Media Release - Computer games hit fisheries management.

Visual, game-like computer software is being developed to help fisheries scientists and managers to communicate the results of detailed fish stock assessments to recreational fishers.

The software is being developed by a team at the Centre for Fish and Fisheries Research, Murdoch University. The team consists of research students Ben Chuwen, Calais Tink and Rowena Burch and research staff members Dr Alex Hesp and Professor Norm Hall, in collaboration with Mr Kane Moyle of RecFishWest.

Funded by the Fisheries Research and Development Corporation (FRDC), the one year project will enable fishers to explore visually, in a computer gaming-type environment, the types of impacts that a fishing fleet will have on the abundance of fish (with variable recruitment) in a particular area.

Users can log on and become a member of the fishing fleet, with the ability to control when, where, and how often they fish to determine the impacts of their fishing activities.

"One key concern among recreational fishers is that heavy fishing pressure on fish species which undergo, for whatever reason, large inter-annual variations in recruitment will have a very detrimental affect on the sustainability of those species", Kane Moyle of RecFishWest said.

One of the key challenges faced by fisheries scientists and managers is the difficultly in communicating the need for their management policies. Recreational fishers are becoming increasingly engaged in issues related to fisheries management and it is crucial the concerns they have about the broader implications of fishing for the sustainability of their fisheries are addressed effectively.

The project team will work with fishers to document their knowledge of fisher behaviours. This will provide the information on which the movements of fishers in the computer environment will be modelled. The movements and behaviours of fish will be determined according to available scientific data for key fish species in Western Australia, such as the iconic West Australian Dhufish.

The Murdoch University Centre for Fish and Fisheries Research, which has a long history as research partners with the Fisheries Research and Development Corporation, undertakes research and training in aspects of fish population biology and community ecology that are related to the needs of fisheries and environmental managers.

For more information about the Centre, including its other FRDC funded projects, please visit the Centre for Fish and Fisheries Research website http://www.cffr.murdoch.edu.au/ (link opens in a new window)

This media release about FRDC Project 2008-033 is also available on the Centre for Fish and Fisheries Research website at http://www.cffr.murdoch.edu.au/news/FRDC2008mediarel033.doc (link opens in a new window)

   


Related Media Release:- Computer software assists management plans for key WA fish species

This page prepared on 13 June 2009.