Predicting the impacts of freshwater-flow alterations on prawn (Penaeus merguiensis) catches

Duggan, Melissa; Bayliss, Peter; Burford, Michele A.

doi:10.1016/j.fishres.2019.02.013

Cited by 11 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 29 publications

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“…Variability in physical and biogeochemical process pathways creates a wide range of ecological niches and unique patterns of connectivity between them. This supports biodiversity (Sun et al, 2013;Sun et al, 2015), and many organisms have evolved life history traits tuned to the wide variations in physicochemical conditions (Sun et al, 2015;Zhang M. et al, 2017;Duggan et al, 2019;Izegaegbe et al, 2020).…”

Section: Key Estuarine Ecosystem Processesmentioning

confidence: 76%

Environmental Flow Requirements of Estuaries: Providing Resilience to Current and Future Climate and Direct Anthropogenic Changes

Chilton

Hamilton

Nagelkerken

et al. 2021

Front. Environ. Sci.

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Estuaries host unique biodiversity and deliver a range of ecosystem services at the interface between catchment and the ocean. They are also among the most degraded ecosystems on Earth. Freshwater flow regimes drive ecological processes contributing to their biodiversity and economic value, but have been modified extensively in many systems by upstream water use. Knowledge of freshwater flow requirements for estuaries (environmental flows or E-flows) lags behind that of rivers and their floodplains. Generalising estuarine E-flows is further complicated by responses that appear to be specific to each system. Here we critically review the E-flow requirements of estuaries to 1) identify the key ecosystem processes (hydrodynamics, salinity regulation, sediment dynamics, nutrient cycling and trophic transfer, and connectivity) modulated by freshwater flow regimes, 2) identify key drivers (rainfall, runoff, temperature, sea level rise and direct anthropogenic) that generate changes to the magnitude, quality and timing of flows, and 3) propose mitigation strategies (e.g., modification of dam operations and habitat restoration) to buffer against the risks of altered freshwater flows and build resilience to direct and indirect anthropogenic disturbances. These strategies support re-establishment of the natural characteristics of freshwater flow regimes which are foundational to healthy estuarine ecosystems.

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Section: Key Estuarine Ecosystem Processesmentioning

confidence: 76%

Environmental Flow Requirements of Estuaries: Providing Resilience to Current and Future Climate and Direct Anthropogenic Changes

Chilton

Hamilton

Nagelkerken

et al. 2021

Front. Environ. Sci.

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“…Using a novel approach to model the effects of river flows and climate predictors, we found a greater decline in banana prawn catch across all extraction scenarios in years with low to medium river flows than those with high and very high flows. Previous research in this region has linked the variation in catch by using rainfall as proxy for flow or modeled temporal changes in flow from only one or two rivers (e.g., Vance et al 1985, 2003, Staples and Maliel 1994, Venables et al 2011, Duggan et al 2019). Despite differences in statistical approaches between previous studies and our Bayesian spatiotemporal model, we found some similarities in results.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…It is also possible that periods of sustained low salinity due to high freshwater flows may prevent recently emigrated juvenile banana prawns from returning to their preferred near‐shore habitats. The food supply for banana prawns (benthic animals) in the estuaries is also impacted by low salinity, resulting in major reductions in food availability (Duggan et al 2019). The estuarine benthic community only re‐establishes as salinity increases during the dry season.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…One of the methods used to protect low flows is to set a minimum flow or trigger level below which water extraction must reduce or cease (Kenyon et al 2018). Trigger levels should be set quantitatively, deploying the latest empirical studies and modeling to define a rigorous flow level that supports ecosystem stability in each river and catchment (see Bayliss et al 2014, Petheram et al 2018, Pollino et al 2018, Duggan et al 2019).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Impact of water development on river flows and the catch of a commercial marine fishery

et al. 2020

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The growing demand for freshwater resources has led to dam construction and water diversions in a majority of the world's large rivers. With an increasing demand for freshwater, trade‐offs between water allocations and the preservation of ecological connections between terrestrial and marine ecosystems are inevitable. The ecological links formed by rivers flowing into the ocean benefit many commercially fished species. The degree to which different species and the livelihoods of fishers are negatively impacted by changes in river flows due to water extraction or diversion is important for management across terrestrial and marine boundaries. Our objective was to predict how changes in freshwater flows from three wet–dry tropical rivers in northern Australia, that is, the Mitchell, Gilbert, and Flinders rivers, affect the commercial banana prawn (Penaeus merguiensis) catch. We used a novel spatiotemporal Bayesian approach to model the effects of river flows and key climate drivers on banana prawn catch. We then predicted how the loss of flow due to water extraction or diversion affected prawn catch. Our analyses of three water development scenarios found that catch was most impacted by water extraction during low flows. The impact of water extraction was greatest for a scenario with dams on the Mitchell River, where we predicted catch would decline by 53% during a year with low flow. Overall, our results imply that maintenance of low‐level flows is a crucial requirement for sustained fishery yields. We suggest that water managers must balance agricultural demand for water during drier years against the impact of water extraction on prawn fisheries during low‐flow years. Protecting low‐level flows during drier years is a priority for maintaining terrestrial–marine linkages for adjacent marine fisheries.

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“…Increased juvenile growth rates may lead to increased catch rates in later years through improved survival of juveniles (Perez & Munch, 2010), which can result in a stronger cohort (Campana, 1996) that is later encountered at higher numbers in the fishery (Ricker, 1979;Maunder et al, 2016). Freshwater flows are similarly important to a number of commercially targeted fishery species in northern Australia (Robins et al, 2005;Halliday et al, 2012), including the high-value banana prawn (Penaeus merguiensis, de Man, 1888) fishery (Duggan et al, 2019;Broadley et al, 2020) and mud crab (Scylla spp.) fishery (Meynecke et al, 2012b).…”

Section: Flow Drivers Of Otolith Increment Widthmentioning

confidence: 99%

River flows affect the growth of a tropical finfish in the wet-dry rivers of northern Australia, with implications for water resource development

Leahy¹,

Robins

2021

Hydrobiologia

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Freshwater is a critical input to estuaries but is under increasing demand to support upstream human activities. In this study, otolith biochronology was used to quantify the relationship between river discharge and juvenile growth rates of barramundi (Lates calcarifer) in three regions of the Gulf of Carpentaria in northern Australia. In all regions, river discharge had a strong positive effect on juvenile growth rates. Models were also developed which incorporated the Southern Oscillation Index (SOI) and the Madden-Julian Oscillation (MJO). SOI values corresponding to La Niña events had strong positive consequences for juvenile barramundi growth rates in all regions, and the intensity of positive wet season MJO pulses had a strong positive effect on growth rates in the perennially flowing river, but not the intermittently flowing rivers. The consequences of three hypothetical water development scenarios were estimated for the perennial river. The model predicted a 12%, 8% and 1% reduction in annual barramundi growth rates under proposed scenarios for 18%, 8%, and 3% reduction in river discharge, respectively. Fish growth is a robust, quantitative metric that can be monitored pre and post water resource development to identify the least impactful development scenario and monitor its compliance and success through time.

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Predicting the impacts of freshwater-flow alterations on prawn (Penaeus merguiensis) catches

Cited by 11 publications

References 29 publications

Environmental Flow Requirements of Estuaries: Providing Resilience to Current and Future Climate and Direct Anthropogenic Changes

Environmental Flow Requirements of Estuaries: Providing Resilience to Current and Future Climate and Direct Anthropogenic Changes

Impact of water development on river flows and the catch of a commercial marine fishery

River flows affect the growth of a tropical finfish in the wet-dry rivers of northern Australia, with implications for water resource development

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