Information briefs and risk analyses for species under consideration ...

Risk analysis and evaluation
STOCK: Carpet Shark - Cephaloscyllium isabellum
Severity/likelihood risk analysis:
Generic objective 1: Risk to maintaining the potential of the stock to meet the
reasonably foreseeable needs of future generations.
Analysis:
Carpet shark is probably a low productivity species and is probably susceptible to over fishing. The Ministry
has no stock assessment for carpet shark. The Ministry has no estimate of BMSY and has no proxies.
Carpet shark is taken as a bycatch from target bottom trawl and more recently set net fisheries, for school shark,
rig, and tarakihi and from the rock lobster fishery. Reported landings of carpet shark have increased markedly
since 2000/01, and in 2006/07 were 245 tonnes. Since 2000/01 the majority of carpet shark catch has been
reported as discarded. The target species for which carpet shark is taken as bycatch are all managed within the
QMS, hence mitigating the risk of overfishing.
There is no information to assess whether the current level of harvest comprises a risk to the sustainability of the
stock.
Severity of impact (low, medium or high): Low
Likelihood of impact (low, medium or high): Low
Risk score (1-9): 1
Generic objective 2: Risk to avoiding, remedying or mitigating any adverse effects of
fishing on the aquatic environment.
Analysis:
The risk of adverse effects on the aquatic environment directly attributed to fishing for carpet shark is nil.
Carpet shark is a bycatch species and is caught as a consequence of other fishing activities.
There is no information regarding habitat interactions, the role of carpet shark within marine ecosystems, or any
dependent species or indicator species relationships.
There is no indication that the introduction of carpet shark to the QMS, or the retention of the species outside the
QMS, would alter existing fishing activity.
Severity of impact (low, medium or high): Low
Likelihood of impact (low, medium or high): Low
Risk score (1-9): 1
32