Tag Archives: University of Tasmania

Fishermen wary of seismic plans for Bass Strait waters

Andrew Smith wants to keep crayfishing long enough to put his children through school. But plans for further seismic testing off his Bass Strait home of King Island have him worried. Energy data company TGS wants to survey for gas across some 4.5 million hectares in the Otway Basin, which are Commonwealth waters between Tasmania and Victoria. Seismic testing has been shown to negatively impact whales as well as other marine life. Tasmanian Seafood Industry Council chief executive Julian Harrington said the testing area was adjacent to rock lobster and giant crab fisheries. He said the waters were a “larvae corridor” for rock lobsters, which have a 15 to 18 month larvae cycle. more, >>click to read<< 07:24

Seismic air guns found to harm balance organ in rock lobsters

A team of researchers with the University of Tasmania and Curtin University has found that seismic air guns used for oil and gas exploration can damage a sensory organ in rock lobsters called the statocyst, which provides balance and orientation. In their paper published in Proceedings of the Royal Society B, the group describes tests they conducted with lobsters in their lab and what they found. >click to read< 11:02

Bay lobster aquaculture developed in Tasmania

The Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies (IMAS), under the University of Tasmania, has paved the way for the bay lobster (Thenus oriental) aquaculture industry in Tasmania, after developing a unique method to breed the resource commercially. Based at IMAS’s Taroona laboratories, the ARC Research Hub for Commercial Development of Rock Lobster Culture Systems began researching hatchery techniques for the resource, better known as Moreton Bay Bugs, in September 2017. The starting point for this project was the technique developed for the tropical rock lobster, of the Panulirus family. >click to read<15:24