Whitebait - Sandy Sprat (Hyperlophus Vittatus)

I & I NSW Wild Fisheries research Program Whitebait - Sandy Sprat (Hyperlophus vittatus)

Exploitation Status Undefined

Commercial landings average about 100 t per annum and size composition monitoring has been conducted on catches, but there is little local biological information available and mortality rates have not been estimated.

Scientific name Standard name comment

Hyperlophus vittatus sandy sprat Constitutes the majority of the catch.

Engraulis australis Australian anchovy Small quantities landed. Small quantities landed. Also known as Sardinops sagax Australian sardine pilchard. Spratelloides robustus blue sprat Small quantities landed.

Hyperlophus vittatus Image © Bernard Yau

Background and 1 to 3 years of age. They occur in estuarine In NSW, catches reported as ‘whitebait’ by and inshore waters around southern Australia, commercial fishers can include a number of from southern Queensland to southern WA, species, however the vast majority of the catch and significant fisheries exist in some areas, is comprised of sandy sprats, (Hyperlophus however little is known of the stock structure of vittatus). Other species sometimes included sandy sprats throughout this range. in catches of whitebait are Australian anchovy (Engraulis australis), Australian sardine Sandy sprats are multiple batch spawners, but (Sardinops sagax) and blue sprats (Spratelloides estimated batch fecundity is low to medium robustus). The majority of the whitebait catch (743 to 5600 hydrated oocytes per batch). In SA is taken from ocean waters, however in some female sandy sprats mature at 5.8 to 7.5 cm fork years significant landings of whitebait are length, when they are 1 to 2 years of age, and reported from estuarine waters. Most of the spawning occurs in spring and summer. In NSW commercial catch of whitebait is taken with spawning may occur later as larvae have been small-meshed hauling nets. caught in April/May. Sandy sprats are a small, short lived species, reaching a maximum size of about 10 cm and 4 years of age. However, the majority of fish in commercial catches are 5 to 8 cm in length

status of fisheries resources in nsw, 2008/09 Whitebait - Sandy sprat| p 365 wild fisheries research program

Additional Notes Landings by Commercial Fishery of Whitebait - Sandy Sprat • Sandy sprat constitutes the majority of the catch (> 95%) so assessment should focus on Ocean Hauling (Target Species) this species. Estuary General • Research in South Australia indicates sandy * Estuary Prawn Trawl (Byproduct Species) sprats are fast growth/high mortality species, therefore not likely to be a major concern for 150 overfishing.

• This reporting group also includes ‘nanata’ 100 which is a generic name for small juvenile fish used by commercial fishers in NSW and Landings (t) the Sydney Fish Market - sampling has shown 50 nanata to be comprised mainly of juvenile H. vittatus, with small numbers of other 0

clupeid species. 97/98 99/00 01/02 03/04 05/06 07/08 • There is a recreational bag limit of 50 for Financial Year whitebait/sandy sprat - but they are rarely Reported landings of whitebait - sandy sprat by NSW caught by recreational fishers. commercial fisheries from 1997/98. * Fisheries which contribute less than 2.5% of the landings are excluded for clarity and privacy. Catch Recreational Catch of Whitebait - Sandy Sprat Length Frequency of Whitebait - Sandy Sprat The annual recreational harvest of whitebait - sandy sprat in NSW is likely to be less than 0.25 one tonne. 2003/04−2007/08 n = 1268 0.20

Historical Landings of Whitebait - Sandy Sprat 0.15 150 0.10 Proportion 0.05 100 0.00

2 4 6 8 Landings (t)

50 FL (cm)

The length distribution of whitebait-sandy sprat sampled from NSW commercial catches was comprised mainly

0 of fish between 5 and 8 cm fork length (FL). There is no minimum legal length for whitebait-sandy sprat in NSW. 90/91 92/93 94/95 96/97 98/99 00/01 02/03 04/05 06/07 08/09 Financial Year

Landings (including available historical records) of whitebait - sandy sprat for NSW from 1990/91 to 2008/09 for all fishing methods.

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Further Reading Coyle, T. (1995). The New South Wales whitebait - catch and by-catch. University of NSW. Honours Thesis. Gaughan, D.J., W.J. Fletcher and R.J. Tregonning (1996). Spatial and seasonal sidtribution of eggs and larvae of sandy sprat, Hyperlophus vittatus (Clupeidae), off south-western Australia.Marine and Freshwater research 47 (8): 971-979. Gray, C.A., N.M. Otway, F.A. Laurenson, A.G. Miskiewicz and R.L. Pethebridge (1992). Distribution and abundance of marine fish larvae in relation to effluent plumes from sewage outfalls and depth of water. Marine Biology 113: 549-559. Hoedt, F.E., W.F. Dimmlich and P. Dann (1995). Seasonal variation in the species and size composition of the clupeoid asemblages in Western Port, Victoria. Marine and Freshwater Research 46 (7): 1085-1091. Kailola, P.J., M.J. Williams, P.C. Stewart, R.E. Reichelt, A. McNee and C. Grieve, Eds. (1993). Australian Fisheries Resources. Canberra, Australia, Bureau of Resource Sciences, Department of Primary Industries and Energy, and the Fisheries Research and Development Corporation. Rogers, P. J. and T. M. Ward (2007). Life history strategy of sandy sprat Hyperlophus vittatus (Clupeidae): a comparison with clupeoids of the Indo-Pacific and southern Australia. Journal of Applied Ichthyology 23 (5): 583-591. Smith, K.A. (2003). Larval distributions of some commercially valuable fish species over the Sydney continental shelf. Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales 124: 1-11.

Please visit the CSIRO website, http://www.marine.csiro.au/caab/ and search for the species code (CAAB) 37 085005, 37 086001, 37 085002 and 37 085003, common name or scientific name to find further information.

© 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.

D 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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