Hake
Scientific name: |
Merluccius australis |
Other names: |
kehe, tiikati (Maori), whiting, merluza (Spain), merlu (France), heiku (Japan), seehecht (Germany) |
Hake is a worst choice seafood. A better alternative is trevally or tarakihi.
Hake is a relative of the hoki, found only in New Zealand. It is targeted on the Chatham Rise and in the sub-Antarctics, but is usually caught bottom trawling, and as bycatch from mid-water hoki trawling. Hake is caught off the West Coast of the South Island, with some taken from the south of the South Island, the sub-Antarctic and on the Chatham Rise.
Hake is caught in bottom trawling fisheries and there are concerns over bycatch of seabirds and marine mammals. It is estimated that 192 fur seals and 306 seabirds are caught every year in the hoki bottom trawl fishery (5 year average). Also of concern is the impact that bottom trawling has on fragile habitats like seamounts, the impact on corals and sponges, and vulnerable shark species bycatch. Other concerns include inconsistencies between quota boundaries and stock boundaries, the uncertainty of stock size and trends for West Coast and sub-Antarctic populations, the lack of a management plan, illegal and misreporting of catches, and the rapid decline in Chatham Rise hake.
The hake trawl fishery is certified from September 2014 for 5 years under the Marine Stewardship Council (an international body that assesses and awards sustainable fisheries certifications). Forest & Bird disagrees with this, given the bycatch and benthic impacts.
The main export markets are Spain (50%), Japan, Iran, Portugal, and Australia, which were worth $30.4 million in 2015.
Asssessment output
No regional or fishing method difference.
| Score: | C |
| Population size: | In 2009 about 47% of unfished population size (B0) on Chatham Rise and in 2007 64%Bo for sub-Antarctic and uncertainty in the West Coast of the South Island. |
| Annual catch limit: | Limit set at 13,211 tonnes since 2007-08. |
| Recorded catch: | Recorded landings of 8248 tonnes in 2014-15, the highest catch in 6 years. |
| Stock trends: | Recovering on Chatham Rise, slow decline in sub-Antarctic and unknown on West Coast. |
| MSY Status: | Recovering on the Chatham Rise, slow decline in the sub-Antarctic and probably declining on West Coast of the South Island. |
| The Ministry of Primary Industries assessment plenary report includes: | or the Chatham Rise stock: “B2014 was estimated at 47%B0; Likely to be at or above target (40%Bo).” “Overfishing is exceptionally unlikely to be occurring.” “Recruitment (1995-2009, but excluding 2001) is estimated to be lower than the long-term average for this stock.” “The biomass of the Chatham Rise stock is expected to decrease slightly over the next 5 years at catch levels equivalent to those from recent years (i.e. about 1100 t annually), but is projected to decline markedly if future catches are close to the high catch scenario (i.e. annual catch levels equivalent to the HAK 4 TACC of 1800 t.”
West Coast South Island: “B2014 was estimated to be 58%B0; Very Likely to be at or above target (40%Bo).” “The fishing intensity in 2012 [4,459 tonnes] was very unlikely to be above the overfishing threshold.” “The biomass of the WCSI stock was expected to increase at catch level equivalent to the mean since 2007 (4500 t) or decline slightly at a catch level equivalent to the TACC (i.e. 7700 t annually).” Sub-Antarctic stock: “B2014 was estimated at 60%B0; Very Likely to be at or above target (40%Bo).” “Overfishing is very unlikely to be occurring.” “Biomass was expected to increase at catch level equivalent to the mean since 2008 (2000t).” (MPI 2016, p462-468). |
| Score: | C |
| Distribution: | Found in waters around the South Island at depths of 200-800m. |
| Maximum age (years): | 25+ |
| Age at sexual maturity: | 4-7 |
| Growth rate: | Moderate |
| Reproductive output: | Medium to high |
| Age exploited: | 2 |
| Ability to recover: | Moderate |
| Score: | E |
| Fishing method(s): | Bottom and mid-water trawling. Hake are targeted around the Chatham Rise and sub-Antarctic Islands and caught as bycatch in the hoki fishery elsewhere, particularly the Chatham Rise and the West Coast of the South Island. Hake are also caught as bycatch in the ling fishery. Mid-water trawls currently represent less than 5% of the catch and over two-thirds of mid-water trawls are on the bottom. |
