Biology, Stock Status and Management Summaries for Selected Fish Species in South-Western Australia
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Fisheries Research Report No. 242, 2013 Biology, stock status and management summaries for selected fish species in south-western Australia Claire B. Smallwood, S. Alex Hesp and Lynnath E. Beckley Fisheries Research Division Western Australian Fisheries and Marine Research Laboratories PO Box 20 NORTH BEACH, Western Australia 6920 Correct citation: Smallwood, C. B.; Hesp, S. A.; and Beckley, L. E. 2013. Biology, stock status and management summaries for selected fish species in south-western Australia. Fisheries Research Report No. 242. Department of Fisheries, Western Australia. 180pp. Disclaimer The views and opinions expressed in this publication are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the Department of Fisheries Western Australia. While reasonable efforts have been made to ensure that the contents of this publication are factually correct, the Department of Fisheries Western Australia does not accept responsibility for the accuracy or completeness of the contents, and shall not be liable for any loss or damage that may be occasioned directly or indirectly through the use of, or reliance on, the contents of this publication. Fish illustrations Illustrations © R. Swainston / www.anima.net.au We dedicate this guide to the memory of our friend and colleague, Ben Chuwen Department of Fisheries 3rd floor SGIO Atrium 168 – 170 St Georges Terrace PERTH WA 6000 Telephone: (08) 9482 7333 Facsimile: (08) 9482 7389 Website: www.fish.wa.gov.au ABN: 55 689 794 771 Published by Department of Fisheries, Perth, Western Australia. Fisheries Research Report No. 242, March 2013. ISSN: 1035 - 4549 ISBN: 978-1-921845-56-7 ii Fisheries Research Report No.242, 2013 Contents ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ................................................................................................ 1 INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................... 2 CRITERIA EVALUATED .................................................................................................. 4 ABBREVIATIONS .............................................................................................................. 14 FISH SPECIES REPORTS ................................................................................................. 15 Cobbler (Cnidoglanis macrocephalus) .......................................................................... 15 Southern garfish(Hyporhamphus melanochir) ............................................................. 21 Bight redfish Centroberyx( gerrardi) ............................................................................. 26 Southern blue spotted flathead(Platycephalus speculator) ........................................... 31 Breaksea cod (Ephinephelides armatus) ........................................................................ 35 Harlequin fish(Othos dentex) ....................................................................................... 39 Eightbar grouper (Hyporthodus octofasciatus) ............................................................. 43 Hapuku (Polyprion oxygeneios) .................................................................................... 47 West Australian dhufish (Glaucosoma hebraicum) ....................................................... 52 Yellowfin whiting(Sillago schomburgkii) .................................................................... 59 King George whiting (Sillaginodes punctata) ............................................................... 64 Tailor (Pomatomus saltatrix) ......................................................................................... 70 Silver trevally (Pseudocaranx georgianus) .................................................................... 76 Samson fish(Seriola hippos) ......................................................................................... 82 Mahi mahi (Coryphaena hippurus) ................................................................................ 86 Western Australian salmon (Arripis truttaceus) ............................................................ 92 Australian herring (Arripis georgianus) ........................................................................ 97 Black bream (Acanthopagrus butcheri) ......................................................................... 102 Pink snapper (Pagrus auratus) ....................................................................................... 110 Tarwhine (Rhabdosargus sarba) ................................................................................... 121 Mulloway (Argyrosomus japonicus) ............................................................................ 126 Blue morwong (Nemadactylus valenciennesi) ............................................................. 132 Yelloweye mullet (Aldrichetta forsteri) ........................................................................ 136 Sea mullet (Mugil cephalus) .......................................................................................... 141 Western blue groper (Achoerodus gouldii) .................................................................. 148 Foxfish (Bodianus frenchii) .......................................................................................... 152 Brown spotted wrasse (Notolabrus parilus) .................................................................. 156 Baldchin groper (Choerodon rubescens) ....................................................................... 161 Blue-eye trevalla (Hyperoglyphe antarctica) ................................................................ 166 Banded toadfish(Torquigener pleurogramma) .............................................................. 171 Fisheries Research Report No.242, 2013 iii iv Fisheries Research Report No.242, 2013 Acknowledgements We are grateful to the following people who, collectively, provided detailed feedback on all the species summaries contained in this report. Thank you for sharing your extensive scientific knowledge of these species, which has greatly improved the quality and accuracy of this guide. • Joshua Brown (DoF) • Ben Chuwen (Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies) • Peter Coulson (Murdoch University) • Brett Crisafulli (Murdoch University) • David Fairclough (DoF) • Emily Fisher (Murdoch University) • Ben French (Murdoch University) • Glenn Hyndes (Edith Cowan University) • Gary Jackson (DoF) • Paul Lewis (DoF) • Brett Molony (DoF) • Ross Marriott (DoF) • Stephen Newman (DoF) • Ian Potter (Murdoch University) • Andrew Roland (Recfishwest) • Kim Smith (DoF) • Corey Wakefield (DoF) We are also grateful to Norm Hall, Lindsay Joll, Brett Molony and Brent Wise for valuable discussions relating to the development of this guide and for providing additional feedback on sections relating to fisheries management. We thank the following people who participated in the workshop held in June 2011 for their suggestions on improving the content and layout of the guide: Neil MacGuffie, Joshua Brown, Peter Coulson, Emily Fisher, Glenn Hyndes, Gary Jackson, Kane Moyle, Kevin Donohue and Elena Sulin. We gratefully acknowledge Murdoch University for providing seed funding for this project and the Australian Fisheries Research and Development Corporation for the financial support that enabled this guide to be developed. This guide was developed as part of FRDC project No. 2010/001, entitled "Predicting the impacts of shifting recreational fishing effort towards inshore species". Fisheries Research Report No.242, 2013 1 Introduction Objective Many people are interested in fishes, but often it can be difficult to access reliable information on the biology, status and management of a particular fish species. Although there is a long history of world class fisheries research and management in Australia, the full details are generally only available in a fragmented manner in various scientific journals, books and reports. In some cases, these sources of information can be difficult to find and, even for fisheries researchers and managers, who usually have access to scientific journals, certain types of information such as unpublished reports or student theses, can be hard to acquire. The first objective in developing this guide was thus to collate a range of important details relating to current biological understanding, stock status and management for 30 of Western Australia’s most important and/or well known, temperate marine fish species. The second objective was to provide a comprehensive list of publications relevant to each species, to enable easier access to more detailed information on those species. Features of the content and layout Given the large number of species of fish in temperate Western Australia (Wakefieldet al., in press), it is impossible to incorporate all of the recreationally and/or commercially important temperate fishes within this guide. With input from researchers and managers (Department of Fisheries, Murdoch University and Edith Cowan University) and other fishing industry stakeholders (Recfishwest and WAFIC) during a workshop held in June 2011, 30 of the most commonly-targeted and/or widely recognised temperate fish species in Western Australia were identified for inclusion in the guide. These include species caught by both the recreational and commercial sectors, and which, collectively, are found in estuaries and temperate marine ecosystems, i.e. in nearshore and offshore coastal waters, in the water column (pelagic) or near the sea-floor (demersal). The fish species have