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

More documents

Recommendations

Info

Social, Economic, Cultural Information Customary fishery characteristics 18 There is little information of the significance of octopus (wheke) to Maori. They occur in some Maori legends and there is reference to some species of octopus being caught by hand and used as bait. 19 The most well-known legend concerning wheke concerns the great explorer Kupe. While fishing in his homeland, Hawaiki, he was distracted by a giant octopus belonging to the chief Muturangi. He pursued it and eventually caught it at the entrance to Cook Strait from Totaranui, in the same journey discovering and naming New Zealand (Aotearoa). Commercial fishery characteristics 20 There are over 41 species of octopus in New Zealand however there are only three generic reporting classifications used to report catch (OCT, DWO and OPI). As the majority of octopus species are recorded under only one classification, OCT, the distribution of various species of octopus in the catch effort and/or landing returns is unknown. It is therefore extremely difficult to assess the commercial fishery characteristics of individual species. 21 In New Zealand, octopuses have historically been landed mainly as a bycatch of rock lobster and blue cod potting. Due to increases in bottom trawling in some parts of New Zealand over the last twenty years, the amount of octopus taken as trawl bycatch has increased. Some octopuses are also taken in the bottom long lining fisheries. 22 Anecdotal information from fishers and fishery managers suggests that Pinnoctopus cordiformis is the main contribution to the total catch. This would seem to be validated by the amount of bycatch of octopus being taken in the rock lobster fisheries throughout New Zealand (84% of total estimated catch from the past 6 fishing year) and research conducted that shows Pinnoctopus cordiformis as the main predator of rock lobster. Of the other species of octopus very little is known. 23 The validity of the information concerning octopus must be questioned due to the high likelihood of non-reporting of octopus. Anecdotal information suggests that much octopus is discarded and not reported by rock lobster fishermen as it is considered a ‘pest’ species. Such catch is most likely returned to sea without being recorded. The survival rate of returned octopus (their ‘pest status’ in the rock lobster fishery means some are deliberately killed before being returned) is unknown. Thus, the actual catch of octopus may be much greater than recorded catch levels. 24 Over the last 6 years, total landings of octopus in New Zealand (from catch landing returns) have fluctuated within a range of 98-112 t with a mean of 102 t. Figure one below shows the comparison of catch landings and estimated catch data. As can be seen from the graph there is a reasonable level of correlation between the two, however there is a significant difference between landings and estimated catch. This difference can most likely to be attributed to bottom trawling and bottom long lining as octopus caught may not be recorded on the estimated catch section of catch effort returns where only the top five species caught are required to be reported. 6
Figure 1: Comparison of reported landed catch of octopus with estimated catch (both from catch effort returns). kg 25 Estimated catches by principle fishing method are given in Table 2 below. Octopus landed as bycatch of rock lobster potting represented 84% of all estimated catch of octopus over the past six fishing years. As previously mentioned the octopus most likely to be caught in rock lobster potting is Pinnoctopus cordiformis however this information is based on assumption rather than fact. 26 Bottom trawling accounted for 8.9% of all estimated catch of octopuses although, as mentioned in paragraph 24 above, this may under-represent the actual take of octopus by this method. Table 2: Total landings (from LFR returns) and estimated catch by method* (from catch effort returns) for the past six fishing years. Fishing Year 120000 100000 80000 60000 40000 20000 Total NZ Octopus Catch (Landings v Estimated Catch) 2001/02- 2006/07 0 2001/02 2002/03 2003/04 2004/05 2005/06 2006/07 Fishing Year TOTAL Landings Catch Effort (est.) - tonnes (t) RLP BT CP BLL FP SN D 7 Landings (t) Est. catch (t) Other TOTAL Catch Effort (t) 2001/02 103.348 46.835 7.417 3.276 1.530 26 681 1.597 537 61.899 2002/03 98.244 47.909 3.532 2.664 1.025 79 274 433 427 56.343 2003/04 99.773 50.607 6.272 1.520 1.269 456 442 444 461 61.471 2004/05 111.646 56.945 5.742 1.699 1.385 228 262 249 201 66.711 2005/06 100.943 51.933 4.263 9.627 354 196 277 1.216 64 67.930 2006/07 99.325 53.446 4.511 6.951 342 151 629 192 183 66.405 TOTAL 613.279 320.200 34.045 2.6128 6.217 1.199 2.733 4.171 1.873 380.759 ∗ RLP – rock lobster pot * FP - Fish traps * BLL - Bottom long line ∗ BT – bottom trawl * SN – Set Nets ∗ CP - Cod pot * D- Dredge
Page 1 and 2: Species under consideration for int
Page 3 and 4: OCTOPUS Common name: Octopus Specie
Page 5: charts is limited and therefore the
Page 9 and 10: Recreational fishery characteristic
Page 11 and 12: Risk analysis and evaluation STOCK:
Page 13 and 14: Immediacy and uncertainty risk anal
Page 15 and 16: Environmental effects and protected
Page 17 and 18: Table 2: Estimated catch of whelk (
Page 19 and 20: Recommendation 20 Regardless of whe
Page 21 and 22: Generic objective 2: Risk to avoidi
Page 23 and 24: CARPET SHARK Class: Chondrichthyes
Page 25 and 26: Growth, reproduction and recruitmen
Page 27 and 28: Figure 3: Commercially landed catch
Page 29 and 30: Table 2: Processed state percentage
Page 31 and 32: Sources of Information Data Sources
Page 33 and 34: Generic objective 3: Risk to provid
Page 35 and 36: Associated species (bycatch and tar
Page 37 and 38: Fishing Council record an average o
Page 39 and 40: Generic objective 3: Risk to provid
Page 41 and 42: also contributed nearly 9% to the t
Page 43 and 44: Treaty settlement obligations 20 MF
Page 45 and 46: Severity of impact (low, medium or
Page 47 and 48: from observer data in the squid tra
Page 49 and 50: Risk analysis and evaluation STOCK:
Page 51 and 52: RATTAILS Introduction 1 Rattails (o
Page 53 and 54: Biological information Morphology,
Page 55 and 56: WHX (white grenadier) Landed state
Page 57 and 58:
Risk analysis and evaluation STOCK:
Page 59 and 60:
Additional risk analysis not applic
Page 61 and 62:
Redbait contributed 1% to the total
Page 63 and 64:
Page 65 and 66:
Objective(s) returning highest scor
Page 67 and 68:
Habitat interactions 6 No informati
Page 69 and 70:
catches. The reported discards have
Page 71 and 72:
Severity of impact (low, medium or
Page 73 and 74:
Relationship with other QMS stocks
Page 75 and 76:
Protected species interactions 7 No
Page 77 and 78:
show all

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

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?