with Ensham Coal Mine."

Implications of climate change for Australian fisheries and aquaculture

Source: CSIRO
"This review identifies that there are likely to be significant climate change impacts on the biological, economic, and social aspects of Australian fisheries and finds that there is little consolidated knowledge of the potential impacts of climate change. Both positive and negative impacts are expected, and impacts will vary according to changes in the regional environment: south-east fisheries are most likely to be affected by changes in water temperature, northern fisheries by changes in precipitation, and western fisheries by changes in the Leeuwin Current. There may be new opportunities for some wild fisheries where tropical species shift southward. There will also be many challenges, such as that faced by the Tasmanian salmon aquaculture industry due to Atlantic salmon being cultivated close to their upper thermal limits of optimal growth. Nevertheless, the report also highlights that there is potential for adaptation measures to be employed by the industry. "

Understanding and mitigating vulnerable bycatch in southern African trawl and longline fisheries

Source: WWF
"The survival chances of the albatross, now officially the most threatened seabird family in the world, have been improved following a new report released by WWF-South Africa. At least 28 species of albatross and petrel have been caught by South African fisheries, of which 13 are threatened with extinction. The birds are caught trying to retrieve bait from longline fishing hooks, or are injured or killed during trawling operations. A deterioration of their breeding habitats and targeted hunting operations are other factors. The findings help accurately identify management measures to reduce the wasteful killing of these magnificent birds while not unnecessarily disrupting fishing activities or impacting other vulnerable marine life like turtles and sharks."

Global cetacean snapshot

Source:Aust. Dept. Environment, Water, Heritage & the Arts
"Australia's support for whale conservation is well known. Australia's position is based on economics, science and ethics. To ensure that the global debate about the future of whales is informed by the latest information, the Australian Government has commissioned an overview of the conservation status of whale, dolphin and porpoises and how they are valued."

State of the nation's de facto marine protected areas

Source: U.S. Marine Protected Areas
"This report is the first synthesis of information on the location, purpose, and restrictions for all federal de facto marine protected areas (DFMPAs) in the United States. This report reveals important trends in how areas that are established for purposes other than conservation are used, and describes whether and how these areas limit access or restrict human activities (such as fishing and recreation). This is viewed as a first step towards assessing how these areas contribute to conservation of marine resources nationwide."

The sea to Hume Dam: restoring fish passage in the Murray River

Source: Murray-Darling Basin Commission
"The “Sea to Hume Dam” program is due to be completed in 2010. However there are over
4,000 other licensed structures in the Basin that impede fish passage. Hopefully the lessons learned from the new Murray River fishways will be useful in prioritising, designing,constructing and assessing fishways on many of these structures.This collection of papers demonstrates the unique nature of the ecology and hydrology of
this system, and therefore the importance of both integration and co-operation betweendisciplines in developing these fishways. It also demonstrates the need for true adaptivemanagement as new information comes to light."

Coral sea biodiversity review: sharks and fish

Source: WWF Australia
"A new report commissioned by WWF-Australia has found that shark and other marine species populations in Australia's Coral Sea are particularly vulnerable to fishing and other threats. The research finds that sharks that live around reefs in the Coral Sea do not travel far, preferring to "stay at home" on their reefs. This makes these populations especially vulnerable to threats and adds more weight to WWF's calls for protection of the Coral Sea."

Too few fish: a regional assessment of the world's fisheries

Source: Oceana
"A new report released by Oceana today concludes that more than 80 percent of the world’s fisheries cannot withstand increased fishing activity and only 17 percent of the world’s fisheries should be considered capable of any growth in catch at all. Too Few Fish: A Regional Assessment of the World’s Fisheries shows there is very little room for further expansion of global fishing efforts."

COAST's national status and trends report

Source: NOAA
"NOAA scientists have released a 20-year study showing that environmental laws enacted in the 1970s are having a positive effect on reducing overall contaminant levels in coastal waters of the U.S. However, the report points to continuing concerns with elevated levels of metals and organic contaminants found near urban and industrial areas of the coasts."

Shifting baselines, local impacts, and global change on coral reefs

Knowlton N, Jackson JBC
"The striking health of remote coral reefs provides clear evidence that protection from local overfishing and pollution can help mitigate the impacts of global warming.", in PLoS Biology, Vol.6,no.2 (2008)

Fish invasions in the world's river systems: when natural processes are blurred by human activities

"Researchers have found that invasions of exotic fish species in rivers and lakes is related closely to high economic growth, higher human population density and nearby urbanised land. This raises serious concerns for the future of many aquatic ecosystems as the rate of global economic expansion continues to rise, predicting an increase in invasive species and, with it, an increase in the extinction of native animals.", in PLoS Biology, v.6(2)(2008)

In dead water: merging of climate change with pollution, over-harvest and infestation in the world's fishing grounds

"The world’s oceans are already under stress as a result of overfishing, pollution and other environmentally-damaging activities in the coastal zones and now on the high seas. Climate change is presenting a further and wide-ranging challenge
with new and emerging threats to the sustainability and productivity of a key economic and environmental resource. This new, rapid response report attempts to focus the numerous impacts on the marine environment in order to assess how multiple stresses including climate change might shape the marine world over the coming years and decades".