Business structure and costs for Southern Rock Lobster fisheries in Tasmania including fixed (vessels, infrastructure) and variable (bait, fuel, ports) costs.

Describes the database used for storing Southern Rock Lobster (Jasus edwardsii) biological data collected by observers on commercial boats and dedicated research trips incorporating information on sex, length, weight, damage, reproduction, bycatch, protected species interaction, location, depth, tagging and equipment type.

Southern Rock Lobster (Jasus edwardsii) biological data collected by observers on commercial boats and dedicated research trips incorporating information on sex, length, weight, damage, reproduction, bycatch, protected species interaction, location, depth, tagging and equipment type.

The movement and behaviour of the Southern Rock Lobster (Jasus edwardsii) was monitored using a radio acoustic telemetry systems at two sites in eastern Tasmania.

Using a telephone/diary survey methodology information about recreational fishing activity for rock lobster and abalone in Tasmania is monitored over a fishing season, with surveys conducted biennially. Information reported includes: date, location (fishing regions), method (pot, ring, dive), target species and catch (numbers of lobster and/or abalone). Sampling is linked to the recreational licensing database, managed by the state government.

Predation mortality rates of blacklip abalone (Haliotis rubra) were estimated under several different conditions using a range of manipulative experiments. Abalone mortality rates were estimated from tethering experiments inside the Maria Island Marine Reserve (MIMR) and at an adjacent site where predators, including southern rocks lobster (Jasus edwardsii) were in low abundance, due to fishing. Estimates of abalone mortality directly attributed to rock lobsters were gained from manipulative experiments inside the MIMR and in an aquarium experiment at the Tasmanian Aquaculture and Fisheries Institute facility at the Marine Research Laboratories.

The spatial extent of the long spined sea urchin, Centrostephanus rodgersii, was estimated by divers using underwater visual census methods to survey rocky reef habitats at 13 regions along Tasmania's east coast (between Eddystone Point and Recherche Bay). Within each region 3 subsites were surveyed, and within each subsite 4 belt transects were surveyed. Divers recorded depth, percent substrata type, percent C. rodgersii barrens habitat; abundance of urchins (C. rodgersii and H. erythrogramma), rock lobster (J. edwardsii) and abalone (H. rubra). Divers also recorded algal cover (estimated), C. rodgersii barrens and substratum type using set categories (see below).

Mortality rates of the sea urchin Heliocidaris erythrogramma where estimated under experimental conditions to determine the importance of natural and predation mortality in structuring sea urchin populations. Data was obtained from tethering, tagging and caging experiments at four sites within Mercury Passage and the Derwent Estuary in eastern Tasmania.