Assessment of the
Tasmanian Gould’s Squid Fishery
JUNE 2014
© Copyright Commonwealth of Australia, 2014.
Assessment of the Tasmanian Gould’s Squid FisheryJune2014 is licensed by the Commonwealth of Australia for use under a Creative Commons By Attribution 3.0 Australia licence with the exception of the Coat of Arms of the Commonwealth of Australia, the logo of the agency responsible for publishing the report, content supplied by third parties, and any images depicting people. For licence conditions see:
This report should be attributed as ‘Assessment of the Tasmanian Gould’s Squid FisheryJune 2014, Commonwealth of Australia 2014’.
Disclaimer
This document is an assessment carried out by the Department of the Environment of a commercial fishery against the Australian Government Guidelines for the Ecologically Sustainable Management of Fisheries – 2nd Edition. It forms part of the advice provided to the Minister for the Environment on the fishery in relation to decisions under Part13A of the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999. The views expressed do not necessarily reflect those of the Minister for the Environment or the Australian Government.
While reasonable efforts have been made to ensure that the contents of this report are factually correct, the Australian Government does not accept responsibility for the accuracy or completeness of the contents, and shall not be liable for any loss or damage that may be occasioned directly or indirectly through the use of, or reliance on, the contents of this report. You should not rely solely on the information presented in the report when making a commercial or other decision.
Contents
Table 1:Summary of the Tasmanian Gould’s Squid Fishery...... 4
Table 1 contains a brief overview of the operation of the fishery, including: the gear used, species targeted, byproduct species, bycatch species, annual catch, management regime and ecosystem impacts.
Table 2:The Department of the Environment’s assessment of the Tasmanian Gould’s Squid Fishery againstthe Guidelines for the Ecologically Sustainable Management of Fisheries - 2nd Edition 8
Table 2 contains the Department’s assessment of the Tasmanian Gould’s Squid Fishery management arrangements against all the relevant parts of the Guidelines for the Ecologically Sustainable Management of Fisheries - 2nd Edition.
Table 3: The Department of the Environment’s assessment of the Tasmanian Gould’s Squid Fishery against the requirements of the EPBCAct related to decisions made under Part13A. 21
Table3 contains the Department’s assessment of the fishery’s management arrangements against all the relevant parts of the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 that the delegate must consider before making a decision.
The Department of the Environment’s final recommendations to the Tasmanian Department of Primary Industries, Parks, Water and Environment for the Tasmanian Gould’s Squid Fishery 25
This section contains the Department’s assessment of the fishery’sperformance against the AustralianGovernment’s Guidelines for the Ecologically Sustainable Management of Fisheries – 2nd Edition and outlines the reasons the Department recommends that product from the fishery be included in the list of exempt native specimens.
Table 4:The Tasmanian Gould’s Squid FisheryAssessment – Summary of Issues and Recommendations, June 2014 26
Table 4 contains a description of the issues identified by the Department with the current management regime for the fishery and outlines the proposed recommendations that would form part of the delegate’s decision to include product derived from the Tasmanian Gould’s Squid Fishery in the list of exempt native specimens.
References...... 28
Table 1: Summary of the Tasmanian Gould’s Squid Fishery
Key documents relevant to the fishery / Tasmanian Living Marine Resources Management Act1995Tasmanian Fisheries (Scalefish) Rules 2004
Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies (IMAS) – Tasmanian Scalefish Fishery Assessment 2010/12 pp.88-92
Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics andSciences (ABARES) - Fishery Status Reports – 2010, 2011, 2012,(Southern Squid Jig Fishery)
Fisheries Research and Development Corporation (FRDC) – Status of Key Australian Fish Stocks Reports 2012
Tasmanian Arrow Squid Fishery – Status Report – 2001 – Internal Report
Area / The area of the Tasmanian Gould’s Squid Fishery is all state waters surrounding Tasmania, extending out to three nautical miles from the high-water mark (Figure 1). Figure 1: Tasmanian state waters open to fishing for Gould’s squid.
Target Species / TheTasmanian Gould’s Squid FisheryharvestsGould’s squid (Nototodarus gouldi), a speciesalso known as arrow squid.
Gould’s squid are found in shelf waters from Geraldton in WesternAustralia (WA), east around southern Australia up to 27°S in southern Queensland (QLD) and including Bass Strait and Tasmania. Gould’s squid are also commonly found in New Zealand waters (Stewart, 1993), though it is unclear if Australian and New Zealand populations share the same stock structure (Wilcox et al., 2001).
Gould’s squid are a short lived, highly fecund (capable of producing an abundance of offspring) species living for approximately
12 months and reaching sexual maturity after 171 days. The most recent population estimate, completed in 2012, estimates the breeding population Australia wide to be approximately 500,000tonnes.
