Drawing of Grey Nurse Shark (Carcharias taurus) by Jack Hannan, NSW Fisheries CONSERVATION OVERVIEW and ACTION PLAN for AUSTRALIAN THREATENED and POTENTIALLY THREATENED MARINE and ESTUARINE FISHES By J.J.Pogonoski1, 2*, D.A.Pollard1 and J.R.Paxton2 1 NSW Fisheries Research Institute, PO Box 21, Cronulla, NSW 2230 2 Fish Section, Australian Museum, 6 College Street, Sydney, NSW 2010 * current address February 2002 Addendum: This publication refers to the Wildlife Protection (Regulation of Exports and Imports) Act 1982 (the Wildlife Protection Act). However, since drafting, this legislation has been repealed and its provisions have been incorporated into the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (the EPBC Act). All references to the Wildlife Protection Act should therefore be read as a reference to the EPBC Act. Conservation Overview and Action Plan for Australian Threatened and Potentially Threatened Marine and Estuarine Fishes 2002. By J.J.Pogonoski, D.A.Pollard and J.R.Paxton © Commonwealth of Australia 2002 Published by Environment Australia ISBN 0 642 54786 6 Published February 2002 This work is copyright. Information presented in this document may be reproduced in whole or in part for study or training purposes, subject to the inclusion of acknowledgment of the source and provided no commercial usage or sale of the material occurs. Reproduction for purposes other than those given requires written permission from the Environment Australia. Requests for permission should be addressed to Assistant Secretary, Corporate Relations and Information Branch, Environment Australia, GPO Box 787, Canberra, ACT, 2601. The views expressed in this report are not necessarily those of the Commonwealth of Australia. The Commonwealth does not accept responsibility for any advice or information in relation to this material. Photographs CD-Rom cover - Weedy Seadragon (Phyllopteryx taeniolatus) - David Harasti, back cover Grey Nurse Shark (Carcharias taurus) - David Harasti. CD-Rom Layout and Design by Di Walker Design, Canberra. 2 Page CONTENTS 5 Executive Summary 6 Acknowledgments 1. Introduction 7 1.1 Overview of the Australian Marine and Estuarine Fish Fauna 7 1.2 Conservation of Australian Fishes 7 1.3 Background to the Conservation Overview and Action Plan 9 1.4 Aims of the Conservation Overview and Action Plan 10 2. Methodology 11 2.1 General Methodology 11 2.2 Selection of Taxa for Inclusion in the Conservation Overview and Action Plan 11 2.3 Use of Museum Records in the Analysis of Distributions of Fishes Included 12 2.4 Taxonomy Adopted in the Conservation Overview and Action Plan 12 2.5 Threatened Marine and Estuarine Fishes Specialist Workshop 13 2.6 Analysis of Marine Protected Areas in which Each Species Occurs 13 2.7 2000 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 13 3. Conservation Categories and Criteria 14 3.1 History of Conservation Categories and Criteria 14 3.2 Conservation Status Categories of Australian Marine Fishes 15 4. Species Conservation Synopses 18 4.1 Summary Table of Species Included with their IUCN Status and Australian Distributions 18 4.2 Species Conservation Synopses Arranged in Phylogenetic Order 21 4.2.1 Class Chondrichthyes 21 4.2.2 Class Osteichthyes 115 5. Discussion 299 5.1 Critical Habitats 299 5.1.1 Introduction 299 5.1.2 Soft-bottom estuarine and lower riverine habitats 299 5.1.3 Subtidal rocky reef habitats 300 5.1.4 Continental shelf habitats (0 - 200m) 300 5.1.5 Continental slope habitats (200m - 2000m) 300 5.2 Threatening Processes 301 5.2.1 Overfishing 302 5.2.1.1 Commercial fishing 302 5.2.1.2 Recreational and charter boat fishing 302 5.2.1.3 Fisheries bycatch 303 5.2.1.4 Shark control programs 305 5.2.1.5 Live reef food fish trade 305 5.2.2 Habitat degradation 306 5.2.2.1 Introduction 306 5.2.2.2 Bottom trawling and dredging 306 5.2.3 Species introductions 306 5.2.3.1 Introduction 306 5.2.3.2 Aquaculture 307 5.2.3.3 Aquarium fish trade and non-food fishes 308 5.2.3.4 Domino effect or chain of extinctions effect 308 5.3 Protective Legislation and Management 309 5.3.1 Commonwealth 309 5.3.2 New South Wales 311 5.3.3 Northern Territory 312 5.3.4 Queensland 312 5.3.5 South Australia 312 5.3.6 Tasmania 312 3 5.3.7 Victoria 313 5.3.8 Western Australia 313 5.4 Research, Inventory and Monitoring Requirements 314 5.4.1 Introduction 314 5.4.2 Marine protected areas 314 5.4.3 Catch statistics and logbooks 315 5.4.4 Management options 315 5.5 Educational Requirements 321 6. Acronyms and Abbreviations 322 7. Glossary 324 8. Bibliography 328 9. List of Websites Consulted 346 Appendix 1. Authorities Consulted and Specialist Workshop Participants 348 Appendix 2. ASFB Threatened Species Nomination Form 351 Appendix 3. Current ASFB Threatened Species Listings for 2000 359 Appendix 4. Current Australian Commonwealth Government Endangered Species List 360 Appendix 5. IUCN Categories, Criteria and Definitions 363 Appendix 6. American Fisheries Society Criteria 366 Appendix 7. Summary Table of Legislation Pertaining to Australian Fishes 367 Appendix 8. Map of Selected Localities 371 Index to