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Subject: WA Fish eNews - 4 November 2011
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4 November 2011
Hello
and welcome to WA Fish eNews
Swathes
of Australia's seaweed are shifting south to escape warming oceans and many
risk becoming extinct, a new study has found.
Marine
ecologist Dr Thomas Wernberg, of the University of Western Australia, and
colleagues, reported their findings in Current Biology.
"Temperate
species are moving to cooler environments," Dr Wernberg said.
"In
Australia there are no cooler environments beyond the south coast, so if they
are pushed to go beyond that they basically go extinct."
While
a lot of attention has been paid to the impact of climate change on corals, Dr
Wernberg says the impact on seaweed has been neglected.
He
says while seaweeds might seem mundane, they are an important habitat and food
resource for underwater animals and plants.
"Just
as trees in the forest provide living space for birds and other animals, so do
the seaweeds in the oceans. There's a large amount of biodiversity associated
with seaweeds," Dr Wernberg said.
He
says while coral reefs tend to be restricted to tropical waters, seaweeds are
more widespread, so any impacts on them could have a broader cascading effect
on marine ecosystems.
Drawing
on electronic records of seaweed from Australia's Virtual Herbarium, Dr
Wernberg and colleagues looked at how seaweed communities comprising up to 300
species had changed over time.
They
also compared the distribution of 52 species of seaweed along the east and west
coasts of Australia during the period 1940 to 1960, with seaweed distribution
during the period 1990 to 2009.
Dr
Wernberg says between the two 20-year time periods, the ocean warmed by a
couple of degrees in south-east Australia and by a degree on the west coast.
"What
we saw is that the seaweed communities migrated south towards the cooler
environments," he said. Although
this was the case on both the east and west coasts, the researchers found that
seaweeds moved further south on the east coast where the warming had been
greater.
On
the east coast seaweed species had moved around 200 kilometres south, while on
the west coast they had moved about 50 kilometres, Dr Wernberg said.
"If
this rate of shift continues, a relatively large number of species could go
extinct," he said.
"So
if they can't exist under the new conditions they literally fall off the
continent," he said.
Based
on the known temperature ranges of various species of seaweed, he says a
"back of the envelope type calculation" estimates as much as 25 per
cent of temperate species in Australia could be extinct by 2070.
Source: ABC News
Photo: SARDI
Did you know … ?
Western Australian Fishing Industry Council Chairman, Brad Adams, has
congratulated, Fremantle seafood producer One Sea Pty Ltd for winning the
prestigious National ‘Seafood Producer Award’.
Source: WAFIC
°°°°
There is a new season
format for WA abalone fishing:
- New
one-day-per-month format for recreational abalone fishing in the West Coast
Zone
- One-hour sessions
on the first Sunday of each month November to March
- Total closure
applies north of Moore River for recreational abalone fishing
Source: Ministerial Media Release
Global: Sea life
'must swim faster to survive' - 4 November 2011
Fish and other sea creatures
will have to travel large distances to survive climate change, international
marine scientists have warned. Sea life, particularly in the Indian Ocean, the
Western and Eastern Pacific and the subarctic oceans will face growing
pressures to adapt or relocate to escape extinction, according to a new study
by an international team of scientists published in the journal Science.
Source: Science Alert
WA: World-class biosecurity program for WA - 2 November 2011
The State
Government’s $9.4million two-year program targeting the protection of Western
Australian aquatic environments was launched. The comprehensive biosecurity
program is aimed at protecting WA waters, along with a special charter
encouraging stakeholder organisations to become involved.
Source: Media Statement
Global: New study on
environmental impacts of MSC programme published - 2
November 2011
Fisheries engaged in the MSC certification programme show progressive improvement in environmental performance from pre-assessment through assessment, certification and post-certification, an independent analysis published today shows.
Source: FishUpdate
The use of a new ISO standard
on the traceability of finfish products will help improve food safety by
supplying stakeholders throughout the supply chain with accurate information
about the origin and nature of these products
Source: FishUpdate
UK: Fishermen to
join forces to keep their communities
- 2 November 2011
English fishing communities
struggling to survive could benefit from a new cooperative scheme to keep
England’s inshore fishing fleet afloat.
