The MFL team are putting the final touches on the genetic analyses of the Chilean skate project. Skates are threatened worldwide. There are many examples of management plans that do not provide enough protection against overfishing. The two species in Chile are a good example. New genetic data show several management units for Zearaja chilensis […]
Category Archives: Latest News
We are keen to give you a brief snapshot of results of the gemfish project. As expected, the presence of two main stocks has been confirmed: one in the Great Australian Bight (GAB) and the other on the east coast of Australia. The amount of genetic difference between them is unusually large for a marine fish […]
Andy Moore is visiting MFL this week to discuss outcomes of gemfish project. The project is addressing knowledge gaps about this important Australian fisheries resource. Andy, Jenny and Carlos are discussing new genetic information about gemfish populations from the project, and its significance for the sustainable management of the stocks in future. (left: Andy Moore, right: […]
“If we’d estimated white shark abundance in the past using digital-DNA, we’d know whether shark attacks are increasing because there are more sharks around or for other reasons” Read more about the digital-DNA method and its application to estimating abundance of sharks in a recent press release from UQ.
The Molecular Fisheries Laboratory at the University of Queensland has just released eFish. eFish is a virtual library of genomic data for marine fish species. It is a major part of the project “Genome diversity of elasmobranchs of the Pacific Ocean Rim: Bioinformatics for conservation and management of populations” led by Dr Carlos Bustamante at the MFL. […]
MFL associate, Christine Dudgeon, attended the inaugural Citizen Science conference in Canberra on 23-24 July 2015. Citizen science is the collaboration between members of the public and scientists to design research projects and collect and analyse the data. At present, Chris is working with Jenny and colleagues at MFL on the genetic stock structure of three inshore fish species […]
At the MFL, we are keen to develop genetic methods for assessing abundance of fisheries populations. One method being explored is genetic effective population size. We are focusing on shark and ray populations, because they are generally less abundant than species like finfish and shellfish and the math is easier. A new study that was published today […]
This week postgrads from MFL and the Bennett lab at UQ are presenting their work at the Oceania Chondrichthyian Society conference in New Zealand. Left to right: Safia Maher – tiger sharks, Deb Bowden – grey nurse sharks, Carolina Vagas-Caro – Chilean skates, Bonnie Holmes – tiger sharks, Kate Burgess – Manta rays Photo: Carlos Bustamante
Dean and Jenny presented their work to the final workshop for the FRDC-funded project “Shark Futures: sustainable management of the NSW whaler shark fishery“. Their role within the project was to genetically resolve the effective population size of the dusky and sandbar sharks targeted in the Ocean Trap and Line Fishery. Vic Peddemors, Paul Butcher and […]
Three MFL students have been awarded funds for travel and research. Carolina Vargas-Caro and Safia Maher received Student Travel Awards to attend the upcoming conference of the New Zealand Marine Sciences Society and Oceania Chondrichthyan Society at the University of Auckland 6 – 9th July 2015. Carolina will speak about her work on the population […]