Cuttlefish (Sepia Spp.)

I & I NSW Wild Fisheries research Program Cuttlefish (Sepia spp.)

Exploitation Status UNcertain

Species composition issues will restrict our ability to assess these stocks. All species in this group are likely to exhibit rapid growth and have a short life span.

Scientific name common name comment

Sepia rozella rosecone cuttlefish Major species caught in ocean trawls.

Smaller quantities caught in offshore Sepia hedleyi king cuttlefish trawling off central and southern NSW.

Sepia apama giant cuttlefish Only small quantities are caught.

At least three other Sepia species are caught Sepia spp. cuttlefish (group code) off NSW.

Sepia rozella Image © Bernard Yau Background productivity. They grow quickly and, like most Cuttlefish (family Sepiidae) are cephalopods cephalopods, have one breeding event in their characterized by an internal calcareous life. Males use specialized (hectocotylus) arms cuttlebone located dorsally beneath the skin to transfer sperm packets to the females. When of the mantle. World-wide there are about the females are ready to spawn, the eggs are 100 species with more than 30 known from fertilized externally and attached on or under Australian waters and at least 12 from NSW. hard substrates on the seafloor. The young Cuttlefish live in a range of habitats including are well-developed when they hatch and rocky and coral reefs, on sandy or muddy immediately adopt an adult-like lifestyle. substrates, and among seagrass and seaweed. In NSW, they are found in estuaries, across the At least 12 species of cuttlefish are known to continental shelf and upper slope to depths of occur in trawl catches off NSW, but as with about 600 m. The giant cuttlefish Sepia( apama) octopus, most of the landed catch consists of a can reach 50 cm in mantle length and weigh few species. Trawl-survey catches by Fisheries 12 kg but the maximum size of most Australian Research Vessel Kapala found the most species is less than 20 cm mantle length and commonly encountered species of commercial 300 g in weight. size in prawn trawls off northern NSW was S. rozella with smaller numbers of S. plangon While there have been biological and stock and S. opipara, while in fish trawls off central structure studies on the giant cuttlefish in and southern NSW, S. rozella was again the most SA, little has been published about other abundant inshore and S. hedleyi was commonly Australian species. In general, cuttlefish are caught offshore. An assessment of cuttlefish short lived (1-2 years) but have relatively high consignments through the Sydney Fish Market

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was consistent with these observations by Historical Landings of Cuttlefish finding that almost 70% of sales wereS. rozella, 17% were S. hedleyi and 10% were S. apama

(giant cuttle). 400 Reported landings of cuttlefish in NSW were

150 – 250 t in the mid 1980s and peaked at 300 450 t in 1994/95. In the late 1990’s changes to catch reporting arrangements meant that 200 cuttlefish caught in Commonwealth waters Landings (t) were no longer reported on NSW catch returns, and this led to a decline in reported landings. 100 However there has recently been a further decline in landings, the reasons for which are 0 unknown. Cuttlefish are an important by- 78/79 83/84 88/89 93/94 98/99 03/04 08/09 product of trawling, particularly the Ocean Financial Year Prawn Trawl fishery which takes around 80% Landings (including available historical records) of of the catch. However, because of the mixed- cuttlefish for NSW from 1979/80 to 2008/09 for all fishing species nature of the catches there have been methods. Note that some of the decline in reported catch no stock assessments for any cuttlefish species during the 1990s may have been due to changes in catch recording requirements for fishers with both NSW and in NSW. Commonwealth licences.

Additional Notes Landings by Commercial Fishery of Cuttlefish • Cuttlefish are short-lived species with high natural mortality rates taken incidentally by Ocean Prawn Trawl (Primary Species) trawl fishing. Fish Trawl (Primary Species) • Giant cuttlefish is also significant in recreational catches. 350 300 • There is a combined recreational bag limit of 20 squid and cuttlefish. 250 200 Landings (t) Catch 150 100 Recreational Catch of Cuttlefish 50

The annual recreational harvest of cuttlefish in 0 NSW is likely to be less than 50 t. This estimate 97/98 99/00 01/02 03/04 05/06 07/08 is based upon the results of the offsite National Financial Year Recreational and Indigenous Fishing Survey (Henry and Lyle, 2003) and onsite surveys Reported landings of cuttlefish by NSW commercial fisheries from 1997/98. Fisheries which contribute less undertaken by I & I NSW. than 2.5% of the landings are excluded for clarity and privacy.

