Standard Presentation 2024 Australian Marine Sciences Association Annual Meeting combined with NZMSS

Development of a temperature monitoring framework for Tasmania's seafood industry during marine heatwaves (#279)

Samantha Twiname 1 , Benjamin Quigley 1 , Caleb Gardner 1 , Craig Mundy 1 , Frances Seaborn 2 , Camille White 1
  1. Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies, Private Bag 49, Hobart, Tasmania
  2. Department of Natural Resources and Environment Tasmania, Hobart

Marine heatwaves can have devastating impacts on marine ecosystems, with modelling indicating sustained increases in water temperatures down the east coast of Tasmania for the summer of this year. These events have the potential to significantly impact fisheries, aquaculture, and the marine habitat. While sea surface temperature models from BOM and NOAA can provide information regarding broadscale patterns, missing is fine-scale, near-coastal and below surface information that is highly relevant to fisheries, aquaculture and marine coastal environments. While some industries monitor temperature as part of operations (e.g. salmon, oyster aquaculture), other industries are missing any fine-scale information that may be of relevance to their operations. Here, we developed an applied approach to collecting these missing data by deploying temperature loggers on commercial fishing equipment. We trialled methods using rock lobster, octopus and scalefish fisheries, developing techniques for mounting loggers on nets, pots and in holding wells of boats. Data collected using this method was scaled and compared to both NOAA and NASA models, as well as long-term temperature data collected by IMAS. Overall, this pilot program aimed to develop industry-relevant temperature monitoring methods for industry for future marine heatwave events.