Higher water temperature leads to precocious maturation of western rock lobsters (Panulirus cygnus), but are things that simple?

During a rock lobster post-puerulus grow out project, western rock lobsters from three different cohorts (post-puerulus, year-1 and year-2) were held for 12 months under two temperature regimes (ambient and 23oC) and two feed delivery treatments (the same ration of pelleted diet fed once nightly and in the alternate treatment, thrice nightly). At the end of the trial, 43% of females from the largest cohort (2-year post settlement) in the 23oC treatment, had ovigerous setae. However, none of the animals held at ambient temperatures showed signs of maturity. Feed delivery did not influence the presence or absence of ovigerous setae. Male maturity responded to elevated temperature in the same way as for females, as indicated by merus/carapace length ratios. The response of female size at maturity to 23oC was compared to a similar trial in the 1970s in which 2-year post settlement animals wereheld at 25oC. Maturity of females in that study was one year later than in the trial reported here, indicating that there may have been a decrease in age at maturity since the 1970s. The conclusion from this and research on other rock lobster species, is that size/age at maturity is likely to be a complex response to a range of contributing factors of which temperature is an important one

Pilot phase trial to quantify the extent and relevance of any deepwater puerulus settlement that may have taken place in the Western Rocklobster Fishery

This study had two objectives. Firstly to trial modifications to commercial western rock lobster pots, so as to sample as wide a size range of lobsters on the grounds as possible. Sampling took place over a 10 day period between 13-24 September 2009, with seven commercial fishermen being responsible for collection of the data at different sampling locations (Mandurah, Fremantle, Lancelin, Dongara, Geraldton, Abrolhos and Kalbarri). This arrangement proved to be successful in that a wide area of the coast was covered by the sampling regime and good quality catch composition data was achieved across the four depth zones (0-10 fm, 10-20 fm, 20-30 fm and >30 fm) that were sampled. The different pot modifications that were trialled sampled a wide size range (25-144 mm CL), but mostly caught lobsters around the legal size limit (modal size, 80 mm CL). In three of the four areas where more than one pot type was used, there were significant differences (p<0.01) in the catch rates of one or more size classes between the various pot types.The second objective was to establish whether there has been a shift in post-puerulus settlement from shallow to deeper waters. Analysis showed that depth was highly significant (p<0.05) in determining the catch rates of most size classes (≤50 mm CL; 51-65 mm CL; 66-76 mm CL; 77-105 mm CL and ≥105 mm CL). Generally, small size classes were sampled in the shallow depth categories and larger lobsters were sampled in the deeper depth categories, which would suggest that as in the past, recent puerulus settlement has been in shallow depths. Accordingly, it would seem reasonable to conclude that it is unlikely that there has been a major shift in the depths at which pueruli are settling. However, small lobsters were sampled in low numbers in the deep water categories in this survey and this therefore does not exclude the possibility that deep water settlement may be becoming more common than in past.In terms of recommendations, more monitoring of post-puerulus/juvenile lobsters using modified commercial pots similar to those used in this study has the potential to provide inter-annual comparisons of the numbers of small size classes settling at different depths on the grounds. It is only with more data of this type over a longer time period, that it will be possible to show whether there is any indirect evidence of a shift in settlement to deeper water. Should this work continue into the future, it would be beneficial to standardize on a consistent type of modification to the commercial pots so that more reliable comparisons of the relative numbers of juvenile animals can be made between areas

Changes in egg production of the western rock lobster (Panulirus cygnus) associated with appendage damage

Data collected during fish-ery-independent sampling programs were used to examine the impact of appendage damage (indicated by lost or regenerated legs and antennae) on the reproductive output of female western rock lobster (Panulirus cygnus). Most of the damaged females sampled had one (53%), two (27%), or three (13%) appendages that had been lost or that were regenerating. Appendage damage was associated with the reduced probability of a female developing ovigerous setae; and if setae were produced, with the reduced probability that females would produce more than one batch of eggs within a season. These effects were more pronounced as the number of damaged appendages increased. From data collected in 2002, it was estimated that the total number of eggs produced by mature females caught in the fishery was significantly reduced (P<0.001) by 3–9% when the impact of appendage damage was included

Spatial scales of genetic patchiness in the western rock lobster Panulirus cygnus

