Eastern Pigfish (Bodianus Unimaculatus)

I & I NSW Wild Fisheries research Program Eastern Pigfish (Bodianus unimaculatus)

Exploitation Status Fully Fished

The age composition of commercial landings suggests that fishing mortality is approximately the same as natural mortality.

Scientific name Standard name comment The most commonly harvested species of Bodianus unimaculatus eastern pigfish pigfish in NSW.

Male Bodianus unimaculatus Image © Bernard Yau

Background Eastern pigfish Bodianus( unimaculatus) are into male reproductive organs in certain distributed in the south-west Pacific from circumstances. The two sexes have distinct southern Queensland to Victoria, including Lord colour patterns, although occasionally fish are Howe and Norfolk islands, and the Kermadec found with an intermediate colouration. Islands. This eastern species was previously thought to be the same as the WA species, Eastern pigfish can live to about 30 years of age, B. vulpinus. Two other species are caught but the majority of fish caught are between in small quantities in the NSW fishery. The 5 and 15 years old. Pigfish have been shown to goldspot pigfish B.( perditio) is a sub-tropical be associated with kelp forests in New Zealand. species that occurs from central Queensland to They have also been found to be significantly the north coast of NSW. The yellowfin pigfish more abundant in NZ marine parks than in (B. flavipinnis) is a temperate species from south adjacent areas however this could be due to eastern Australia and New Zealand. It occurs the quality of habitat within the reserve rather in catches between central NSW and eastern than a reserve effect. In Australia, pigfish are Victoria. generally caught in depths greater than 50 m. Eastern pigfish are protogynous Most pigfish are taken as incidental catch in hermaphrodites, i.e. juveniles first develop the Ocean Trap and Line Fishery, and there is a female reproductive organs that may change small but significant recreational catch.

status of fisheries resources in nsw, 2008/09 Eastern Pigfish | p 113 wild fisheries research program

Additional Notes Landings by Commercial Fishery of Pigfish

• Pigfish comprise a small but consistent catch Ocean Trap and Line (Key Secondary Species) in the commercial trap fishery and fetch high

prices ($25/kg). 8 • Recreational catches are significant, and it is

possible that the recreational catch is greater 6 than the commercial catch.

• Pigfish mature at a relatively small size 4 (<23 cm) and are hermaphrodites, changing Landings (t)

sex from female to male at around 30 cm. 2 • Fishing mortality is estimated to be similar to

natural mortality. 0 97/98 99/00 01/02 03/04 05/06 07/08

• Commercial landings have declined since the Financial Year 1990s but there has also been a decline in trap fishing effort, and catch rates of pigfish Reported landings of pigfish by NSW commercial fisheries from 1997/98. Fisheries which contribute less in the trap fishery have remained low and than 2.5% of the landings are excluded for clarity and stable. privacy. • Pigfish is a key secondary species within the Ocean Trap and Line Fishery and is not subject to any specific bag limit or minimum size regulations for recreational fishers. Catch Per Unit Effort Information of Pigfish Harvested by Fish Trapping in NSW

Catch 1.0 Recreational Catch of Pigfish 0.8 The annual recreational harvest of pigfish in

NSW is likely to be less than 20 t. This estimate 0.6 is based upon the results of the recreational

offshore trailer boat survey (Steffeet al. 1996) 0.4

and onsite surveys undertaken by I & I NSW. Relative Catch Rate 0.2

Historical Landings of Pigfish 0.0

93/94 98/99 03/04 08/09 Financial Year 8

Catch rates of pigfish harvested using fish trapping for NSW. Two indicators are provided: (1) median catch rate 6 (lower solid line); and (2) 90th percentile of the catch rate (upper dashed line). Note that catch rates are not a robust indicator of abundance in many cases. Caution 4 should be applied when interpreting these results. Landings (t) 2 0

90/91 92/93 94/95 96/97 98/99 00/01 02/03 04/05 06/07 08/09 Financial Year Commercial landings (including available historical records) of pigfish for NSW from 1990/91 to 2008/09 for all fishing methods.

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Growth Curve of EasternEastern Pigfish Blackspot Pigfish Further Reading Ault, J.S., S.G. Smith, G.A. Diaz and E. Franklin (2003). 40 Florida hogfish fishery stock assessment. Final report to the Florida Marine Research Institute, Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric

35 Science, University of Miami: 89 pp. Gomon, M.F. (2006). A revision of the labrid fish genus Bodianus with descriptions of eight new species. FL (cm)

30 Records of the Australian Museum, Supplement 30: 1-133. Gomon, M.F. and J.E. Randall (1978). Review of the Hawaiian fishes of the labrid tribeBodianini . Bulletin 25 of Marine Science 28: 32-48. Hoffman, S.G. (1985). Effects of size and sex on the

5 10 15 20 25 30 social organization of reef-associated hogfishes, Bodianus spp., Environmental Biology of Fishes 14: Age (years) 185-197. Age-length data with fitted growth curve for eastern pigfish (Stewart and Hughes, 2008). Lengths are Steffe, S., J. Murphy, D. Chapman, B.E. Tarlington, presented as fork length (FL). G.N.G. Gordon and A. Grinberg (1996). An assessment of the impact of offshore recreational fishing in New South Wales on the management of commercial fisheries. Project no. 94/053. Sydney, NSW Fisheries Research Institute: 139 pp. Length Frequency of Eastern Pigfish Stewart, J. and J. M. Hughes (2008). Determining

2004/05−2005/06 appropriate sizes at harvest for species shared n = 324 by the commercial trap and recreational fisheries

0.15 in New South Wales. FRDC Project No. 2004/035. Fisheries Final Report Series No.97 Cronulla, NSW Department of Primary Industries: 282pp. 0.10 Proportion Please visit the CSIRO website, 0.05 http://www.marine.csiro.au/caab/ and search for the species code (CAAB) 37 384061, 37 384007 and

0.00 37 384035, common name or scientific name to find 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 further information. FL (cm) The length distribution of eastern pigfish landed by NSW commercial fishers during 2004 to 2006 was comprised mainly of fish between 25 and 35 cm fork length (FL). There is no minimum legal length for pigfish in NSW.

© State of New South Wales through Industry and Investment NSW 2010. You may copy, distribute and otherwise freely deal with this publication for any purpose, provided that you attribute Industry and Investment NSW as the owner.

Disclaimer: The information contained in this publication is based on knowledge and understanding at the time of writing (April 2010). However, because of advances in knowledge, users are reminded of the need to ensure that information upon which they rely is up to date and to check currency of the information with the appropriate officer of Industry and Investment NSW or the user’s independent adviser.

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