This report estimates the total recreational catch of southern bluefin tuna in New Zealand for the 2022–23 fishing year.

Tuna numbers and weights are collected using a monthly telephone survey of South Island fishers and a boat ramp survey at Waihau Bay in the eastern Bay of Plenty where most of these fish are landed.

Catch records from fishing clubs, online reporting, and recreational charter boats are also used.

In 2022–23, the Total Allowable Catch of New Zealand southern blue tuna was 1102 tonnes. The Commission for the Conservation of Southern Bluefin Tuna requires member countries to report their total catch.

Overall the number of southern bluefin tuna caught in the rereational fishery was about 1500, which is more than in previous years, but the average weight was lower.

The total landed weight for the recreational fishery was estimated to be between 65 and 73 tonnes with a mid-point of 69.3 tonnes.

The global population of southern bluefin tuna is increasing under the current management system and catch rates in the New Zealand commercial and recreational fishery are also likely to increase in future.

Most fishing methods catch target and non-target (unwanted) species, and unwanted catch may be returned to the sea in some cases.
Fishers and observers record catches of target and non-target species, and the amount of catch returned to the sea (discards).

Total non-target catch and discards for key species and species groups reported in the hoki, hake, ling, silver warehou, and white warehou (HHLSW) fishery from fishing years 2003 to 2022 were estimated with a statistical model.

Hoki and other target species make up most of the catch in this fishery, and key non-target species inluded javenlinfish, rattails, and sharks.
Gemfish showed a significant increasing trend in the amount of non-target catch reported, and sharks and slickheads showed significant decreasing trends.

The amount of catch that is discarded compared with the target catch is lower for this combined fishery than for other fisheries that are monitored.

Monitoring levels of catch and discards is important for understanding the impact of fishing on the environment.

This report presents results of the 2022 inshore trawl survey of the west coast North Island (WCNI), the 9th in a time series starting in 1989, but with a 19-year gap between 1999 and 2018 surveys.

The survey extends from Scott Point on Ninety Mile Beach to Mana Island covering a depth range from 10–200 m north of Cape Egmont and 10–100 m to the south. Since 2018, there has been no sampling within 2–4 nautical miles of the coast between Maunganui Bluff and the Waiwhakaiho River, New Plymouth, a no-trawl area established to protect the Māui dolphin.

Everything that is caught in the trawl is sorted, identified, and weighed, and length and maturity data are collected for selected species and otoliths (fish ear stones) for ageing the four main species of interest: snapper, red gurnard, John dory, and tarakihi. The trawl survey provides time series of relative biomass estimates and age, length, and maturity stage information used for stock assessments and fisheries management advice for key inshore species.

In 2023, 95 phase one stations were successfully completed followed by four phase two stations completed to improve the coefficient of variation for tarakihi.

There were 72 species recorded in total, with snapper by far the most abundant. Biomass estimates (in tonnes) for the key species across the whole survey were: snapper, 8396.3 t ; red gurnard, 1160.5 t; tarakihi, 447.6 t ; John dory, 305.3 t.

The 2022 snapper biomass estimate was lower than that from the 2019 and 2020 surveys, but still significantly higher than the historical surveys in the 1990s. There were high numbers of juvenile snapper under 5 years old but a lower number of adult fish. The variability in adult snapper biomass in this survey may be due to fish moving inshore into shallow water to spawn, or may reflect the highly patchy distribution of snapper at this time of year.

The biomass estimate for adult red gurnard was relatively stable, but the biomass of smaller fish was substantially below historical estimates.

This report provides results for the 20th summer trawl survey of hoki, hake, ling, and associated species in the Sub-Antarctic carried out from 23 November to 23 December 2022. Seventy-four of the 80 planned phase one stations were completed; there was no time to carry out phase two.

When compared with the previous survey in 2020, biomass estimates in core strata (200–800 m depths) were up by 31% for hoki, up by 10% for ling, and down by 25% for hake. The precision target (coefficient of variation) of 15% was met for hoki and ling but slightly exceeded for hake.

The hoki length and age distributions were mainly adult fish with few 1+ fish (2021 year class, fish less than 45 cm) and few 2+ fish (2020 year class, 45–55 cm). The hake and ling length and age distributions were broad, with few juvenile fish.

