Program

Many sea anglers in South Africa harvest polychaete worms for bait, but little research has been conducted on them despite their ecological and economic value. Here I review past and ongoing research related to bait polychaetes, and identify future research directions. Only Arenicola loveni, known as bloodworm, has been researched extensively, including; population structure, reproduction and feasibility of culture. One paper has been published on each of two other bait species; investigating environmental damage caused by collecting Pseudonereis variegata (mussel worm) and the description of Marphysa elityeni (estuarine wonderworm). Bloodworm is considered over-exploited, increasing the need to better understand utilisation of polychaete bait species to improve management of stocks. But we need to know what is collected; the information brochure for harvesting marine invertebrates (issued by the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries) lists allowed and prohibited worms by common name only, yet examination of the literature suggests confusion about which species these names refer to, potentially complicating management efforts. Ongoing research indicates that a common name may refer to a single species (e.g., the mussel worm is P. variegata), several similar species (e.g., moonshine worms are onuphids and bloodworms are arenicolids) or very different species (e.g., the coral worm refers to a sabellarid and nereidid). Furthermore, taxonomic clarification is required for Diopatra cf. neopolitana and P. variegata, apparently cosmopolitan species. Future research should focus on distribution, reproduction and population structure and density of other popular species including M. elityeni and moonshine worms towards better understanding the robustness of stocks in the face of current utilisation and better informing daily bag limits. Finally, the feasibility of legalising the currently illegal sale of bait worms should be investigated.

Marine protected areas (MPAs) come to be effective to be linked each other as network. Each MPA should be managed by local communities and administrations.
Western Kyushu coastal areas face Japan Sea and East China Sea. This geographic location is very important to share the same fishery resources and cultural connections with continental countries historically. And this area is affected by severe marine debris problem and degradation of marine ecosystem. Importance of fishery sectors and local government comes to be bigger to solve these problems.
In recent years, municipal governments in this area are very active to conserve marine environment and aim at sustainable fisheries. Tsushima City, Nagasaki Prefecture, is located at the central of Tsuhima Channel between Japan and Korea. It has promoted marine protected areas designation from 2010 by organizing conference of mainly fishery sectors. Goto City, Nagasaki Prefecture, bears Saikai National Park of volcanic landscape and estuary seascape for 60 years. Additionally, the mediaeval port connecting Japan and continent trade was designated national heritage in 2014. Traditional fishery methods are still remained. Munakata City, Fukuoka Prefecture, is also archaeological place of Japanese ocean people history. In 2017, Okinoshima Island where is belong to Munakata will be registered as World Heritage for natural sanctuary and sacred place conserved by a local fishery group.
These city governments are trained to form conservation and utilization plan of these natural, historical and cultural coastal sites by themselves supported by specialists and governments. They communicate with neighbourhood countries historically. In this western Kyushu, potential to form MPA network is existed. Fishery sectors play roles not only fishery but conservation of the nature as marine debris measures and traditional knowledge. We specialists join to form each city’s planning based on ecological research and link our study sites each other to form MPA network.

The ecological status is one part in the assessment of ecosystem status through ecosystem appraoch to fisheries management (EAFM), including fish resources, habitats and fishing technology. The purpose of this study was to assess the status of reef fisheries management in a marine protected area and to determine the tactical decisions required to improve management. The study location was in Karimunjawa National Park (KNP) Jepara, Central Java, Indonesia between April and September 2015. Data was collected using survey and observation methods and included both primary and secondary data. Coral fish which were the object of the study were Caesio cuning, Caesio caerulaurea, Plectropomus oligacanthus, and Parupeneus barberinus. Determination of the status of each EAFM indicator was conducted using the flag model. Tactical decisions were necessary to improve the status of management indicators. The results indicated that the ecological status of reef fisheries management of KNP is at a moderate level with an achievement value of 62.75% Tactical decisions are necessary to push the 10 indicators to achieve a better level. Three indicators still received a poor status, and the remaining (seven indicators) were within the moderate status. Therefore, the three indicators that need to be improved quickly are fish abundance, fishing gear modification, and fishing capacity

