In this section:
Threatened, Endangered & Protected Species
The subprogram provides research and advice to managers and policy makers on issues associated with marine Threatened, Endangered and Protected Species (TEPS). This subprogram delivers high quality research on the foraging and population ecology of protected marine mammals, seabirds and fish, and their trophic and operational interactions with fisheries and aquaculture to support Government conservation and management, and ecological sustainable development objectives. Click here to download the Threatened, Endangered and Protected Species subprogram capability statement (.pdf).
Overview
The primary areas of research include the broad-scale study of the pelagic ecology of the eastern Great Australian Bight, with a focus on the role of small pelagic fish, and the effects of fishing on populations of fish, seabirds and marine mammals. Implicit in this research is an understanding of the trophic pathways that sustain commercial fish production and high-trophic level predator populations, and the development of ecological performance measures and reference points to assess the ecological sustainability of fisheries and ecosystem health.
The application of ecological models and ecological performance measures for management purposes, such as marine protected areas, and the application of high tropic level predators as sentinels of ecosystem and climate change are also being developed.
Other projects include research to support the conservation and management of TEPS, particulalrly the threatened Australian sea lion. This includes research on the species population and foraging ecology to support conservation and management objectives, and the development of mitigation strategies to reduce the impacts of fishery bycatch.
The subprogram has key capabilities in the ecology of marine mammals, seabirds, sharks, ecosystem trophodynamics, ecosystem based fisheries management, the ecological effects of fishing, protected species interactions with fisheries (operational and trophic), and protected species conservation and management. The subprogram is known nationally and internationally for its innovation in the use of biologging technology (satellite tracking and archival data loggers) as a means to elucidate the at sea behaviour high trophic level predators.
Research Projects
- Establishing ecosystem based fishery management for the SA sardine fishery
- Mitigating seal interactions in the southern rock lobster fishery and gillnet sector of the Southern and Eastern Scalefish and Shark Fishery SA
- Developing population monitoring protocols for Australian sea lions
- Methods for distinguishing foraging ecotypes in ASL
- Recovery of fur seals populations at Macquarie Island
- The role of genetic and social factors in shaping alternate foraging strategies in Australian sea lions
- Movement patterns of pelagic sharks
- Threatened pelagic sharks in southern Australia: understanding their ecology to enhance development of conservation and management
Recent Publications
Goldsworthy, S.D., Page, B. (2009) A Review of the Distribution of Seals in South Australia. (PDF 460.9 KB). South Australian Research and Development Institute (Aquatic Sciences), Adelaide, SARDI Publication Number F2009/000368-1, 21 pp. SARDI Research Report Series No. 373.
Goldsworthy, S.D., Page, B., Lowther, A., Rogers, P., Peters, K., Shaughnessy, PD. (2009) Pup production assessment of the Australian sea lion Neophoca cinerea at Dangerous Reef and English Island, South Australia. (PDF 396.4 KB). South Australian Research and Development Institute March 2009, SARDI Aquatic Sciences Publication Number F2009/000088-1. SARDI Research Report Series No. 338.
Goldsworthy, SD, Page, B, Shaughnessy, PD, Hamer, D, Peters, KD ,McIntosh, RR, Baylis, AMM, McKenzie, J. (2009) Innovative solutions for aquaculture planning and management: addressing seal interactions in the finfish aquaculture industry. SARDI Aquatic Sciences Publication Number F2008/000222–1. SARDI Research Report Series Number 288.
Part A: Cover, Verso, Non-Technical Summary through to Chapter 8 (PDF 3.1 MB).
Goldsworthy SD, McKenzie J, Shaughnessy PD, Macintosh RR, Page B, Campbell R (2009) An Update of the Report: Understanding the Impediments to the Growth of Australian Sea Lion Populations. Report to the Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts. (PDF 4.0 MB). SARDI Publication Number F2008/00847-1. SARDI Research Report series No. 356. 175pp.
Goldsworthy SD, Page, B. Lowther A, Shaughnessy PD, Peters KP, Rogers P, McKenzie J, Bradshaw CJA (2009) Developing population protocols to determine the abundance of Australian sea lions at key subpopulations in South Australia. Final Report to the Australian Marine mammal Centre, Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage, and the Arts. (PDF 830.1 KB). SARDI Aquatic Sciences Publication Number F2009/000161-1, SARDI Research Report Series No. 348. 58pp.
Baylis, A. M. M.; Page, B. and Goldsworthy, S.D. 2008. Colony-Specific Foraging Areas of Lactating New Zealand Fur Seals. Marine Ecology Progress Series 361: 279–290
Baylis, A.M.M., Page, B. and Goldsworthy , S.D. (2008) Effect of seasonal changes in upwelling activity on the foraging locations of a wide-ranging central-place forager, the New Zealand fur seal. Canadian Journal of Zoology 86(8): 774-789
Goldsworthy SD., Page BC (2007) A Risk-Assessment Approach to Evaluating the Significance of Seal Bycatch in two Australian Fisheries. Biological Conservation 139: 269-285
Lancaster, ML, Goldsworthy SD, and Sunnucks P (2007) Multiple mating strategies explain unexpected mixing of New Zealand fur seals with two congenerics in a recently recolonised population. Molecular Ecology. 16(24): 5267-5276
Lancaster, M.L., Bradshaw C.J.A., Goldsworthy, S.D. and Sunnucks, P. (2007) Lower reproductive success in hybrid fur seal males indicates fitness costs to hybridization. Molecular Ecology.16(15): 3187-3197.
McKenzie, J., Page, B., Goldsworthy, S.D., and Hindell, M.A. (2007) Growth strategies of New Zealand fur seals (Arctocephalus forsteri). Journal of Zoology (London). 272: 377-389.
Staff
A/Prof. Simon Goldsworthy, Subprogram Leader/Principal Research Scientist
Paul Rogers, Senior Research Scientist
Contact
A/Prof. Simon Goldsworthy
Subprogram Leader
SARDI Aquatic Sciences
Tel +61 8 8207 5325
Fax +61 8 8207 5481
Email: simon.goldsworthy@sa.gov.au