The acoustic estimate of midwater fish abundance was lower than that in 2020 but still above the average of the time series.

A total of 188 species or species groups were caught, of which 88 different species of fish and squid (29 560 fish) were measured, and 12 320 fish were individually weighed during the survey.

This report summarises commercial catch and effort statistics for rock lobsters, which are also known in New Zealand as “crayfish” or “kōura”.

The summaries presented in this document cover the rock lobster legal fishing years (1 April–31 March) for April 1979 to March 2023.

There are nine Quota Management Areas (QMAs) that cover all inshore waters of the North Island, the South Island, and the Chatham Islands. There are 43 smaller statistical areas that lie within these nine QMAs. The summaries are ordered by QMA, with each QMA identified by a three-letter code and a number. The rock lobster code is CRA, so the nine QMAs are labelled CRA 1 to CRA 9.

The first three tables for each CRA QMA summarise, by statistical area and fishing year, (1) number of vessels, (2) catch, and (3) effort. The last category is defined as the total number of rock lobster pots lifted within each fishing year and statistical area. The fourth table summarises catch by month and fishing year for the entire QMA, and a fifth table gives the monthly catch by statistical area for just the final fishing year, which is 2022–23 in this document.

The sixth table for each QMA summarises catch-per-unit-effort (CPUE) by statistical area and fishing year. CPUE in this table is defined as the catch (in kilograms) from the second table divided by the number of potlifts in the third table. There is a seventh table providing CPUE that has gone through a mathematical procedure called “standardisation” which attempts to factor out aspects of the CPUE which might change over time. The standardisation procedure has been suspended beginning with 2019–20 because there are comparability issues associated with the changeover from paper forms to electronic reporting.

Jack mackerels (JMA) support significant commercial fisheries in New Zealand, with over 75% of the total jack mackerel catch taken by trawl fisheries off the west coasts of the North Island and South Island, in JMA 7. Three jack mackerel species are found in New Zealand waters, namely Trachurus declivis, T. murphyi, and T. novaezelandiae.

New Zealand commercial catches of jack mackerels have been recorded under the general code JMA. Therefore species-specific catch information is not available from the fishery data. Estimates of proportions of the three Trachurus species in the catch, based on observer data which includes separate codes for each species, are essential for assessment of the individual stocks.

This report updates the data collected by the New Zealand observer sampling programme from trawl landings of jack mackerels in JMA 7 with the data collected during the 2021–22 fishing year, including estimates of species proportions and sex ratios in the landings, catch-at-length (fork length, cm), and catch-at-age for these species.

Estimated proportions of catch by species based on observer data have historically shown that T. declivis comprises 61–73% of the catch for all statistical areas, followed by T. novaezelandiae at 21–33%, and T. murphyi at 2–8%. In 2021–22, proportions of T. declivis, T. novaezelandiae, and T. murphyi were 77%, 23%, and less than 1%, respectively.

Sampled sex ratios of T. declivis and T. novaezelandiae were close to a sex ratio of 1:1 in the 2021–22 fishing year, and sex ratios for T. murphyi were biased towards females (56%) in 2021–22.

Trachurus declivis and T. novaezelandiae fish in the observer data indicated decreasing proportions of larger and older fish in the commercial catch in recent years, whereas the length and age data for T. murphyi indicated the catch mainly comprised large, older fish, with little evidence of younger fish coming through.

South Island recreational blue cod fisheries are monitored by Fisheries New Zealand using potting surveys to assess the status of the stocks. The results of the Foveaux Strait surveys are important inputs for full quantitative stock assessments conducted for BCO 5 every five years.

This report describes the results of the random-site blue cod (Parapercis colias) potting survey carried out in Foveaux Strait in February 2023—as well as for three previous surveys (2010, 2014, and 2018). Estimates are provided for population abundance, size structure from fish length, and age structure from otoliths (ear bones collected for ageing), as well as population sex ratio, total mortality, and fishing mortality.

The overall weighted mean length of blue cod in 2023 was 32.0 cm for males and 28.5 cm for females, and mean age was 5.9 years (1–11 years) for males and 6.2 years for females (1–16 years). There were no clear age class modes in 2023 and little evidence of spawning activity during the survey.

The scaled length frequency distributions and mean length of all blue cod were similar for all four surveys, although, in 2023, the proportion of small males was less than in previous years.