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Catch Per Unit Effort Information of Cuttlefish Denis, V. and J.P. Robin (2001). Present status of Harvested by Ocean Prawn Trawling in NSW the French Atlantic fishery for cuttlefishSepia ( officinalis). Fisheries Research 52 (1-2): 11-22. Dunn, M.R. (1999). Aspects of the stock dynamics and 1.0 exploitation of cuttlefish,Sepia officinalis (Linnaeus, 1758), in the English Channel. Fisheries Research 40

0.8 (3): 277-293. Dunning, M., S. McKinnon, C.C. Lu, J. Yeatman and 0.6 D. Cameron (1994). Demersal cephlopods of the Gulf of Carpenteria, Australia. Australian Journal of

0.4 Marine and Freshwater Research 45 (3): 351-374.

Relative Catch Rate Gabr, H.R., R.T. Hanlon, M.H. Hanafy and S.G. El-Etreby

0.2 (1998). Maturation, fecundity and seasonality of reproduction of two commercially valuable

0.0 cuttlefish,Sepia pharaonis and S. dollfusi, in the Suez

88/89 93/94 98/99 03/04 08/09 Canal. Fisheries Research 36 (2-3): 99-115. Financial Year Henry, G.W. and J.M. Lyle (2003). The National Catch rates of cuttlefish harvested using Ocean Prawn Recreational and Indigenous Fishing Survey. Final Trawling for NSW. Two indicators are provided: (1) Report to the Fisheries Research & Development median catch rate (lower solid line); and (2) 90th Corporation and the Fisheries Action Program percentile of the catch rate (upper dashed line). Note that Project FRDC 1999/158. NSW Fisheries Final Report catch rates are not a robust indicator of abundance in Series No. 48. 188 pp. Cronulla, NSW Fisheries. many cases. Caution should be applied when interpreting these results. Norman, M. and A. Reid (2000). A Guide to Squid, Cuttlefish and Octopuses of Australasia, CSIRO Publishing. Nottage, J.D., R.J. West, S.S. Montgomery and K. Further Reading Graham (2007). Cephalopod diversity in commercial Andrew, N.L., K.J. Graham, K.E. Hodgson and G.N. fisheries landings of New South Wales, Australia. Gordon (1997). Changes after twenty years Reviews in Fish Biology and Fisheries 17: 271-281. in relative abundance and size composition Royer, J., G.J. Pierce, E. Foucher and J.P. Robin (2006). of commercial fishes caught during fishery The English Channel stock of Sepia officinalis: independent surveys on SEF trawl grounds, FRDC Modelling variability in abundance and impact of Project 96/139. NSW Fisheries Final Report Series. the fishery.Fisheries Research 78 (1): 96-106. Cronulla, Sydney, NSW Fisheries: 212 pp. Belcari, P., P. Sartor, P. Sanchez, M. Demestre, A. Tsangridis, P. Leondarakis, E. Lefkaditou and C. Please visit the CSIRO website, Papaconstantinou (2002). Exploitation patterns http://www.marine.csiro.au/caab/ and search for of the cuttlefish,Sepia officinalis (Cephalopoda, the species code (CAAB) 23 607010, 23 607001, 23 Sepiidae), in the Mediterranean Sea. Bulletin of 607021 and 23 607901, common name or scientific Marine Science 71 (1): 187-196. name to find further information. Broadhurst, M.K., R.B. Millar, M.E.L. Wooden and W.G. Macbeth (2006). Optimising codend configuration in a multispecies demersal trawl fishery, Fisheries Management and Ecology 13 (2): 81-92. Challier, L., M.R. Dunn and J.P. Robin (2005). Trends in age-at-recruitment and juvenile growth of cuttlefish,Sepia officinalis, from the English Channel. ICES Journal of Marine Science 62 (8): 1671-1682.

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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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