Catch-at-age data are important for the stock assessment of fish species because they provide information on the strength and progression of age classes in the stock, including juveniles and fish that are large enough to be taken by commercial fishers. These data include information on fish length and age (from otoliths—the ear bones of fish) collected at sea by observers from the commercial catch.

This report provides analyses of catch-at-age from the bottom trawl fisheries for barracouta (Thyrsites atun, BAR) in BAR 5 (Southland) and for gemfish (Rexea solandri, SKI) in SKI 3 (southeast coast) and SKI 7 (Challenger) for the 2021–22 fishing year. These results are the second of a three-year catch-at-age series for these two species.

Data for the 2021–22 season included few barracouta under 60 cm, indicating either less fishing on smaller (and younger) barracouta, or a poor year class should be expected. Most of the barracouta were aged 2–5 years.

Gemfish from SKI 3 in the 2021–22 fishing year showed a range of fish sizes, with most between 45 and 52 cm, which corresponded to age 2 fish, and also at sizes that corresponded to ages 4–6.

Gemfish from SKI 7 were less variable in length and included some fish under 50 cm, mainly females, which corresponded to ages 0–1. Most of the gemfish in SKI 7 around 50 cm in length corresponded to age 2; this was a strong cohort, particularly for males. Females were generally larger (and older) than males in the bottom trawl catch, with a strong mode at ages 5–8 for the females.

This report has two main objectives.

1) To present a new approach to documenting and predicting people’s willingness to manage invasive species and designing
appropriate public engagement strategies.

2) To present new simulation tools for modelling.

This report updates and summarises the observational and research data for southern blue whiting from 1990 to 2022. These data include the time series of relative abundance from acoustic surveys, trawl survey indices, and updated time series of length-at-age and catch-at-age from observer sampling of commercial catch.

New Zealand’s Hector’s dolphins are an endangered species. A key threat to their survival is entanglement in fishing gear, including trawl nets. In this study, we report on a field trial where underwater microphones (hydrophones) were fitted to trawling equipment and the echolocation clicks naturally produced by Hector’s dolphins were localised to determine how the dolphins interacted with the trawling equipment as it moved through the water. The hydrophones were protected within custom-built cages to withstand the physical stress associated with being attached to fishing equipment that is dragged along the seabed. The field trial was conducted off the coast of Timaru, New Zealand, in September and October 2022. While the hydrophones recorded dolphin sound underwater, a Fisheries New Zealand observer on the boat also looked out for dolphins.

The protective cages around the hydrophones proved effective and we were able to successfully localise dolphins. Dolphins were localised moving towards the mouth of the fishing net from various approach angles, and, on several occasions, we were able to successfully distinguish multiple dolphins each moving along different paths. Even though we only analysed a subset of the acoustic data from each trawl, dolphin clicks were detected acoustically during trawls on more occasions than the observer on the fishing boat was able to see dolphins. Unfortunately silt from the seabed entered some of the connections between the hydrophones and the acoustic recorder, which resulted in corrupted data on some days, but overall the field trial was successful.

This study showed that listening for the presence of dolphins can be more effective than looking for dolphins from a boat. We suggest that a combination of listening and looking for dolphins would be the most effective way to detect dolphins that might be near the fishing net. In the long term, the listening system described here could be developed into a real-time warning system that alerts the fishing vessel master when dolphins are close to the fishing net. If the vessel master is aware of the dolphins, they could avoid activities that result in high-risk of entanglement, such as sharp turns or drawing in the net at the end of the trawl. Dolphin detection could also help with targeted use of devices that encourage the dolphins to move away from the high-risk areas—such devices emit noise and should be used as little as possible to minimise noise pollution and disturbance to the dolphins.