NSW have recently launched two major initiatives for the management of Blue Swimmer Crab (BSC) and Giant Mud Crab (GMC). The success of these initiatives is dependent on greater knowledge of the spawning dynamics and early life history of both species.

The current project aims to generate much of this data by :

• describing temporal and spatial patterns in settlement and juvenile habitat use;
• defining and modelling links between environmental variables and these patterns;
• using this information to develop an independent measure of recruitment linking the effects of environmental variability on recruitment to future catch quotas; and
• interpreting patterns in recruitment limitation to target a large-scale release of BSC, and analyse post-release abundance patterns to better understand recruitment bottlenecks and improve modelled relationships.