Source: FishUpdate
Global: Nearly 30%
of fishmeal, fish oil certified - 2 November 2011
Nearly 30 percent of global
fishmeal and fish oil production capacity is certified by Global Standard for
Responsible Supply (RS), a program the International Fishmeal and Fish Oil
Organization launched two years ago,
the UK-based organization announced at its annual conference in Lima, Peru.
Source: SeafoodSource
Tas: Tighter
biosecurity in force for abalone - 1 November 2011
New biosecurity measures have
come into force for live abalone processing plants in Tasmania.
In future, all live abalone
processing plants have to process their waste water before discharging to the
environment to reduce the potential spread of disease, especially the AVG
virus.
Source: ABC Rural
US: U.S. sued over
Mid-Atlantic fisheries management
- 1 November 2011
Washington, D.C.-based
environmental organization Oceana is suing the National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration’s (NOAA) Fisheries Service for failing to set catch limits for
non-target fish species in the Mid-Atlantic region.
Source: SeafoodSource
Antarctica: Call
for massive Antarctic marine reserves
- 1 November 2011
A new coalition of
environmental and conservation groups is calling for a massive area surrounding
Antarctica to be protected in marine reserves.
There's many hundreds who have fished there
over the years but the key ones at the moment are Russia, Norway, Korea, New
Zealand, UK, Spain.
Source: ABC News
NSW: Opportunity to learn more about native fish
management - 31 October 2011
Recreational fishers,
landholders and the wider community have the opportunity to learn more about
native fish management at a forum to be held on Wednesday 9 November at
Deniliquin. Native Fish Awareness Week
is an initiative of the Murray-Darling Basin Native Fish Strategy. The goal of
the strategy is to rehabilitate native fish communities in the Basin back to 60
per cent of their estimated pre-European-settlement levels, after 50 years of
implementation.
Source: NSW DPI Media Release
Germany: EDEKA
launches in-store campaign to promote MSC-labelled fish products - 31
October 2011
Germany’s biggest food
retailer EDEKA, has today launched a major campaign promoting Marine
Stewardship Council labelled, sustainably sourced, fish in its largest region,
Minden-Hannover.
High
impact point-of-sale materials, tailored to the corporate language and
visual identity of EDEKA, will help increase shopper awareness and enable them
to make a sustainable choice when buying seafood.
Source: FishNewsEu
Alaska: Alaska
sablefish earns FAO certification - 31 October 2011
Alaska’s sablefish, or black
cod, fishery has been awarded Responsible Fisheries Management Certification,
the Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute (ASMI) announced this week.
Source: SeafoodSource
US: Consumer
Reports finds more seafood fraud - 28
October 2011
Consumer Reports, the world’s
largest independent product-testing organisation, revealed that more than
one-fifth of the 190 seafood samples it purchased from restaurants and retail
outlets in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut were mislabelled as different
species, incompletely labelled or misidentified by employees.
Source: SeafoodSource
EU: 'Discard' fish
may be given to poor Damanaki tells Commons
- 28 October 2011
Fish which once would have
been thrown back into the sea because it was over the quota limit may in future
be distributed to charities, the Commons was told. Just how it will be distributed to the
various charities and exactly who will take on the task has not yet been
decided. But the EU Fisheries Commissioner did say that fishermen would be
compensated for those discard catches.
Source: FishUpdate
...”if protected and
well managed, marine resources can contribute to rebuilding Europe's
economy. The oceans, seas and coasts of
Europe can unlock new sources of sustainable and smart growth. And isn’t this
what Europe needs right now?” Maria
Damanaki, European Fisheries Commissioner
Source: FishUpdate
Coming events
Business tips
The Australian seafood
industry needs to increase profitability, efficiency and productivity and this
can be done by increasing sales and demand. The industry needs to re-position
itself to improve on its current position and look to new ways to penetrate
markets, new and old.
This
has prompted an industry briefing seminar in Geraldton at Ocean Centre Hotel,
Geraldton on Monday 7th November. Commencing at 10am, the focus will be on how
the seafood industry can increase market share with new ideas and attitudes in
both global and local seafood markets. Register by calling : 03 93268056 or through www.australiaseafood.com.au
Source: Seafood Experience
Australia
WA
Fish eNews contact information
Gaye Looby,
Department of Fisheries,
168 St George's Terrace, Perth, Western Australia 6000
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