It’s o-fish-al, NT knows how to estimate stock biomass
A team of Territory research scientists have recently been recognised as leading the country in Biomass estimates by the Fisheries Research and Development Corporation (FRDC).
Biomass is the total weight of a given species of fish in one area at a specific time and is used by the research scientists at NT Fisheries to provide estimates of the population of a specific fish in areas accessible for fishing in NT waters.
Off the back of a collaborated project with FRDC, titled 2021-002 Investing in our future: stock assessment and the next generation, a team of some of our top scientists participated in an informal national competition to test their abilities to assess the biomass status of a mystery fish.
The Fisheries team comprising of four scientists, Dr Deepak Pazhayamadom, Dr Joanne Randall, Dr Brien Roberts and Mr Michael Usher, completed the challenge while balancing existing workloads and came up trumps with their data the closest estimate of spawning stock biomass.
Estimations of biomass are one of the key indicators in assessing the sustainability of fish stocks. They provide an indication of the size of fish populations and help determine how many fish can be captured sustainably into the future.
Ensuring that our scientists have the most up-to-date resources and training is important to ensure fish stocks continue to thrive into the future.
Other FRDC projects the team are currently working on include 2021-017 Basement Jacks - Where's your stock at? Understanding stock structure and connectivity of Mangrove Jack in northern Australia, 2021-077 Development of 'guidance' for conducting stock assessments in Australia and 2023-063 Design of a fishery independent longline survey for chondrichthyans in Northern Australia.
Find out more about the extensive work that NT Fisheries do to support the Territory’s fisheries.
