| Summary: | Maintenance and Update Frequency: unknown Statement: Original record compiled for the Western Australian Marine Science Institution (WAMSI), Project 3.8, 2008. Originally sourced from WA Fisheries website (May, 2008). Spatial extent assumed to be whole of WA. Credit R. Melville-Smith The West Coast Deep Sea Crab Interim Managed Fishery has a recent history. Initially the fishery targeted champagne crabs but a combination of an apparent lack of robustness of the resource combined with fluctuating beach prices has seen this fishery all but collapse in the space just a few years (1997-2000). Substantial snow crab catches were first recorded on the west coast in 1998 and landings have increased dramatically each year since then. Work on this project is partially funded by FRDC 2001/55 titled “biological and fisheries data for managing deep sea crabs in Western Australia”. Project and activity description The objectives of the research are to collect research data (log book and length frequency monitoring data) that will provide insight into the effect of fishing on the snow crab resource on the west coast. Assessment information will be supplemented by a couple of depletion studies which are planned for the future. The Department of Fisheries and Murdoch University are conducting research to gather biological information on growth and movement patterns (from tagging) and reproductive criteria such as size at maturity and fecundity (from histology and morphometric studies). Time : June 2005.
|
|---|