Fishery status / The Status of Key Australian Fish Stocks 2012 (Flood et al., 2012) describes the whole Gould’s squid stock (which encompasses WA, Tasmania, South Australia (SA), Victoria, New South Wales (NSW) and southern QLD) as sustainably fished. A sustainable classification is given to a stock for which the biomass is considered to be at a level sufficient to ensure that, on average, future levels of recruitment are adequate (i.e. not recruitment overfished) and for which fishing pressure is adequately controlled to avoid the stock becoming recruitment overfished.
Within this classification, theStatus of Key Australian Fish Stocks 2012notes thatchangingenvironmental factors such as sea temperature and nutrient concentrations have been linked to growth rates for Gould's squid, particularly for females, and these factors are widely acknowledged as influences on larval and juvenile survival. The species' susceptibility to environmental conditions is further compounded by its variable population and short life span (1 year), which may impact subsequent recruitment. Currently, the management arrangements for the Tasmanian Gould’s Squid Fishery do not explicitly address these factors.
However, taking into account the high fecundity of the target species, the highly selective fishing method employed (squid jigs) and the low harvest rates in southern Australian waters comparative to historical levels, Gould’s squid appears to be sufficiently robust to the region’scurrent harvest practices. The Gould’s squid biological stock is monitored through annual catch and effort reports to the Commonwealth Government, continued collaboration with the adjacentSouthern Squid Jig Fishery (Commonwealth) and the upcoming national stock review, the Status of Key Australian Fish Stocks report, to be released in 2014.
Byproduct Species / Due to the selective fishing method used in the fishery (squid jig), byproduct is minimal.
Gear / Operators in the Tasmanian Gould’s Squid Fishery use automatic jigging machines and hand jigs (a device with barbless lures attached to one or more jig lines that are rotated by elliptical spools) to harvest Gould’s squid.
Season / The Tasmanian Gould’s Squid Fishery is open year round. For reporting purposes, the fishing year commences on 1 Marchand extends to 01 February the following year. There are no closed seasons applied to Gould’s squid fishing in Tasmania.
Commercial harvest / Commercial harvest in the fishery is highly variable. Between 1990-91 and 2005-06, total catch was below 100 tonnes every year excluding 1999-2000 when close to 500 tonnes were taken. Catch was high again seven years later in 2006-07, at close to 700 t, after which catch dropped back below 100 tonnes.
Total harvest of Gould’s squid in recent years in the area of thefishery is recorded below (Figure 2).
Year / Catch (tonnes)
2008 – 2009 / 45
2009 – 2010 / 124
2010 – 2011 / 160
2011 – 2012 / 992
2012 – 2013 / Not provided
Figure 2: Catch of Gould’s squid (tonnes) from Tasmanian waters.
Value of commercial harvest / The value of commercial harvest for 2010 was estimated at $300000
Take by other sectors / Substantial amounts of Gould’s squid are caught as byproduct in the Commonwealth Trawl sector and the Great Australian Bight Trawl sector of the Southern and Eastern Scalefish and Shark Fishery (Wilson et al. 2009).In 2008, the combined bycatch in these two fisheries was approximately 700 tonnes.
Gould’s squid is taken in small amounts in fisheries targeting southern calamari in Victorian and SA state fisheries and as a small component of byproduct in the NSW Ocean Prawn Trawl Fishery.
A survey of recreational fishing in Tasmania (Lyle et al. 2009) estimatesthat 37 tonnes of Gould’s squid was harvested in recreational activities during 2007/08. Although no estimate of Indigenous harvest of Gould’s squid has been provided, the catch is considered to be low.
The take of Gould’s squid from the Tasmanian Gould’s Squid Fishery is included in stock assessments for the entire Australian squid stock and overall the stock is considered to be sustainably fished.
Commercial licences issued / There were 18 licences in 2014 –2015 that were authorised to take Gould’s squid in the Tasmanian Gould’s Squid Fishery.The Tasmanian Department of Primary Industries, Parks, Water and Environment has advised that no additional licences will be issued.
Management arrangements / The Tasmanian Gould’s Squid Fishery is managed by the Tasmanian Department of Primary Industries, Parks, Water and Environment in accordance with the Tasmanian Living Marine Resources Management Act 1995 and the Tasmanian Fisheries (Scalefish) Rules 2004.
Gould’s squid catch within the Tasmanian Gould’s Squid Fishery is managed using input controls, including gear-based statutory fishing rights,limited licences and gear limits for holders of a fishing licence (scalefish A) or (scalefish B), enabling total allowable effort to be apportioned between licence holders in the form of gear units.
