Whitebait Or Stolephorid Anchovies
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that separate the two genera but WHITEBAIT OR effectively the Encrasicholina are the five smallest species. They STOLEPHORID ANCHOVIES include Encrasicholina devisi, E. heteroloba, E. oligobranchus, E. pundifer and E. purpurea. This profile on anchovies is not There are 19 further spedesin intended to be a detailed biological hyfmA Dslzel the genus Stolephorus, bringing review of the species but rather to Sauli* Jsaeic €©rnral«3em the total to 24 species. The spe be an article of general interest on Noumea, New Caledonia cies E. heteroloba, E. devisi, a group which is of economic im E. pundifersndStolephorus indicus portance in the South Pacific region are the most common and most and in the neighbouring Indian nam. Ruddle (1986) provides a widespread of the stolephorid Ocean. useful summary of the fish fer anchovies. Other species, such mentation industries in South- as E. purpurea, E. oligobranchus, Readers of Time Magazine (5 East Asia. S. brachycephalus, S. multibranchus July 1993) will recall the article and S. ronquilloi are endemic or on the vast shoals of small The stolephorid anchovies are have very limited distributions whitebait or stolephorid ancho found throughout much of the The most up-to-date and infor vies along the coast of Western Indian and Pacific Oceans and mative guide to the species of Australia and the large num extend north to Japan, south to the two genera and their distri bers of predatory sharks that South Africa and as far east as butions is the second volume of these hacl attracted. Landings of Tahiti. All species live in the the FAO species catalogue on anchovies (Family Engraulidae) nearshore neritic zone except clupeoid fishes (Whitehead et during 1990 (FAO 1992) com EncrusichoHna pundifer or buccaal . 1988). The distribution of prised some of the world's larg neer anchovy, which is oceanic stolephorid and other ancho est fisheries; including the Peru and may be found at consider vies in the South Pacific region vian anchoveta (3,700,000 t), able distances from the coastal is summarised by Lewis, Smith European anchovy (540,000 t), margin. Apart from E. pundifer, & Ellway (1983) Japanese anchovy (440,000 t) stolephorid anchovies are found and South African anchovy along coastal shelves and la By contrast with Asia, there has (200,0001). Indeed the Peruvian goons where primary produc been limited traditional use of anchoveta yielded annual tion is high and where there is stolephorid anchovies in the catches in excess of 10,000,0001 some freshwater influence from South Pacific region. Rapson between 1964 and 1971. rivers and runoff. Stolephorid (1955) reported seasonal catches anchovies are absent from of stolephorid anchovies in The total reported annual har atolls, apart from E. pundifer, southern Papua New Guinea, vest of stolephorid anchovies is which may be found in the and similar subsistence fisher about 250,000 tonnes, with most ocean outside the lagoon. ies are found elsewhere in the of the catch being landed in Pacific (A.D. Lewis, Fisheries South-East Asia. The largest Originally it was thought that Programme, pers. comm.). catches of anchovies are landed the stolephorid anchovies were However, these species are a by Indonesia and the Philip contained in the single genus good source of live bait for pines, which both catch more Stolephorus. However, Nelson Okinawan style pole-and-line than 100,000 t/year at present. (1983) split the genus into tuna fishing. Stolephorus and Encrasicholina. In Asia and the Middle East There are a number of different Fisheries for live bait, based stolephorid anchovies are con morphological characteristics mainly on stolephorid ancho- sumed fresh, dried and as fer mented products. Fermentation of anchovies is particularly common throughout South- East Asia and fermented pastes and sauces are common to most countries of the region, e.g. pat is in the Philippines, nam-pb in Thailand and nuoc-mam in Viet- Stolephoms indicus SPC Fisheries Newsletter #68 — January/March '94 WHITEBAIT OR STOLEPHORID ANCHOVIES vies, were established in New using a dip net They are a com Singaporean biologist Ah Kow Caledonia, Papua New Guinea, mon sight around the coast of Tharn noted this ior Stolephorus Palau and Solomon Islands to the Philippines, particularly in populations during his land support domestic pole-and-line shallow shelf areas of the mark studies of the interactions tuna fisheries (Dalzell & Lewis Visayan Islands such as be of climate and physiochemical 1989). Of this group of coun tween the islands of Negros and factors on the fishery yields of tries, only Solomon Islands has Panay. the Singapore Straits in the late maintained pole-and-line fish 1940s (Tham 1953). Tham mod ing. Bait catches, which com Several studies have been con elled the catch rates of stole prise about 73 per cent