AN INVESTMENT of $800,000 by the WA Government has netted $3.4 million from the Fisheries Research Development Corpora-tion for thirteen fisheries’ research projects.
The FRDC is a Commonwealth-funded research and development body that facilitates a coordinated national fisheries research program. Funding for FRDC projects is conditional on financial contributions by each state.
The biggest allocation for a Fish-eries WA project was $484,586 to find a way to predict the abundance of salmon, herring, tailor, yellow eye mullet, sea mullet, yellow fin whiting and King George whiting in the south west.
Other projects receiving funding include:
• $1 million to the CSIRO to dev-elop techniques for enhancing prawn fisheries, in particular brown tiger prawns in Exmouth Gulf
• $309,307 to research the age, growth, reproductive biology and stock assessment of black snapper in the Gascoyne
• $332,817 to South Metropolitan College of TAFE to further develop aquaculture techniques for WA dhufish production
• $123,007 to the Australian Insti-tute of Marine Science project researching pearl oyster genetics
• $135,591 to research pilchard nursery areas and assess the recruitment process between different regions in southern WA.
