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Murdoch University Digital Theses Program
Fisheries biology and management of pink snapper, Pagrus auratus, in the inner gulfs of Shark Bay, Western Australia
| Author Information |
Thesis Files |
| Last Name |
Jackson
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| Other Names |
Gary
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| Title |
Doctor
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| E-mail |
gjackson@fish.wa.gov.au
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| Division |
Sustainability, Environmental and Life Sciences
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| School |
Biological Sciences and Biotechnology
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| Degree Program |
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
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| Thesis Document Information |
| Thesis Type |
PhD Doctorate
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| Title
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Fisheries biology and management of pink snapper, Pagrus auratus, in the inner gulfs of Shark Bay, Western Australia
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| Date |
2008
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| Abstract
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This study explored an important aspect of the basis for the highly complex population structure of pink snapper (Pagrus auratus) within the inner gulfs of Shark Bay, investigated how growth and reproduction differ among these closely-adjacent but separate stocks, and obtained biomass estimates for each stock that are essential for the sustainable management of the regionally-important recreational pink snapper fishery. Using ichthyoplankton data in combination with hydrodynamic modelling, P. auratus eggs and larvae were shown to be retained within localized meso-scale eddies that were coincident with the main inner gulf spawning areas. Such hydrodynamic retention, in conjunction with tagging and otolith chemistry data that indicates very limited movement of juvenile and adult fish, explains how separate pink snapper populations can exist in the adjacent waters of the Eastern Gulf, Denham Sound and Freycinet Estuary. The study found significant variation in maximum age, growth, maturity and spawning time at fine spatial scales. Such variation, unusual for a large, potentially mobile fish inhabiting a marine environment with no obvious physical barriers, is linked to the inner gulfs’ marked environmental heterogeneity, the low levels of mixing and historic differences in fishing pressure among the three areas. The daily egg production method (DEPM) was used, for the first time with this species in Western Australia, to provide estimates of spawning biomass of the three separate inner gulf P. auratus stocks. While relatively imprecise, mostly due to imprecision in estimation of daily egg production, these estimates demonstrated that these stocks are very small (measured in tens of tonnes) compared with P. auratus stocks elsewhere in Australia and New Zealand. Biological data and DEPM estimates obtained from this study were incorporated in age-based stock assessment models that have been used to determine the status of inner gulf pink snapper stocks since 2002.
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| Committee Information
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| Supervisor |
A/Prof Norman Hall
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| Email |
N.Hall@murdoch.edu.au
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