Saiyana Baksh

The Best Graduate Presentation Award is bestowed upon a graduate student who exhibits outstanding presentation skills and depth of research at the FCAL conference. This accolade acknowledges a presenter who skillfully combines comprehensive research, clear and impactful communication, and innovative thinking. It recognizes the presenter's ability to not only convey complex concepts and findings in an accessible and engaging manner but also to push the boundaries of their field, offering new insights and perspectives. The award highlights the significance of advanced research and scholarly communication in driving academic and professional growth.

Estimated factors affecting apparent survival of the red-legged banana prawns in Joseph Bonaparte Gulf

Saiyana Baksh* and David J. Die

The Northern Prawn Fishery harvests red-legged banana prawn (Penaeus indicus) for human consumption. As a result, understanding what factors influence prawn survival is critical to optimize the fishery's long-term sustainable goals and achieve optimal outcomes for all consumers of this product. One of the co-principal investigators who conducted numerous studies in this newly developed fishery over 25 years ago agreed to permit data access. Descriptive statistics, multiple linear regression, generalized linear models, and Welch's two-sample t-test were used to analyze the data. The findings indicated statistically significant relationships between categorical variables and survivability. Furthermore, the results suggested that factors such as the depth at which the red-legged prawns were caught and recaptured, as well as the initial size of tagging, may influence their size increment. Although the findings of this study may not be applicable to today’s modern prawn fishery, the fishery is constantly evolving, and more research is needed to determine which factors are changing and which remain constant.