New abundance indices for the northern gemfish stock in SKI 1 and SKI 2 have been developed. The main index for adult fish is based on catch-per-unit-effort from the gemfish and hoki target trawl fishery focused in the Bay of Plenty. A tarakihi-target index monitors juvenile fish. Following a period of high recruitment beginning in 2016, the northern stock has increased substantially and was assessed to be above the target reference point in 2021. Abundance has increased further in 2022.

The study summarised diets of top predators in New Zealand waters and estimated the spatial-temporal distribution of many of their prey species caught in inshore fisheries. These were consistent with previous estimates and with existing information and could be used as inputs in other processes such as spatial risk assessment models. Care should be taken for species such as squid or hoki where only the shallow part of their range was included and species groups such as jack mackerel or rattail.

This project developed a food-web model to explore the potential ecosystem effects of changes to small and medium-sized pelagic fish (including jack mackerels, anchovy, pilchards, sprat, yelloweye mullet, blue mackerel, yellow-tailed scad/kōheru) in the Hauraki Gulf. We found that the response of the ecosystem to changes in the abundances of pelagic fishes depended strongly on the extent to which top predators (seabirds, whales/dolphins, fish) are flexible in their diets.

This project, funded by the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI), sought to help New Zealand Plant Producers Incorporated (NZPPI) develop a structured approach for optimising use of fungicides against myrtle rust in nurseries.

The Integrated Electronic Monitoring and Reporting System regulations require information on oyster catch, bycatch, and oyster discards from the Foveaux Strait oyster fishery (OYU 5) to be reported daily, at a spatial scale of 1 nm based on fishers’ logbook grid cells. Fishery independent bycatch sampling was undertaken after the February 2020 oyster and Bonamia exitiosa survey. This report describes the data on oyster discards and quantification of bycatch to fulfil the reporting requirements.

Swordfish and tunas caught by tuna longline vessels are processed at sea, preventing the measurement of lengths in port samples, but individual processed weights of the catch are kept by fish processors that export, in a relatively whole state, these fish. Processed weights can be converted to lengths so that this project effectively augments observer length frequency data with estimates based on individual processed weights of fish landed by the domestic fleet for 2017-18 to 2019-20.

This is a guidance document to inform the development and implementation of benthic monitoring of salmon farms in the Marlborough Sounds, New Zealand. It was first published in 2015, revised in 2019, and further revised in this version after an out-of-cycle review in 2022. It aims to provide consistent and clear requirements for the benthic monitoring and management of existing farms, based around an agreed set of environmental quality standards with accompanying rationale.