Research and monitoring update for the Commonwealth Small Pelagic Fishery A/Prof Tim Ward 15 October 2014

Current Research and Monitoring Projects Monitoring and assessment of Small Pelagic Fishery (AFMA) Benchmarking Australia’s small pelagic fisheries against world’s best practice (FRDC) Improving the precision of estimates of egg production and spawning biomass obtained using the Daily Egg Production (FRDC) Summer spawning patterns and preliminary Daily Egg Production Method survey of Jack Mackerel and Sardine off the East Coast (FRDC) Egg distribution, reproductive parameters and spawning biomass of Blue Mackerel, Australian Sardine and Tailor off the East Coast during late winter and early spring (FRDC) Review and update harvest strategy settings for the Commonwealth small pelagic fishery (FRDC – Dr Tony Smith)

South East Cape Flinders Island Port Stephens Eden Locations of plankton sites to be sampled from the Dell Richie II in January 2014 Jack Mackerel and Australian Sardine

Off the rigs Flinders Island St Helens Eden The Hole Locations at which trawls for Jack Mackerel were conducted from the FV Western Alliance in January 2014 Jack Mackerel and Australian Sardine

Frequency distributions of the diameters of Jack Mackerel (Trachurus declivis) and Yellowtail Scad (Trachurus novaezelandiae) eggs preserved in ethanol and formalin solutions. Jack Mackerel and Australian Sardine

Densities of Jack Mackerel eggs collected from plankton sites sampled from the Dell Richie II in January 2014 Jack Mackerel and Australian Sardine

Densities of Australian Sardine eggs collected from plankton sites sampled from the Dell Richie II in January 2014 Jack Mackerel and Australian Sardine

Shot No. Male Gonad Free Weight (g) Female Gonad Free Weight (g) Sex Ratio (Weight) Mean Fork Length (mm) Spawning Fraction Mean Adult reproductive parameters for samples of Jack Mackerel collected from FV Western Alliance in January Jack Mackerel and Australian Sardine

Jack Mackerel First Australian study to collect samples of adult Jack Mackerel for DEPM. Samples may provide unbiased estimates of adult parameters (as they were collected during the day when fish were dispersed). Relatively few females with hydrated oocytes collected – this parameter is strongly correlated with female weight and has limited influence on estimates of spawning biomass. Large number of adult and egg samples from same location and time suggest that study may provide a robust estimate of the spawning biomass of Jack Mackerel off eastern Australia during January Proportion of the adult population that occurred outside this spawning area and was not spawning during this period is unknown.

Australian Sardine Locations where eggs of Australian Sardine were collected similar to Jack Mackerel, i.e. off north-eastern Tasmania and in Bass Strait. Likely that a significant proportion of the population of Australian Sardine off eastern Australia occurred outside this area during the sampling period. No adult Australian Sardine were collected during the present study. Adult parameters will be sourced from the literature and used for sensitivity analyses. Surveys conducted between Fraser Island and Jervis Bay during August/September 2014 will be more reflective of the total adult biomass off eastern Australia.

Locations of plankton sites sampled from the Dell Richie II in January August-September 2014 Open circles indicate sites where replicate hauls were conducted and samples were fixed in ethanol. Blue Mackerel, Australian Sardine and Tailor

Locations at which trawls for Blue Mackerel and Australian Sardine were conducted from the FV Hazel-K in August-September 2014 Samples of adult Tailor also collected from line caught fish off Fraser Island by QDPI staff (~500 fish) Samples of Australian Sardine were also collected from purse seine catches off Iluka by NSW DPI staff (~500 fish) Blue Mackerel, Australian Sardine and Tailor

Schedule for completion SPF Assessment Report March 2015 Jack Mackerel and Australian Sardine Draft final report due 30 October 2014 Final report due 1 December 2014 Benchmarking workshop and forum Draft final report due 28 January 2015 Final report due 28 February 2015 Blue Mackerel, Australian Sardine and Tailor Draft final report due 30 September 2015 Final report due 30 October 2015 Improving estimates of egg production Draft final report due 30 November 2015 Final report due 30 December 2015

Acknowledgements SARDI - Alex Ivey, Lorenzo Andreacchio, Dr Owen Burnell, Graham Hooper, Matt Lloyd, Dr Steve Mayfield UTAS/IMAS - Dr John Keane, Dr Jeremy Lyle, Prof Colin Buxton QDAFF – Dr Lenore Litherland, Dr Jonathan Staunton-Smith, Dr Eddie Jebreen AFMA - Kylie Tonon, Steve Shanks FV Western Alliance - David Guilot, skipper and crew Dell Richie II - Stuart Richie, skipper and crew Hazel-K – Russell Kerr, skipper and crew FRDC - Crispian Ashby, John Wilson, Dr Patrick Hone