Fish Stock and Recruitment Monitoring Program
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| A wide range of fish species are supported by the feeding, spawning and nursery grounds in Port Phillip Bay. Discrete fish stocks, which are individual populations of a type of fish that live in and breed in the same waters, are identifiable in the bay. As they breed, a proportion of new juvenile fish are recruited into the stock each year.
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Photo: Fish from Port Phillip Bay. Courtesy of the Department of Primray Industries.
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Stock and recruitment levels of fish in the bay vary naturally. These levels are influenced by environmental conditions such as water quality, including salinity and water temperature, currents, habitat availability and by fishing pressures that affect predator-prey numbers in the food chain. Dredging of sediment can also result in localised disturbances to water quality and seafloor habitat.
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The overall objective of the fish stock and recruitment programs is to detect changes in the distribution, abundance and types of fish in the Bay, their population structures and larval distribution and abundance, outside expected variability.
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The fish stock and recruitment monitoring program has five sub-programs which examine different species and life stages that make up the bay's fish populations.
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For more information on the fish stock and recruitment monitoring program click here to download a fact sheet.
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Results
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Sub-program 1: Port Phillip Bay Annual Trawl
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The aim of this sub-program is to detect interannual changes in the abundance of all common fish in Port Phillip Bay outside of expected variability.
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Sub-program 2a: Egg and Larval Surveys
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The aim of this sub-program is to detect interannual changes in the abundance of snapper and anchovy eggs and larvae outside of expected variability.
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Sub-program 2b: Anchovy Study
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The aim of this sub-program is to collect data on anchovy abundance, distribution in the Bay and population structure that will fill existing knowledge gaps and assist in the assessment of changes observed in other Baywide programs.
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Sub-program 3: Recreational Fishery Surveys
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The aim of this sub-program is to detect changes in the abundance and recruitment of key recreational fishery species outside of expected variability.
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Sub-program 4: Monitoring Key Fishery Species in Seagrass Beds
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The aim of this sub-program is to collect data on they types and abundance of fish in shallow and deeper seagrass beds that will fill existing knowledge gaps and assist in understanding the significance of any observed changes in seagrass habitat for these fish.
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To view information and results from other programs that monitor Bay fish stocks click on the links below.
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Commercial Catch & Effort Monitoring Program
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Juvenile Snapper Monitoring Program
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Commerical Catch of Snapper Monitoring Program
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Juvenile King George Whiting Monitoring Program
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Commercial Catch of King George Whiting Monitoring Program
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Return to a list of all monitoring programs
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Please note: Document(s) on this page are presented in PDF format. If you do not have the Adobe Reader, you can download a copy free from the Adobe website.
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