The Commonwealth Fisheries Research Advisory Body (ComFRAB) met in Canberra on 10 July 2013 to review initial expressions of interest for FRDC funded research commencing in 2014-15. The expressions of interest addressed key research priorities identified for Commonwealth fisheries relating to:
- the development of practical and cost-effective methods for maximising net economic return in a multispecies fishery as a whole
- innovative approaches to improve estimation of catch and effort data used to set total allowable catches in multispecies pelagic longline fisheries
- the implications of spatial management measures on the Ecological Risk Assessment for habitats.
In addition, ComFRAB identified critical research priorities for projects to commence in 2013-14 including:
- developing better ways to determine School Shark abundance
- conducting a strategic review to rationalise research, monitoring and assessment in the Southern and Eastern Scalefish and Shark Fishery.
Expressions of interest ranked as high or medium priority will be re-submitted for a second round of review by ComFRAB in October 2013. ComFRAB comments on final expressions of interest will be considered by the FRDC Board at its November 2013 meeting, with successful applicants required to submit full proposals by 15 February 2014 for final consideration.
Tactical Research Fund proposals for 2013-14 were also considered. These proposals have a maximum completion timeline of 18 months and must produce outputs that can be immediately adopted. For this round, some of the proposals ComFRAB received included identifying viable fishing boat refrigerant alternatives and pursuing U.S. certification for contemporary turtle excluder devices in the Northern Prawn Fishery.
For more information, contact Danait Ghebrezgabhier, acting ARC/ComFRAB Secretary on 02 6225 5472 or Danait.Ghebrezgabhier@afma.gov.au.