Species Fact Sheet. New Zealand hoki Macruronus novaezelandiae

Transcription

1 Species Fact Sheet New Zealand hoki Macruronus novaezelandiae Authors: Barry Weeber and Karli Thomas July 2009

2 New Zealand hoki Macruronus novaezelandiae Other names: Whiptail, blue hake, blue grenadier (Australia), langschwanz seehecht (Germany), merluse (France), merluza azul (Spain), nasello azzurro (Italy) The hoki fishery is now New Zealand s second largest fishery, after quota cuts were implemented following a rapid downward trend in the stock size. The fishery has been certified by the Marine Stewardship Council, however two seperate appeal panels have found that the the fishery did not deserve its sustainability tick. Many key issues with the fishery including overfishing of juvenilles, highly destructive fishing methods and the death of hundreds of fur seals and sea birds each year have not been resolved. Distribution and biology Hoki is a deepwater species which is found throughout the New Zealand EEZ from Sub Antarctic waters to the top of the North Island. Hoki can be found from depths of 10 m to over 900 m with the greatest abundance at between 200 and 600 m. Juvenile fish tend to be more abundant in shallower waters with large adult fish predominantly found in waters deeper than 400 m. 1 Hoki are also caught in South East Australian trawl fishery and on the Patagonian Shelf off Argentina. Hoki is considered to be highly vulnerable to fishing. 2 Hoki males grow up to about 1.15 m in length while females grow to about 1.3 m and up to 7 kg in weight. 3 Hoki can live to about 25 years, but very few fish older than 8 years are left in the fished population. Hoki mature between 3 and 5 years (60 65 cm for males and cm for females). Hoki is divided into two populations (western and eastern stocks) which are based on two main spawning grounds (Hokitika Canyon, West Coast of the South Island and Cook Strait Canyons). Additional spawning areas occur off Puysegur Point and Pegasus and Conway Canyon near Kaikoura. Young fish are found on the Chatham Rise while adult fish are found on the Sub Antarctic Plateau and on the Chatham Rise. Fishery and economic value The hoki fishery is New Zealand s second largest fishery with export value of NZ$156 million in Much of the catch is exported to China for further processing and then re exported into Europe and the USA. 4 Until recently the main hoki fishery operated from mid July to late August from Hokitika Canyon north on the West Coast of the South Island where hoki aggregate to spawn. A second major spawning area occurs in the Cook Strait canyons where the fishery runs from late June to mid September peaking in July and August. Other smaller spawning areas occur in East Coast South Island Canyon s south of Cook Strait and at Puysegur Bank off the South West Corner of the south Island. Outside the spawning fishery there are substantial catches on the Chatham Rise and a smaller fishery in the Sub Antarctic. The Chatham Rise fishery generally has constant catch rates across all months except July to September when catches are lower because the fish 2

3 move to their spawning areas. In the Sub Antarctic, catches typically peak in April to June. There is also a small East Coast North Island hoki fishery. Hoki quota ownership The hoki fishery is managed under the New Zealand quota management system, which means that the Total Allowable Commercial Catch (TACC) is subdivided amongst companies who own quota shares. The major ownership, or leased ownership, of hoki quota is Sealord (30%), Sanford (15%), Te Ohu Kaimoana (TOKM)/Aotearoa Fisheries Ltd (10%), Amaltal (17%), Talley Fisheries Ltd (3%), Independent (8%), Vela Fisheries (7%) and United (2%). Sealord is jointly owned, 50% by Japanese fishing company Nippon Suisan Kaisha (Nissui) and 50% by Aotearoa Fisheries Ltd, which is owned by TOKM. Amaltal is owned by Talley Fisheries Ltd. In 2006 the value of hoki quota was estimated to be NZ$627 million. 5 Just over half the hoki fishing effort is carried out by New Zealand owned and operated vessels, while the rest is by vessels chartered from Russia, Ukraine, Japan, Korea, Norway and Poland. Key concerns with the hoki fishery Hoki stocks Hoki stocks have declined over the last 16 years. A single annual total allowable commercial catch catch (TACC) limit was set for all of New Zealand s EEZ (except for around the Kermadec Islands) at 250,000 tonnes in 1996, which was the limit when MSC certified the fishery in Since then the catch limit has dropped to 90,000 tonnes from October Some recovery in stock size has been reported recently with the cut in catches. The western hoki population is of greatest concern with the population estimated to be at about 35% of the unfished population (Bo) but the stock could be as low as 27%. The smaller Eastern population is considered to be in better shape. Trawling Hoki is caught by bottom trawl and large opening mid water trawl. Bottom trawls mainly target non spawning aggregations on the Chatham Rise and Sub Antarctic Plateau while mid water trawl mainly target spawning aggregations in the Cook Strait and off the West Coast of the South Island. In the last 8 years there has been an increase in vessels using trawl gear with double nets (twin rigs), and even triple rigs, in bottom trawls. Annually there are around 12,000 bottom trawls and 9,000 mid water trawls for hoki. 6 About half of the midwater trawls come into contact with the seabed. 7 The impact on benthic communities, including the loss of biodiversity, from this widespread trawling has yet to be well investigated. Catch of small fish The fishery is heavily reliant on the catch of juvenile hoki on the Chatham Rise, the main nursery ground for young fish. While a voluntary industry Code of Practice exists to protect juvenile hoki, this is not effective and a large proportion of the catch is composed of fish that have not yet matured enough to reproduce. 3