In planktonic dispersers, impediments to dispersal, local selection or large variance in the reproductive success among individuals (sweepstakes reproductive success) can create genetic heterogeneity at local scales. While these processes are well recognized, relatively few studies have investigated the spatial scales over which genetic heterogeneity occurs and how it is distributed across species’ ranges. We investigate population structure in the western rock lobster Panulirus cygnus, a commercially exploited species found in shallow and deep-water reef habitats along the Western Australia coastline. We screened 631 individuals from 9 locations across the species’ range for genetic variation at 22 microsatellite loci. Consistent with expectations of extensive larval mixing during an extended planktonic stage, we found no significant genetic differentiation among locations (FST = 0.003, G’’ST = 0.007). Despite the lack of large-scale geographic structure, small but significant positive spatial autocorrelation (SA) was detected over distances up to 40 km. Two-dimensional local SA analysis confirmed that fine-scale genetic heterogeneity was common throughout the species’ range. An intriguing aspect of these results is that SA was based on juvenile and adult lobsters, suggesting restricted movement or spatial cohesion of individuals after settlement

THE EFFECTS OF TRANSPORTATION ON IMMUNE MODULATION OF WILD AND OCEAN-RANCHED GREENLIP ABALONE (Haliotis laevigata)

The effects of live transportation on the immune modulation of wild and ocean-ranched greenlip abalone (Haliotis laevigata) were evaluated. Samples of abalone were collected both in autumn and winter in Flinders Bay, Augusta, Western Australia, and land transported for 6 (six) hours. Several immunological parameters were assessed, including survival rate, total haemocyte count, osmoregulatory capacity, phagocytic rate, lactate level, and glucose level. The results indicated that the abalone samples collected in the two seasons showed different physiological responses; the winter samples were more responsive to transportation than the autumn samples. Transportation stress significantly increased total haemocyte count and osmoregulatory capacity of the winter samples, suggesting an immune stimulation. This stress also triggered an immune suppression, causing the phagocytic rate and lysosomal stability to significantly decrease after transportation. Lactate levels in the winter samples decreased significantly after transportation, possibly indicating the transition from a stressed to normal state, during the period of recovery. The constant level of glucose before and after transportation in both seasons showed that it was the least sensitive indicator used in this study. In general, there was no difference in the immune modulation parameters between wild and ranched abalone in either of the seasons sampled. However, in the autumn samples, there were significant differences (P&lt;0.05) in haemocyte count and osmoregulatory capacity of the wild and ranched samples collected from all sites. These differences did not form a consistent indicator trend between the sites from the two sample sources. Therefore, the results do not raise any immediate concern that ranched abalone were differently stressed to those from the wild. The results in present study could serve as useful data in developing the live transportation method of greenlip abalone

Stock Assessment for the West Coast Rock Lobster Fishery

The recreational component of the western rock lobster fishery is managed under fisheries regulations that impose a mix of input and output controls on individual recreational fishers. These arrangements are designed to complement the management plan for the commercial fisher

Measurement of fisheries compliance outcomes : a preliminary national study : FRDC final report

This report presents the results of a project undertaken by a group of Australia and United States based fishery compliance experts to assess and compare methods for measuring fisheries compliance outcomes that can be used to assess and compare the effectiveness of fishery enforcement and compliance assistance activities. This eight month project was requested in 2013 by Australia’s National Fisheries Compliance Committee (NFCC) as a way to provide fisheries compliance groups with improved methods for measuring and tracking the effectiveness of their activities and for justifying and managing their budgets

Communication in healthcare: a narrative review of the literature and practical recommendations

aims: Effective and efficient communication is crucial in healthcare. Written communication remains the most prevalent form of communication between specialized and primary care. We aimed at reviewing the literature on the quality of written communication, the impact of communication inefficiencies and recommendations to improve written communication in healthcare. Design: Narrative literature review. Methods:A search was carried out on the databases PubMed, Web of Science and The Cochrane Library by means of the (MeSH)terms ‘communication’, ‘primary health care’, ‘correspondence’, ‘patient safety’, ‘patient handoff’ and ‘continuity of patient care’. Reviewers screened 4609 records and 462 full texts were checked according following inclusion criteria: (1) publication between January 1985 and March 2014, (2) availability as full text in English, (3) categorization as original research, reviews, meta-analyses or letters to the editor. Results:A total of 69 articles were included in this review. It was found that poor communication can lead to various negative outcomes: discontinuity of care, compromise of patient safety, patient dissatisfaction and inefficient use of valuable resources, both in unnecessary investigations and physician worktime as well as economic consequences. Conclusions: There is room for improvement of both content and timeliness of written communication. The delineation of ownership of the communication process should be clear. Peer review, process indicators and follow-up tools are required to measure the impact of quality improvement initiatives. Communication between caregivers should feature more prominently in graduate and postgraduate training, to become engraved as an essential skill and quality characteristic of each caregiver