King George Whiting (Sillaginodes Punctatus) Fishery
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King George Whiting (Sillaginodes punctatus) Fishery A.J Fowler, R. McGarvey, P. Burch, and J.E Feenstra SARDI Publication No. F2007/000843-3 SARDI Research Report Series No. 562 SARDI Aquatic Sciences PO Box 120 Henley Beach SA 5022 July 2011 Fishery Assessment Report to PIRSA Fisheries and Aquaculture King George Whiting (Sillaginodes punctatus) Fishery Fishery Assessment Report to PIRSA Fisheries and Aquaculture A.J Fowler, R. McGarvey, P. Burch, and J.E Feenstra SARDI Publication No. F2007/000843-3 SARDI Research Report Series No. 562 July 2011 2 This publication may be cited as: Fowler, A.J., McGarvey, R., Burch, P. and Feenstra, J.E (2011). King George Whiting (Sillaginodes punctatus) Fishery. Fishery Assessment Report to PIRSA Fisheries and Aquaculture. South Australian Research and Development Institute (Aquatic Sciences), Adelaide. SARDI Publication No. F2007/000843-3. SARDI Research Report Series No. 562. 89pp. South Australian Research and Development Institute SARDI Aquatic Sciences 2 Hamra Avenue West Beach SA 5024 Telephone: (08) 8207 5400 Facsimile: (08) 8207 5406 http://www.sardi.sa.gov.au DISCLAIMER The authors warrant that they have taken all reasonable care in producing this report. The report has been through the SARDI Aquatic Sciences internal review process, and has been formally approved for release by the Chief, Aquatic Sciences. Although all reasonable efforts have been made to ensure quality, SARDI Aquatic Sciences does not warrant that the information in this report is free from errors or omissions. SARDI Aquatic Sciences does not accept any liability for the contents of this report or for any consequences arising from its use or any reliance placed upon it. © 2011 SARDI This work is copyright. Apart from any use as permitted under the Copyright Act 1968 (Cth), no part may be reproduced by any process, electronic or otherwise, without the specific written permission of the copyright owner. Neither may information be stored electronically in any form whatsoever without such permission. Printed in Adelaide: July 2011 SARDI Publication No. F2007/000843-3 SARDI Research Report Series No. 562 Author(s): A.J Fowler, R. McGarvey, P. Burch, and J.E Feenstra Reviewers: Dr C. Dixon and Dr A. Linnane Approved by: Dr T. Ward Assoc Prof – Wild Fisheries Signed: Date: 28 July 2011 Distribution: PIRSA Fisheries and Aquaculture, SAASC Library, University of Adelaide Library, Parliamentary Library, State Library and National Library Circulation: Public Domain 3 TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ............................................................................................................8 1. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ......................................................................................................9 2. GENERAL INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................ 11 2.1. Overview ...................................................................................................................................................... 11 2.2. Description of Fishery ............................................................................................................................... 12 2.3. Management Regulations .......................................................................................................................... 14 2.4. Population Biology and Life History ....................................................................................................... 15 3. TRENDS IN COMMERCIAL CATCH, EFFORT AND CPUE ........................................ 18 3.1 Introduction ................................................................................................................................................. 18 3.2 Methods ........................................................................................................................................................ 18 3.3 Results ........................................................................................................................................................... 20 3.4 Discussion .................................................................................................................................................... 41 4. ANALYSIS OF THE RECREATIONAL FISHERY ........................................................... 42 4.1. Introduction ................................................................................................................................................. 42 4.2 Materials and Methods ............................................................................................................................... 43 4.3 Results ........................................................................................................................................................... 45 4.4 Discussion .................................................................................................................................................... 52 5. POPULATION STRUCTURE ............................................................................................. 53 5.1 Introduction ................................................................................................................................................. 53 5.2 Materials and Methods ............................................................................................................................... 54 5.3 Results ........................................................................................................................................................... 55 5.4 Discussion .................................................................................................................................................... 63 6. MODEL ASSESSMENT OF BIOLOGICAL PERFORMANCE INDICATORS ............... 65 6.1. Introduction ................................................................................................................................................. 65 6.2 Results ........................................................................................................................................................... 67 7. ASSESSMENT OF FISHERY PERFORMANCE INDICATORS ...................................... 73 7.1 Introduction ................................................................................................................................................. 73 7.2 Materials and Methods ............................................................................................................................... 73 7.3 Results ........................................................................................................................................................... 75 7.4 Discussion .................................................................................................................................................... 79 8. DISCUSSION ........................................................................................................................ 80 8.1 Context of this assessment ........................................................................................................................ 80 8.2 Determination of stock status .................................................................................................................. 80 8.3 Uncertainty in the fishery .......................................................................................................................... 83 8.4 Management implications .......................................................................................................................... 84 8.5 Future work ................................................................................................................................................. 84 9. REFERENCE LIST .............................................................................................................. 85 10. APPENDIX: MODEL FITS TO DATA .......................................................................... 88 4 LIST OF FIGURES Fig. 3.1 Map of South Australia showing the seven fishery regions for which data are presented in this report (1 = Far West Coast, 2 = Mid West Coast, 3 = Coffin Bay, 4 = Southern Spencer Gulf, 5 = Northern Spencer Gulf, 6 = Gulf St. Vincent, 7 = Kangaroo Island). .................................................................................................................................. 19 Fig. 3.2 Total annual catch and value of the South Australian King George Whiting fishery since 1984. .................. 22 Fig. 3.3 Historical trends in State-wide totals for catch, effort and CPUE for the main gear types used by the commercial fishing sector. Note that it is not possible to provide a State-wide estimate of effort on King George Whiting for hauling nets, which thereby prevents estimating CPUE. ................................................................................. 24 Fig. 3.4 Top graph shows the number of licence holders who could legally take King George Whiting in each year. Bottom graph shows the actual number of licence holders who reported taking some King George Whiting and those who targeted this species in each year. ........................................................................................................................... 25 Fig. 3.5 Monthly estimates of State-wide targeted catch and fishing effort (all gears combined) for the King George Whiting