Export / No estimation of export value has been provided, however, export markets are in development.
Bycatch / Due to the selective fishing method used by the Tasmanian Gould’s Squid Fishery(squid jig), bycatch is minimal.
Interaction with Protected Species[1] / The jig fishing methods used by the Tasmanian Gould’s Squid Fishery (squid jig) are highly selective for the target species. There wereno interactions reported with protected species in the fishery in2013.
Ecosystem Impacts / Jig fishing is an effective way to take squid as the use of powerful lights at night attracts squid and prey species alike and creates dense aggregations. Squid are aggressive and voracious feeders and readily attack jigs where prey species generally do not.
Jig fishing is therefore considered to have minimal environmental impacts with very little bycatch and physical habitat damage (Caton and McLoughlin, 1999). An ecological risk assessment of an adjacent fishery, the Commonwealth Southern Squid Jig Fishery, was completed in 2006 and did not identify any indicators of threat to the environment from jig fishing.
Impacts on CITES species / Gould’s squid are not listed under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). Therefore, no assessment under CITES was conducted for the Tasmanian Gould’s Squid Fishery’simpact on Gould’s squid.
Impacts on World Heritage property/Ramsar site / Fishing is not permitted within any World Heritage or Ramsar sites within the Tasmanian Gould’s Squid Fishery. Therefore, no assessment of the Tasmanian Gould’s Squid Fishery’s impacts on World Heritage properties or Ramsar sites has been conducted.
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Table 2 –Assessment of the Tasmanian Gould's Squid Fishery against the Guidelines for the Ecologically Sustainable Management of Fisheries 2nd Edition
MANAGEMENT REGIME
The management regime does not have to be a formal statutory fishery management plan as such, and may include non-statutory management arrangements or management policies and programs. The regime should:- Be documented, publicly available and transparent
The Act stipulates the objectives and processes that must be undertaken for the development, implementation and subsequent review of statutory fishery management plans. This includes mandated processes that provide for transparent decision making that must be publicly available upon which written representations are sought. Any changes to a management regime must be progressed through these mandated processes.This ultimately results in a report to the Minister on procedural outcomes and comprises of any written representations receivedand their respective responses.
- Be developed through a consultative process providing opportunity to all interested and affected parties, including the general public
Information on the Scalefish Fishery is also available to the public and stakeholders on the Department of Primary Industries, Parks, Water and Environment (DPIPWE) website at website also contains other information regarding the policy framework for the management of Tasmanian fisheries and more specifically the Scalefish Fishery.
All changes to a management regime must be released for public consultation with all stakeholders and the wider public.
- Ensure that a range of expertise and community interests are involved in individual fishery management committees and during the stock assessment process
Relevant fishing industry representatives are also provided membership to the relevant advisory committee to ensure appropriate representation and consultative processes. The commercial sector is also represented by the Tasmanian Scalefish Fishermen’s Association.
- Be strategic, containing objectives and performance criteria by which the effectiveness of the management arrangements are measured
The performance measures are detailed in the latest fishery assessment report, which has also been updated to follow the newly developed national reporting format.
- Be capable of controlling the level of harvest in the fishery using input and/or output controls
Thefishing licence authorises the holder to use more than four automatic squid jig machines, lamps and lines to take Gould’s squid. The licence is limited to the harvest of Gould’s squid and does not authorise the take and/or possession of any other type of fish or bycatch.
Scalefish licence holdersthat do not hold a fishing licence (automatic squid jig) are restricted to the use of not more than four automatic squid jig machines and lights of no more than a total of 2,000 watts.
- Contain the means of enforcing critical aspects of the management arrangements
Enforcement of these rules is undertaken by Tasmania Police, who are authorised fishery officers under the Act.
- Provide for the periodic review of the performance of the fishery management arrangements and the management strategies, objectives and criteria
The fishery assessment report for the Scalefish Fishery has recently been updated to reflect the national reporting format. The assessment report contains the performance measures in place for the fishery and reports against those measures using the new standardised methodology.
- Be capable of assessing, monitoring and avoiding, remedying or mitigating any adverse impacts on the wider marine ecosystem in which the target species lives and the fishery operates
- Requires compliance with relevant threat abatement plans, recovery plans, the National Policy on Fisheries Bycatch, and bycatch action strategies developed under the policy
PRINCIPLE 1 – A fishery must be conducted in a manner that does not lead to over-fishing, or for those stocks that are over-fished, the fishery must be conducted such that there is a high degree of probability the stock(s) will recover.
Objective 1: The fishery shall be conducted at catch levels that maintain ecologically viable stock levels at an agreed point or range, with acceptable levels of probability.