Survey abundance (total blue cod mean catch rate) from the four surveys significantly increased between 2010 and 2014, with no change in 2018, followed by a significant decline of 57% in 2023.

The proportion of pots with no catch was similar for the first three surveys (25 to 32%), but in 2023 this increased to 49%. There were no trends in sex ratio over the time series which was around 50% male.

The age structure was similar among the four surveys with most fish between 4 and 8 years of age and relatively few fish over 10 years, particularly males. The fishing pressure is concentrated on just a few older cohorts, some of which are poorly represented.

Relative to the target reference fishing mortality of F=0.15 for blue cod, the estimated mortality in 2023 was nearly seven times higher, indicating that overfishing is occurring. Fishing mortality was also considerably higher than the target for all three previous surveys.

This report presents the results of a field survey made in December 2022 to estimate the abundance of kina in Tory Channel, Marlborough Sounds (SUR 7A). Kina densities were determined along with roe biomass from dive and camera transects, with estimates of abundance utilising high resolution bathymetry data. Total biomass of kina in the survey area was estimated to be 595 t, with a CV of 19%; the biomass of kina roe was estimated to be 62.9 t, most of which was in the highest quality category.

This report summarises the WCSI hake (HAK 7) fishery with spatial structure of the stock, biological parameters, and standardised catch per unit effort (CPUE). The CPUE indices were similar for the tow-by-tow data and the daily summary data and showed a similar trend to the Sub-Antarctic trawl surveys. In general, the CPUE indices had declined over the period of fishing but had levelled off in recent years as the total catch declined.

The present project provides an update to the pāua (Haliotis iris) stock assessment for quota management area (QMA) PAU 5D and tested control rules to aimed at rebuilding catch towards the Total Allowable Commercial Catch. The findings suggested that the stock has been rebuilding and is now as likely as not to be at the interim management target. The harvest control rule from 2016 was updated to include a lag year on increases and a maximum 5% limit on year-on-year increases.

The total species population size estimate of New Zealand sea lion/pakake/whakahao was updated using the available demographic and population size information up to 2022 (the 2021–22 breeding season). All analyses were conducted within a Bayesian estimation framework, and the posterior total population size estimate was approximately 10 000 individuals in 2022 (median: 10 151; 95% credible interval: 8702–12 082 individuals), slightly below the estimate for 2015 using the same method.

This report describes the results of the random-site potting survey for blue cod (Parapercis colias) off south Otago in March–April 2022. Estimates are provided for population abundance, size and age structure, sex ratio, total mortality (Z), and fishing mortality (F). The 2022 potting survey was the fourth in the south Otago time series, with previous surveys in 2010, 2013, and 2018. The 2010 survey was a dual random-site and fixed-site experimental survey in three of the six strata; and 2013 and 2018 were solely random-site surveys in all six strata.

Sampling plan for the Financial year 2023- 2024 for domestic foods. Range of foods are plant-based foods including root and tuber vegetables, pome fruits, small fruit and berries, fruiting vegetables-cucurbits and cereal grains. A total of 300 samples will be collected.

The collection of long-term age data is a requirement for countries fishing for Southern Bluefin Tuna. This report describes the age estimation of otoliths collected from the New Zealand longline and recreational fishing sector between 2019 to 2021. A total of 238 otoliths were aged during this project. Age estimates ranged from 3–24 years and as in previous years there were few samples less than 4 years of age. No modal progression of age classes was observed with the age composition data.

This report describes results from the random-site blue cod potting survey off north Otago in January 2022. Estimates are provided for population relative abundance, size and age structure, sex ratio, total mortality (Z), and fishing mortality (F). This was the third survey in the random-site survey time series with previous surveys in 2013 and 2018. In addition, 4 random sites were sampled in the proposed marine reserve (Te Umu Koau, D1) that, in part, overlaps with the main survey strata.

We examined the influence of water quality at the time of juvenile settlement on subsequent adult flatfish abundance as indexed by commercial catches in the Manukau and Kaipara harbours. Generalised linear models including time-lagged water quality variables indicated an overall negative association between water clarity and flatfish catch, and overall positive association between total phosphorus and flatfish catch in both harbours, suggesting these variables may affect flatfish recruitment.