Questionnaire Report for Banded Morwong

(MERA version 4.1.6)

Abdul Ben-Hasan ()

2019-05-04


1 About this document

This is a prototype of an automatic report that documents how the user specified the operating model and their various justifications.


2 Introduction

  1. Describe the history and current status of the fishery, including fleets, sectors, vessel types and practices/gear by vessel type, landing ports, economics/markets, whether targeted/bycatch, other stocks caught in the fishery. (from assessment report: http://www.imas.utas.edu.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0005/1088411/BMW_Fishery-2016_17_FINAL.pdf) “In Tasmania, Banded Morwong are commercially harvested by a small-scale coastal gillnet fishery. Prior to 1990, the species had little commercial value apart from use as bait by rock lobster fishers (Ziegler et al. 2007a). In the early 1990s a targeted fishery for Banded Morwong started to supply domestic live fish markets, primarily in Sydney and Melbourne. All holders of a Tasmanian Fishing Boat Licence were able to take this species and, as a result, there was a dramatic increase in effort directed at the species, with reported catches peaking at 145 t in 1993/94. Catches fell dramatically in the late 1990s, with 34.6 t landed in 1999/00. Since then, catches have stabilised around 30–40 t.”…“Banded Morwong are currently targeted almost exclusively for the live fish market with large mesh gillnets, primarily of 130–140 mm stretched mesh.”….“Banded Morwong are a relatively minor component of the recreational fishery. A total of 298 individuals were reported as retained in the 2012/13 recreational fishing survey of Lyle et al. (2014b), equating to a total estimated harvest of 0.5 tonnes, or around 1% of the total Banded Morwong landings (commercial + recreational) for that year.”

  2. Describe the stock’s ecosystem functions, dependencies, and habitat types. (from assessment report: http://www.imas.utas.edu.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0005/1088411/BMW_Fishery-2016_17_FINAL.pdf): “Banded Morwong (Cheilodactylus spectabilis; Figure 1) are large, sedentary fish that inhabit temperate reefs around south-eastern Australia and New Zealand (Gomon et al 1994). In Australia, the species distribution extends from Sydney, through Victorian and Tasmanian waters, to eastern South Australia. The species has occasionally been observed in Western Australia. Banded Morwong are long-lived, and can reach ages of at least 97 years (Ewing et al. 2007). While longevity is similar among sexes, the species displays strong sexual dimorphism in growth, with males growing substantially faster and reaching larger maximum sizes than females (Ziegler et al. 2007a).”

  3. Provide all relevant reference materials, such as assessments, research, and other analysis. Assessment report: http://www.imas.utas.edu.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0005/1088411/BMW_Fishery-2016_17_FINAL.pdf


3 Fishery Characteristics

3.1 Longevity

Answered
Very short-lived (5 < maximum age < 7)
Short-lived (7 < maximum age < 10)
Moderate life span (10 < maximum age < 20)
Moderately long-lived (20 < maximum age < 40)
Long-lived (40 < maximum age < 80)
Very long-lived (80 < maximum age < 160)
Justification
Natural mortality = 0.05 (from: http://www.imas.utas.edu.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0005/1088411/BMW_Fishery-2016_17_FINAL.pdf)

3.2 Stock depletion

Answered
Crashed (D < 0.05)
Very depleted (0.05 < D < 0.1)
Depleted (0.1 < D < 0.15)
Moderately depleted (0.15 < D < 0.3)
Healthy (0.3 < D < 0.5)
Underexploited (0.5 < D)
Justification
Although there is no information on SSB relative to unfished, the assessment report shows that the current biomass is above Bmsy. (report: http://www.imas.utas.edu.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0005/1088411/BMW_Fishery-2016_17_FINAL.pdf)

3.3 Resilence

Answered
Not resilient (steepness < 0.3)
Low resilience (0.3 < steepness < 0.5)
Moderate resilence (0.5 < steepness < 0.7)
Resilient (0.7 < steepness < 0.9)
Very Resilient (0.9 < steepness)
Justification
No information was provided on steepness.