Sharks and rays are seriously threatened by inappropriate exploitation worldwide. The removal of elasmobranchs from the ocean leads to an ecosystem imbalance resulted in fisheries declined, and the following severe economic impact. This present paper deals with the national action and practices of elasmobranch fisheries viewed from research and policy perspectives in Indonesia, an archipelagic country that blessed with the highest biodiversity of elasmobranchs species. In anatomizing the current research on elasmobranch fisheries, the authors has been largely referred to the peer reviewed papers presented at the National Symposium of Sharks and Rays in 2014, in Bogor, Indonesia. Additional information was that of collected by the authors during the last decade (2007-2016), where the data of sharks and rays fishing has been investigated from a variety of locations including the northern, southern, eastern Java, and Lombok. Lastly, the increasing whale sharks-based tourism in Kwatisore of the National Park of Cenderawasih Bay, Papua and Probolinggo waters, East Java, were also included to the analysis in order to portrait other form of exploitation. Based on policy point of view, we have explored the regulations issued by the government and further analysis on both implementation and its enforcement. The results were compared between the past and current practices in elasmobranch fisheries and to be challenged with sustainable principles in managing elasmobranch fisheries. It is concluded that the enforcement of the regulation and science-based management in elasmobranch fisheries remains ineffective, shown by the ill regulated fishing practices. More research-based management is mandatory to be done. The future management option namely ecosystem approach to fishery management (EAFM) may appropriate to be implemented.

Harbour porpoise Phocoena phocoena is a small toothed whale distributed in coastal waters of northern hemisphere. Unintentional catch of this species by fishing gears are frequently observed. Bycatch could have negative impacts on their population and efficiency of fishing operation. For the effective measures to avoid bycatch, the process until the entanglement in the net will be a clue. In the current study, the presence and behaviour of harbour porpoise around a bottom-gillnet were observed by using passive acoustic monitoring.
The subject gear was a flounder bottom-gillnet off Rausu, Hokkaido, Japan. The gillnet was soaked in the sea from 01:30 to 03:00 almost every day during the fishing season. Acoustic data loggers, A-tag (Fixed Type) was fixed at the each end of the gillnet from 9 to 25 July 2016. A-tag is an ultrasonic pulse event recorder to monitor echolocation sounds (clicks) of small odontocetes. The received sound pressure, time difference of sound arrival at two hydrophones and pulse intervals with absolute time were recorded. The time difference was used to separate independent sound sources to identify the number of presented animals within an observable range.
Harbour porpoise came to the gillnet in a group at least 2 or 3 animals simultaneously. The clicks were frequently recorded from 21:00 to 03:00, and peaked at 22:00. During this period, they stayed longer and deeper around the net than those in other periods. On 25 July, one harbour porpoise was found to be caught by this gillnet. The clicks considered to be recorded at this moment of bycatch were recorded. Which is the period of longer and deeper dives. This situation might contribute to elevate entanglement probability in the net.

Ecosystem approach to fisheries management (EAFM) has been strongly suggested as the better option for managing the fish and fisheries in the tropical complex marine ecosystems such in Indonesia. In this regards, the development of EAFM indicators and methodology has been conducted and set of testing and assessment has been implanted for number of fisheries units in Indonesia, including Palabuhanratu Bay, Indonesia. This paper contributes to the experience of assessing ecosystem approach for lobster fisheries management in Palabuhanratu Bay which consists of 5 species of lobsters namely P. homarus, P. versicolor, P. ornatus, P. penicillatus, P. longipes. The methodology used is modified from Zhang, et.al (2009) and Adrianto, et.al (2010). The results show that from the objective risk perspective (ORI), P. homarus, P. versicolor are considered as high risk species, the others are categorized in medium risk group. From the perspective of species risk (SRI), P. homarus, P. versicolor, P. ornatus and P. penicillatus are considered as medium risks while for fisheries risk perspective (FRI), lobster fisheries in Palabuhanratu Bay is assessed as medium risk. A tactical decision approach suggested by Gavaris (2009) is used for taking some management actions to improve the performance of lobster fisheries in Palabuharantu Bay, West Java, Indonesia.


Keywords : Ecosystem Approach to Fisheries Assessment (EAFA), Lobster Fisheries, Palabuhanratu Bay, Indonesia

The Bali Strait region has long been considered as an important area for oily sardine fisheries. The productive pelagic fisheries in this area are sustained through enhanced biological production during seasonal coastal upwelling. The study is aimed at understanding the variability of chlorophyll-a (Chl-a) concentration during El Ninõ and IOD positive phase and assessing their impact on oily sardine production. Monthly mean chl-a concentration in Bali Strait are derived from SeaWiFS and MODIS satellite imagery data. Monthly oily sardine catch data were obtained from the data of fish landing around Bali Strait. During El Ninõ and IOD positive phase the chl-a concentration and oily sardine catch was high in Bali Strait. The positive anomaly of chl-a can be related to upwelling intense during El Nino and IOD positive phase. Usually, the chl-a concentration reaches the highest in August-September related to Southeast monsoon, but during El Ninõ and IOD positive pahse the chl-a concentration was the highest until November. The relationship between chl-a concentration and oily sardine catch was significantly positive. The increased catch of oily sardine during El Ninõ and IOD can be attributed to abundance of oily sardine due to the enhancement biological productivity during El Ninõ and IOD positive phase.