stole- ducted on stolephorid anchovy phorid anchovies in kebng traps phorid anchovies, presently stocks in India, South-East Asia, in Singapore Straits and related amount to 2,500 t/year (Nichols the South Pacific islands and this, among other things, to &Rawlinson1990). Hawaii. Stolephorid anchovies rainfall, salinity, wind strength can be characterised as small and zooplankton biomass. Re Stolephorid anchovies are also (maximum size usually 7-12 cruitment of E. heteroloba in caught in the live-bait fishery in cm), rapidly growing fishes that Palau has been shown to be Fiji but they account for only 10 have short life-spans, typically related in part to rainfall (Muller per cent of the total catch {Lewis between one and two years, 1976) as have catch rates (and et al. 1983). The Hawaiian an and high mortality rates. The recruitment) of stolephorid an chovy (E. purpurea) is also caught largest species of this group, chovies in Papua New Guinea for live bait to support a small Stolephorus indicus, may reach (Dalzell 1984). pole-and-line fishery in Hawaii 18 cm and have a life-span of that supplies fresh tuna for do three years but this is excep From a fisheries perspective the mestic markets. tional. With smaller species short life-spans and high mor such as E. purpurea and E. talities of stolephorid anchovy Capture of live bait for pole- heteroloba, the turnover of the populations means that they and-line fishing is conducted at population is very rapid and can be fished very heavily and night by attracting schools of there may be two to three gen their biomass markedly re fish to underwater lamps and erations within the population duced, but that the population then catching them with a dip in one year. will recover in a short time, net Variations of this technique usually in a period of a few are used to catch stolephorid Stolephorid anchovies are weeks to a few months. In the anchovies in South-East Asia. In planktivores, feeding mainly on Hawaiian bait fishery in Pearl some locations, the dip net is copepods and other crustaceans Harbour, as much as 80 per cent not mounted on a boat but on a (Milton et al. 1990). Spawning of the biomass of E. purpurea bamboo platform set on stilts in occurs throughout the year, might be captured per month the shallows. In Indonesia, such particularly near the equator, by commercial fishermen structures are known as bagans. but may demonstrate seasonal (Somerton 1989). In Papua New They are a common sight along peaks allied to major climate Guinea, stolephorid anchovy the north Java coast. changes such as the monsoons, catches over a year were equal which in turn are also periods to three to four times the stand Other methods for capture in of peaks in planktonic produc ing stock (Dalzell 1990). Stand clude small meshed trawls, tion (Dalzell 1987). ing stocks could be reduced beach seines, small gillnets and from several hundred tonnes to fish corrals. Fish corrals guide Climate, particularly wind and a few tonnes in the space of a the anchovy schools through a rainfall, appears to have marked year, but recover the following series of chambers to a terminal influence on stolephorid an year despite continued fishing. chamber where they are caught chovy populations. The The main use of stolephorid anchovies in the South Pacific has been for live bait, and nearly all the present production is from Solomon Islands. Most of the high islands in the Pacific also have stolephorid anchovy resources that are, for the most part, not being exploited. The Encrasidwlina heteroloba SPC Fisheries Newsletter #68 — January/March '94 WHITEBAIT OR STOLEPHORID ANCHOVIES size of the stolephorid resources Amongst the studies carried out Bostock, T.W., M.H. Kalavathy around high islands is related to by Dr Blaber and his team was & R. Vijaynidhi (1992). The shelf and lagoon area. The an investigation of the impor processing and marketing of greatest resources of these an tance of stolephorid anchovies anchovy in the chovies are therefore to found and other baitfish as forage for K^niyakumari District of in the large island archipelagos reef and lagoon fishes. This is an South India: Scope for devel of Melanesia. Further, the evi important issue in the South opment. Bay of Bengal dence from bait fishing sug Pacific, where commercial and Programme Working Paper 85, gests that sustainable yields of subsistence fishermen are con 58 pp. the order of 0.4 to 0.6 t/kmVyr cerned about the influence of are possible from stolephorid baitfisheries on the productiv Dalzell, P. (1984). The influence anchovy populations (Dalzell & ity of reef and lagoon fisheries. of rainfall on catches of Lewis 1989). stolephorid anchovies in The AOAR/CSIRO project has Papua New Guinea waters. What are the prospects for also produced biological stud Fisheries Research and Survey stolephorid fisheries in the ies on a variety of other related Branch Research Report 84-04.