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Project details
| Title: | Huon estuary study: environmental research for integrated catchment management and aquaculture (FRDC project no. 96/284) 1996-1998 |
| Id: | 198 |
| Acronym: | Huon Estuary Study |
| Investigator(s): | Edward Butler
CSIRO Oceans & Atmosphere - Hobart [details] |
| Description: | This project is a three-year survey of the Huon Estuary system in SE Tasmania, which is the site of a growing aquaculture industry. It will provide the scientific basis to improve the management of the Estuary and is part of a more general Huon Catchment - Healthy Rivers Project. Primary outcomes of the project will be: (i) a physical description of the estuary that includes simulations via a computer model; (ii) the effects of nutrients released from fish farms and other human activities compared with natural sources, and their relation with algal blooms; (iii) better scientific knowledge for aquaculturalists in managing their leases; and (iv) cost-effective monitoring strategies for industry and environmental managers. |
| Description (full): | The Huon Estuary Study, which began in mid-1996, is one of the most comprehensive surveys of an Australian estuary. A pioneering CSIRO study, it will provide the scientific basis to improve the management of the Huon River estuary, with the valuable aquaculture industry as a focus. The three-year, $1.9 million study, funded in part by the Fisheries Research & Development Corporation and under the umbrella of the Huon Catchment - Healthy Rivers Project, is assessing the environmental conditions of the waterway. Tackling the investigation will be a team of environmental scientists from CSIRO's Division of Marine Research, who are working with commercial fish farmers, Tassal and Huon Aquaculture, and with staff from relevant Tasmanian Government departments and agencies. The study should stand as a national model. The research work is in two parts. The first looks at estuarine waters, and comprises surveys of the full estuary (25 or more sites at about three-monthly intervals), and five time-series stations. Automatic monitoring systems at the time-series stations will pick out shorter term changes, over hours or days, that are not seen in the broader estuarine surveys. Sediment investigations are the second phase of the project. Field and laboratory work will help to characterise sediments, and reveal the role of sediments in cycling of nutrients and generally in the environmental health of the Huon Estuary. Fallowing times for recovery of sediments to baseline conditions, after fish cage deployment, is to be studied in a pilot investigation. Primary outcomes of the project will be: (i) a physical description of the estuary that includes simulations via a computer model; (ii) the effects of nutrients released from fish farms and other human activities compared with natural sources, and their relation with algal blooms; (iii) better scientific knowledge for aquaculturalists in managing their leases; and (iv) cost-effective monitoring strategies for industry and environmental managers. |
| Years: | 1996 to 1998 |
| Remarks: | Information from project www site at http://www.marine.csiro.au/ResProj/CoasEnvMarPol/HuonEst.html |
List of surveys that this project was on.
Use [details] link to view survey details (map, reports, metadata etc) including links to download data.
| Survey | Investigator | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Huon Estuary Survey (1996-1998) [details] |
E. Butler (CSIRO) | Over the period 1996-1998, a multi-disciplinary study was undertaken of the Huon Estuary in SE Tasmania, including a comprehensive suite of physical, chemical and biological observations with the aim of establishing the characteristics of the estuary and its susceptibility to changes in land or water usage. |