Australian Threatened Fish Taxa 372 LIST OF TABLES: Table 3.1 Categories used by various organisations to denote risk of extinction 17 Table 4.1 Summary table of species included with their IUCN status and Australian distributions 18 Table 5.1: Biological and ecological characteristics that render species susceptible to extinction 301 Table 5.4.1 Research inventory table 317 4 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY This Conservation Overview and Action Plan has been prepared for the Natural Heritage Division of Environment Australia by scientists from the NSW Fisheries Research Institute and the Australian Museum. It reviews the biological characteristics and conservation status of 114 species of threatened and potentially threatened Australian marine and estuarine fishes, and outlines some of the constraints encountered in carrying out the task. Work on the project commenced in January 1999. The majority of the work was completed by September 2000, but editing continued until September 2001. A specialist workshop, held in September 1999, brought together approximately 40 experts from government and non-government organisations, private industry and academic institutions in Australia, New Zealand and the USA. The main aims of the workshop were to discuss the proposed Australian conservation status of as many of the identified species as possible, and to attempt to reach consensus on a conservation status for each species. Information from the workshop discussions has been incorporated into the species synopses where appropriate. Comments and advice were also sought from a wide range of individuals and organisations with expertise in fishes throughout the duration of the project. The Overview and Action Plan analysed in considerable detail 114 species of the approximately 4,100 marine and estuarine fish species known to occur in Australian waters. Of these, we have listed: · 0 taxa as Extinct (EX) · 3 taxa as Critically Endangered (CR) · 6 taxa as Endangered (EN) · 8 taxa as Vulnerable (VU) · 16 taxa as Lower Risk, conservation dependent (LR cd)* · 14 taxa as Lower Risk, near threatened (LR nt) · 53 taxa as Data Deficient (DD) ** · 15 taxa as Lower Risk, least concern (LR lc) The conservation status for one commercial species (i.e. eastern gemfish) remains contentious and a final decision on it has been postponed until the Australian Fisheries Management Authority (AFMA) makes its decisions on future management of the species. Species synopses are included for all species listed above as CR, EN, VU, LR (cd), LR (nt), DD and LR (lc) in Australian waters. We looked very briefly at an additional 19 taxa of sharks and rays which will be included by the IUCN Species Survival Commission’s Shark Specialist Group (SSC SSG) in its forthcoming publication on the status of chondrichthyan fishes (Fowler et al., in prep.). All of these (19 taxa) were provisionally assigned to the Lower Risk (least concern) category in Australian waters, but no species conservation synopses have been included here. Although a number of these sharks and rays have been flagged as having conservation problems in other parts of the world (e.g. North American or European waters), most are widely distributed species and not heavily fished or otherwise significantly threatened in Australian waters. However, in any future assessments of the conservation status of Australian fishes, a more detailed examination of these species may be warranted due to their life-history characteristics and/or their potential susceptibility to capture by fishing operations. The Overview and Action Plan highlights the main conservation concerns for some of the marine and estuarine fish species in Australia. The main causes include declines in marine and estuarine fishes by overfishing (of both target and non-target or bycatch species), habitat degradation (from urban development and related activities, trawling, dredging, water pollution, etc.), and, to a much lesser extent, exotic species introductions. This Overview and Action Plan, through both the individual species conservation synopses presented in it and the synthesis of these findings, thus attempts to address the main problems affecting some of the more threatened and potentially threatened species of marine and estuarine fishes in Australian waters. It is the first attempt at broadly assessing the conservation status of the roughly 4100 marine and estuarine fish species that are known to occur in Australian waters, and will hopefully provide the impetus for more research into threatened Australian marine and estuarine fishes in the future. * One species, the eastern gemfish Rexea solandri, has been provisionally listed in this category, but may be listed as Vulnerable in the future depending on future management decisions made by AFMA. ** The western stock of gemfish Rexea solandri that is listed as Data Deficient is included here 5 Acknowledgments The authors wish to thank Environment Australia for funding the preparation of this Conservation Overview and Action Plan through its Natural Heritage Division Consultancy No.