4 In 2008 about 50% of the catch on the Chatham Rise was made up of juvenile fish smaller than 65 cm. The Chatham Rise made up about 40% of the catch in Overall, around 40% of the fish caught in the hoki fishery were less than 65 cm. Marine mammal bycatch The hoki fishery drowns several hundred New Zealand fur seals annually 386 fur seals were estimated caught in the fishing season. 8 Similar levels have been reported in the season. The hoki fishery has had a code of practice to reduce fur seal deaths in the fishery since 1989, but it has had little effect. The West Coast seal colonies have been declining, and nationally the fur seal population is less than 10% of what it was in Seabird bycatch About seabirds are caught annually in the hoki fishery with over half of these caught in the fishery on the Chatham Rise. 9 About half the species caught are albatrosses. The mix of albatross and petrel species caught varies with different fisheries but includes Salvin s, Buller s, Campbell, white capped albatross, white chinned petrels, westland petrels, and sooty shearwaters. Most of these species are ranked as threatened species by IUCN Red List, including Salvin s and white chinned petrels. Other threatened species bycatch Hoki fishery bycatch also includes a number of threatened species including basking sharks. 10 These sharks are listed with CITES and Appendix II of the Convention on Migratory Species. 11 Impact on other fisheries The size of the hoki fishery means that the fishery impacts upon a range of other marine species, inlcuding other commercially caught species. There has been gross mis reporting of 12, 13 bycatch species in the hoki fishery. Hake, ling and silver warehou are all caught as bycatch in the hoki fishery, and the stocks have all been affected by mis reporting of hoki bycatch. For example, the West Coast ling fishery has been consistently over caught in the last 10 years. A recent review found that there was clear evidence of mis reporting in the hoki fishery 14 The level of mis reporting has varied between years and between species. The main problem species are ling and spiny dogfish. MSC a controversial certification The New Zealand hoki fishery has been certified by the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) since March but was subjected to appeals by environmental groups on the initial certification and re certification in The first MSC appointed appeal panel noted in their final report 16 (December 2002): As is apparent from its conclusions and recommendations which follow, the panel has identified several aspects of the SGS assessment concerning Principle 2 which would have justified a refusal of certification as at the date of the assessment. 4

