Horticultural capability study of soils adjacent to plantations at Carnarvon, Western Australia

A detailed soil survey and horticultural capability assessment was undertaken over 1,804 ha of land adjacent to existing plantations on levees of the Gascoyne River near Carnarvon. The study provides mapped land resource data and advice in relation to land management and the possibility of further land release for horticulture. In the assessment of horticultural capability primary consideration has been given to the risk of erosion during flood events, to salinity, and to soil drainage conditions

Land resources study of the Carnarvon Land Conservation District and part of Boolathana Station, Western Australia

A survey of the land resources of 36,343 ha covering the Carnarvon Land Conservation District and an adjoining portion of Boolathana station was conducted to assist future land use planning and management. This report describes the soil, landform and vegetation conditions of land units shown on an accompanying 1:50,000 scale map. These land units are components of land systems previously mapped at 1:250,000 scale for the Carnarvon Basin by Payne et al. (1987). As part of the study, further, more detailed land resource mapping and land capability assessments were conducted at specific locations. Land use planning and management considerations arising from that work have been extrapolated to the broader scale mapping herein covering the entire study area. The three major land use issues of concern are: • grazing or stockholding on special leases: • land release for horticulture; and • future urban development. The report provides a framework against which current and future land uses can be examined in relation to their compatibility with the condition and capability of the land resources. It is primarily intended as a reference document for people concerned with land use and land management decisions within the area. These include the Carnarvon Land Conservation District Committee; the Department of Agriculture, Western Australia, rangeland advisers; land use planners and land administrators

Stock assessment of the Queensland east coast common coral trout (Plectropomus leopardus) fishery. April 2019

Queensland’s common coral trout (Plectropomus leopardus), a species of grouper, is a line caught fish forming a single population (stock) across the Great Barrier Reef (GBR). Common coral trout are protogynous hermaphrodites (born female, many later changing sex to male) and aggregate to spawn during spring and summer. They can grow to 5 kg and 18 years of age. The stock extends north from the GBR into the eastern Torres Strait where it is under Commonwealth jurisdiction. In financial year 2017-18, the Queensland jurisdiction accounted for around 90% of the total harvest. From 2013-14 to 2017-18, the Queensland total harvest averaged 983 tonnes (t) per year. The catch breakdown is 82% commercial (806 t) and 18% recreational (177 t). The previous stock assessment estimated that in July 2012 the stock was at 60% of unfished biomass (i.e. before fishing began) over the areas commonly fished by commercial fishers. This stock assessment updates the existing model to cover the full extent of the GBR in Queensland waters and includes harvest information from the recreational sector. This stock assessment used a spatial age-structured model with a yearly time step based on financial years. The model considered twelve spatial sub-populations (“strata”) of fish based primarily on differences in coral reef habitat. The model incorporated data spanning the period from 1961-62 to 2017-18 (including commercial harvest (1988-89 to 2017-18); historical commercial (1961-62 to 1981-82); recreational harvest (1996-1997 to 2013-14); age monitoring (1994-95 to 2004-05); and underwater visual surveys (1982-83 to 2017-18)). The purpose of this report is to estimate biological reference points. The model provides estimates of the level of biomass of common coral trout relative to unfished levels, maximum sustainable yield (MSY) and the yield consistent with a biomass ratio of 68% (a proxy for maximum economic yield in this fishery)

The Supernova Legacy Survey: Measurement of Omega_M, Omega_Lambda and w from the First Year Data Set

We present distance measurements to 71 high redshift type Ia supernovae discovered during the first year of the 5-year Supernova Legacy Survey (SNLS). These events were detected and their multi-color light-curves measured using the MegaPrime/MegaCam instrument at the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope (CFHT), by repeatedly imaging four one-square degree fields in four bands. Follow-up spectroscopy was performed at the VLT, Gemini and Keck telescopes to confirm the nature of the supernovae and to measure their redshift. With this data set, we have built a Hubble diagram extending to z=1, with all distance measurements involving at least two bands. Systematic uncertainties are evaluated making use of the multi-band photometry obtained at CFHT. Cosmological fits to this first year SNLS Hubble diagram give the following results : Omega_M = 0.263 +/- 0.042(stat) +/- 0.032(sys) for a flat LambdaCDM model; and w = -1.023 +/- 0.090(stat) +/- 0.054(sys) for a flat cosmology with constant equation of state w when combined with the constraint from the recent Sloan Digital Sky Survey measurement of baryon acoustic oscillations.Comment: (The SNLS Collaboration) 24 pages, 13 figures, Accepted in A&A. Computer readable tables at http://snls.in2p3.fr/conf/papers/cosmo1

fisheries and tourism social economic and ecological trade offs in coral reef systems

Coastal communities are exerting increasingly more pressure on coral reef ecosystem services in the Anthropocene. Balancing trade-offs between local economic demands, preservation of traditional values, and maintenance of both biodiversity and ecosystem resilience is a challenge for reef managers and resource users. Consistently, growing reef tourism sectors offer more lucrative livelihoods than subsistence and artisanal fisheries at the cost of traditional heritage loss and ecological damage. Using a systematic review of coral reef fishery reconstructions since the 1940s, we show that declining trends in fisheries catch and fish stocks dominate coral reef fisheries globally, due in part to overfishing of schooling and spawning-aggregating fish stocks vulnerable to exploitation. Using a separate systematic review of coral reef tourism studies since 2013, we identify socio-ecological impacts and economic opportunities associated to the industry. Fisheries and tourism have the potential to threaten the ecological stability of coral reefs, resulting in phase shifts toward less productive coral-depleted ecosystem states. We consider whether four common management strategies (unmanaged commons, ecosystem-based management, co-management, and adaptive co-management) fulfil ecological conservation and socioeconomic goals, such as living wage, job security, and maintenance of cultural traditions. Strategies to enforce resource exclusion and withhold traditional resource rights risk social unrest; thus, the coexistence of fisheries and tourism industries is essential. The purpose of this chapter is to assist managers and scientists in their responsibility to devise implementable strategies that protect local community livelihoods and the coral reefs on which they rely

Horticultural capability study of soils adjacent to plantations at Carnarvon, Western Australia

A detailed soil survey and horticultural capability assessment was undertaken over 1,804 ha of land adjacent to existing plantations on levees of the Gascoyne River near Carnarvon. The study provides mapped land resource data and advice in relation to land management and the possibility of further land release for horticulture. In the assessment of horticultural capability primary consideration has been given to the risk of erosion during flood events, to salinity, and to soil drainage conditions

Land resources study of the Carnarvon Land Conservation District and part of Boolathana Station, Western Australia

A survey of the land resources of 36,343 ha covering the Carnarvon Land Conservation District and an adjoining portion of Boolathana station was conducted to assist future land use planning and management. This report describes the soil, landform and vegetation conditions of land units shown on an accompanying 1:50,000 scale map. These land units are components of land systems previously mapped at 1:250,000 scale for the Carnarvon Basin by Payne et al. (1987). As part of the study, further, more detailed land resource mapping and land capability assessments were conducted at specific locations. Land use planning and management considerations arising from that work have been extrapolated to the broader scale mapping herein covering the entire study area. The three major land use issues of concern are: • grazing or stockholding on special leases: • land release for horticulture; and • future urban development. The report provides a framework against which current and future land uses can be examined in relation to their compatibility with the condition and capability of the land resources. It is primarily intended as a reference document for people concerned with land use and land management decisions within the area. These include the Carnarvon Land Conservation District Committee; the Department of Agriculture, Western Australia, rangeland advisers; land use planners and land administrators