I & I NSW Wild research Program Eastern Sea Garfish (Hyporhamphus australis)

Exploitation Status overfished

Despite some encouraging signs in the 2007/08 age composition, the stock does not appear to be recovering and there is still a lack of older (2-6 years) in the population.

Scientific name Standard name comment Hyporhamphus australis eastern sea garfish

Hyporhamphus australis Image © Bernard Yau

Background Eastern sea garfish Hyporhamphus( australis) from the tip of the upper jaw) and at are found in sheltered bays, coastal waters, and 1 year of age. They have been reported to occasionally in the lower reaches of estuaries attain approximately 40 cm fork length and from Moreton Bay in Queensland, to Eden in 6 years of age. Females grow faster and attain NSW, including Lord Howe and Norfolk Islands. larger sizes than males. They are elongate, marine, surface dwelling The for eastern sea garfish in NSW is with posterior dorsal and anal fins, a part of the Ocean Hauling Fishery, and uses deeply forked caudal fin with elongate lower garfish hauling nets to target schools of fish. lobe, and with the lower jaw much longer than These garfish hauling nets are designed to fish the upper. the surface layers and can be used either from Eastern sea garfish are multiple batch spawners boats or the shore; however the majority of in late spring and early summer (November- fishers are currently boat-based. The fishery is December) on the south coast of NSW and in distinctly seasonal, most catches being taken winter and early spring (June-September) on between December and May on the south coast the north coast. They produce relatively large and between March and June on the north eggs (~2.5 mm diameter) that are covered with coast. Reported annual commercial landings filaments of 5 to 10 mm long that allow them to have declined from around 200 t in the early attach to floating or benthic vegetation. Batch 1990s to less than 40 t in recent years. Recent fecundity increases linearly with fish length landings have been dominated (95%) by fish up to approximately 3500 eggs. Eastern sea less than 2 years old. garfish mature at ~21 cm fork length (measured

status of fisheries resources in nsw, 2008/09 Eastern sea garfish | p 129 research program

Additional Notes Landings by Commercial Fishery of Eastern Sea Garfish • Landings continue to be at historical lows. The catch per unit effort appears to be Ocean Hauling (Target Species) increasing but it is not expected to be a Estuary General reliable indicator of abundance for this

species. 150 • Recent years have seen continued

recruitment to the stock but the majority of 100

these fish are not surviving beyond the first Landings (t) year class. 50 • The fishery continues to be closely monitored.

A small improvement in the proportion of 0 the catch greater than 2 years old in 2007/08 97/98 99/00 01/02 03/04 05/06 07/08

does not appear to have been sustained Financial Year during 2008/09 (~92% less than 2 years old). Reported landings of eastern sea garfish by NSW commercial fisheries from 1997/98. Fisheries which • The relatively low abundance of fish greater contribute less than 2.5% of the landings are excluded than 2 years of age in the population for clarity and privacy. may have reduced spawning output and subsequent recruitment. Growth Curve of EasternSea Sea Garfish Garfish (male) -Males

• There is a recreational bag limit of 20 eastern 30 sea garfish. 25 Catch Recreational Catch of Eastern Sea Garfish 20

The annual recreational harvest of eastern sea FL (cm) garfish in NSW is likely to be less than 10 t. This 15 estimate is based upon the results of the offsite

National Recreational and Indigenous 10 Survey (Henry and Lyle, 2003) and onsite surveys undertaken by I & I NSW. 5

0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5

Historical Landings of Eastern Sea Garfish Age (years) Age-length data with fitted growth curve for male eastern sea garfish (Stewartet al., 2005). Lengths are

250 presented as fork length (FL).

200 Growth Curve of EasternSea GarfishSea Garfish (female) -Females 150 35 Landings (t) 100 30 50 25 0 20 68/69 78/79 88/89 98/99 08/09 FL (cm) Financial Year

Commercial landings (including available historical 15 records) of eastern sea garfish for NSW from 1960/61 to 2008/09 for all fishing methods. 10 5

0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5 3.0 3.5

Age (years) Age-length data with fitted growth curve for female eastern sea garfish (Stewartet al., 2005). Lengths are presented as fork length (FL).

p 130 | Eastern sea garfish status of fisheries resources in nsw, 20008/09

Length Frequency of Eastern Sea Garfish Further Reading

0.20 Henry, G.W. and J.M. Lyle (2003). The National 1999/00−2003/04 Recreational and Indigenous Fishing Survey. Final n = 28 240 Report to the Fisheries Research & Development

0.15 Corporation and the Fisheries Action Program Project FRDC 1999/158. NSW Fisheries Final Report Series No. 48. 188 pp. Cronulla, NSW Fisheries. 0.10

Proportion Hughes, J.M. and J. Stewart (2006). Reproductive biology of three commercially important 0.05 Hemiramphid species in south-eastern Australia, Environmental Biology of Fishes 75 (2): 237-256.

0.00 Smith, K.A. (2002). Review of eastern sea garfish and 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 other commercially significant garfish species in New South Wales - their fishery and biology.

0.20 Cronulla, NSW Fisheries. 2004/05−2006/07 n = 12 005 Steffe, A.S., J.J. Murphy, D.J. Chapman, G.P. Barret and

0.15 C.C. Gray (2005). An assessment of changes in the daytime, boat-based, recreational fishery of the Tuross Lake estuary following the establishment of

0.10 a ‘Recreational Fishing Haven’. 70 pp. Cronulla, NSW

Proportion Fisheries.

0.05 Stewart, J. (2007). Observer study in the Estuary General sea garfish haul net fishery in NSW. Fisheries Final Report Series 87. Cronulla, Australia, 0.00 NSW Fisheries. 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 Stewart, J. and J.M. Hughes (2007). Age validation and growth of three commercially important 0.20 2007/08−2008/09 hemiramphids in south-eastern Australia, Journal of n = 3669 Fish Biology 70 (1): 65-82. 0.15 Stewart, J., C. Walsh, D. Reynolds, B. Kendall and C. Gray (2004). Determining an optimal mesh size

0.10 for use in the lampara net fishery for eastern

Proportion sea garfish,Hyporhamphus australis, Fisheries Management and Ecology 11 (6): 403-410. 0.05 Stewart, J., J.M. Hughes, C.A. Gray and C. Walsh (2005). Life history, reproductive biology, habitat use and

0.00 fishery status of eastern sea garfishHyporhamphus ( 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 australis) and river garfish H.( regularis ardelio) FL (cm) in NSW waters. FRDC Project 2001/027. 180 pp. Cronulla, NSW Fisheries. The length distribution of eastern sea garfish in NSW commercial landings has remained relatively stable since 2000, with the majority of fish being between 20 and 30 cm fork length (FL) during this period (fork length Please visit the CSIRO website, is measured from the tip of the upper jaw to the fork in http://www.marine.csiro.au/caab/ and search for the the tail). No representative length composition data are species code (CAAB) 37 234014, common name or available prior to the 1999/2000 year. In NSW, there is no scientific name to find further information. minimum legal length for eastern sea garfish.

© 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.

Eastern sea garfish | p 131 wild fisheries research program

p 132 | Eastern sea garfish