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Hobart
The Tasmanian Aquaculture and Fisheries Institute is one of Australia’s
premier fisheries research facilities and is recognised as a world leader in
rock lobster research.
Recently we have pioneered the development and application of tagging models
to estimate key fisheries parameters in lobster fisheries using mark-recapture
data. For example, we can now use tagging data to estimate the size of the stock,
which is extremely useful for setting limits on catches. There is considerable
interest internationally in these models although many scientists do not have
the background to build programs to run these models and to obtain the visual
outputs. In Tasmania we have are developing our sampling programs to use these
models routinely in the future.
During the 1990’s TAFI instigated a large mark-recapture program that
generated sufficient data to develop and test a number of mark-recapture survival
models. Over the last 3 years a PhD student (Mr Paul Burch) has developed a
new survival model in addition to the previous adaptations undertaken by the
TAFI lobster research group. These models are now all available in the “R”
programming language.
In this project we wish to develop a web-based GUI to support these models.
The intention would be for users to be able to enter their data via simple online
prompts and then run the appropriate model online. Outputs would include graphical
presentations of the estimated parameters, model selection criteria to determine
the most suitable model and graphical comparisons of goodness of fit statistics
to determine how well the model fits the data.
We envisage that the interface would become a component of the University-TAFI
webpage and would be used worldwide. If there is a need for further development
beyond this project there maybe the potential to fund further work.
The project could be taken to different levels depending on the capability of
the programmers. For example, it would be possible to develop more sophisticated
graphing and reporting components, or systems for storing and retrieving different
model runs.
The mark-recapture models have been programmed in “R” and thus the students would need to understand “R” to be able to develop the web-based GUI.
Client Name (person who will be student contact): Stewart Frusher
Phone Number (business hours): 03 6227 7271
Mobile Number (if have one): 0439378743
Email Address: stewart.frusher@utas.edu.au
Website (if have one):
Address (where students will visit, not PO Box):
TAFI - Marine Research Laboratories,
Nubeena Crescent,
Taroona
The estimated software difficulty rating is 4