5 Despite this finding, in April 2006 the fishery passed its re assessment by the certification body, SGS (Société Générale de Surveillance), but only just scraped a pass for the impact of the fishery on the marine environment (Principle 2). Again the certification was appealed by environmental groups, leading to a report by an objections appeal panel 17 (September 2007) that noted in its conclusions: It will be apparent from this report that there are several instances, in particular in relation to Performance Indicators , and , where the Panel found itself in disagreement with the Certification Body in relation to the scores awarded. In each case, the Panel members would have taken a more conservative approach and awarded a lower score. In the circumstances of this particular certification process, which received an overall passing score by the skin of its teeth, a lower score on almost any indicator would have resulted in a failure to recommend certification. Again it was found that the fishery did not warrant its certification, however the panel s view could not replace the certifier s assessment, and the re certification was awarded in Given the ongoing environmental impacts of the fishery, New Zealand hoki is included on the Greenpeace seafood red list despite its certification by the Marine Stewardship Council. Some retailers such as Waitrose UK 18 have removed hoki from sale in accordance with their sustainable seafood procurement policies. References New Zealand Ministry of Fisheries (2008). Report from the Fisheries Assessment Plenary, May 2008: Stock assessment and yield estimates. Ministry of Fisheries, Wellington, New Zealand. Accessed July 2009 at: fpcs.fish.govt.nz/science/documents/plenary/hok_final%2008.pdf Froese R, Pauly D (editors) (2009). New Zealand hoki. FishBase website. Electronic version (06/2009). Accessed July 2009 at: New Zealand Ministry of Fisheries (2008). Report from the Fisheries Assessment Plenary, May 2008: Stock assessment and yield estimates. Ministry of Fisheries, Wellington, New Zealand. Accessed July 2009 at: fpcs.fish.govt.nz/science/documents/plenary/hok_final%2008.pdf New Zealand Ministry of Fisheries (2007). Initial position paper: Hoki catch limits. Ministry of Fisheries, Wellington, New Zealand. Accessed July 2009 at: E7DF 4029 A16D 457FB22C45D2/0/ipp_07_08_hoki.pdf New Zealand Ministry of Fisheries (2007). Initial position paper: Hoki catch limits. Ministry of Fisheries, Wellington, New Zealand. Accessed July 2009 at: E7DF 4029 A16D 457FB22C45D2/0/ipp_07_08_hoki.pdf New Zealand Ministry of Fisheries (2008). Report from the Fisheries Assessment Plenary, May 2008: Stock assessment and yield estimates. Ministry of Fisheries, Wellington, New Zealand. Accessed July 2009 at: fpcs.fish.govt.nz/science/documents/plenary/hok_final%2008.pdf 5

6 Horn PL (2009). CPUE from commercial fisheries for ling (Genypterus blacodes) in fish stocks LIN3, 4,5,6 and 7 from 2007, and a descriptive analysis update. New Zealand Fisheries Assessment Report 2009/1, New Zealand Ministry of Fisheries, Wellington, New Zealand. Baird SJ (2007). Incidental capture of New Zealand fur seals (Arctocephalus forsteri) in commercial fisheries in New Zealand waters, and New Zealand Aquatic Environment and Biodiversity Report No 14. New Zealand Ministry of Fisheries, Wellington, New Zealand. Baird SJ, Smith MH (2007) Incidental capture of seabird species in commercial fisheries in New Zealand waters, and New Zealand Aquatic Environment and Biodiversity Report No 9. New Zealand Ministry of Fisheries, Wellington, New Zealand. Francis MP, Duffy C (2002). Distribution, seasonal abundance and bycatch of basking sharks (Cetorhinus maximus) in New Zealand, with observations on their winter habitat. Marine Biology 140(4): CITES (2008). Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Flora and Fauna. Appendices I, II and III. CITES, Geneva, Switzerland. Accessed July 2009 at: Bremner G, Johnstone P, Batson T, Clarke P (2009). Unreported bycatch in the New Zealand West Coast South Island hoki fishery. Marine Policy 33: Dunn A (2003). Revised estimates of landings of hake (Merluccius australis) for the west coast South Island, Chatham Rise, and Sub Antarctic stocks in the fishing years to New Zealand Fisheries Assessment Report 2003/39. New Zealand Ministry of Fisheries, Wellington, New Zealand. Bremner G, Johnstone P, Batson T, Clarke P (2009). Unreported bycatch in the New Zealand West Coast South Island hoki fishery. Marine Policy 33: MSC (2009). Home> Track a fishery> Certified fisheries> Pacific> New Zealand Hoki. MSC website. Marine Stewardship Council (MSC), London, UK. Accessed July 2009 at: afishery/certified/pacific/new zealand hoki Laing M, Deriso R, Rice J, Connell M (2002). New Zealand Hoki Fishery Independent Panel decision, 16 Dec Marine Stewardship Council (MSC), London, UK. Accessed July 2009 at: a fishery/certified/pacific/new zealand hoki/assessment downloads 1/NZ_Hoki_Panel_Decision.pdf Lodge M, Deriso R, Collie J (2007). Report of an independent objections panel into the further objections against proposed certification of the New Zealand hoki fishery filed by (1) WWF New Zealand and (2) Royal Forest and Bird Protection Society of New Zealand. Marine Stewardship Council (MSC), London, UK. Accessed July 2009 at: a fishery/certified/pacific/new zealand hoki/reassessment downloads 1/NZHoki_OP_FinalReport_Sept2007.pdf Seafoodsource.com Q&A: Jeremy Langley, Waitrose. Accessed July 2009 at: 6