| Habitat damage: | Some twin bottom trawls are used to catch hake. About 6800 bottom trawls per year are carried out targeting hoki in particular on the Chatham Rise, sub-Antarctic and West Coast South Island. Bottom trawling bulldozes the sea floor, destroying complex biogenic structures including soft corals, sponges and long-lived bryozoans. The trawl footprint area and contact areas varies but the Snares Shelf area, the Auckland Islands shelf, West Coast South Island, and NW and SW Chatham Rise were identified as amongst the highest frequency trawled areas in the New Zealand zone. |
| Habitat of particular significance: | Hasn’t been defined in New Zealand. |
| Bycatch: | Non-threatened bycatch include sharks and juvenile fish, like hoki and spiny dogfish. |
| Ecological effects: | The combined effects of seafloor damage and alteration, high non-target fish bycatch, protected and threatened species bycatch and practices such as the dumping of offal and other fish waste during processing at sea can have considerable ecological implications. Hoki is has the highest biomass of all species in the bottom fish community of the upper slope (200-800m) and is considered a key biological component of this. |
| Score: | E |
| Bycatch: | It is estimated that 192 fur seals are captured in the hoki fishery (5 year average). Based on the recent catch spread of hoki, the main captures occur in the Cook Strait (54%), off West Coast of the South Island (24%), off east coast of the South Island and Chatham Rise (15%). The hoki fishery catches about half of the estimated fur seals caught by trawling. The sub-Antarctic and Snares Shelf hoki fishery has a low capture rate for the nationally critical New Zealand sea lions of about one a year. The trawl fishery also captures about 306 seabirds a year (5-year average) and the main species are salvins, southern Buller’s albatross and white-capped albatross, sooty shearwater, white-chinned petrel, and cape petrels. Protected coral species are also reported caught in hake tows in most quota areas. The corals caught include gorgonian, hydrocorals, black corals (Antipatharia) and stony corals (Scleractinia) – which includes reef-like, tree-like, and solitary small corals. Other bycatch species include vulnerable deepwater sharks (e.g. shovelnose dogfish, seal shark and Baxter’s dogfish). These low productivity species also include threatened basking sharks (observed one per year but could be higher), deepsea skates and some other elasmobranchs. |
| Score: | C |
| Management component: | Single species but stocks separated between quota areas and the stock affinity of Puysegur fish is uncertain. |
| Score: | B |
| Quota Management Species: | Yes, since 1986. |
| Catch limits: | Yes |
| Management plan: | Deepwater management plan for 2010-15 is out of date and has yet to be reviewed and replaced. Alfonsino is outside of the current plan. There is no operational plan and the old deepwater plan lacks key environmental standards. The National Plans of Action on Seabirds and Sharks are more relevant to bycatch issues but they are slow to be implemented. |
| Stock assessment: | Quantitative stock assessment for Chatham Rise in 2012, West Coast stocks in 2012, and for sub-Antarctic stocks in 2014. |
| Research: | A 10-year planned deepwater research plan has been replaced (after 5 years) with an annual planning process with unclear commitments so there are unclear commitments to ongoing research on hake stocks. |
| Observer coverage: | Observer coverage is 27.3% in the hoki target fishery and 8% in middle depth fisheries (including hake and ling target). |
Fisheries map
Taken from the Ministry for Primary Industries’ Plenary report for fisheries management.
References
Report from the Fishery Assessment plenary, May 2016: stock assessments and yield estimates. Part 1: Introductory Section to Hoki, Science Group, Ministry for Primary Industries; Ministry for Primary Industries (2016) Aquatic Environment and Biodiversity Annual Review 2015. Compiled by the Fisheries Management Science Team, Ministry for Primary Industries. 682p The Guidebook to New Zealand Commercial Fish Species, 2007 Revised Edition, The New Zealand Seafood Industry Council Ltd. Seafood NZ, 2016. New Zealand Seafood Exports to December 2015. 133p; SeaFIC website 2004. Annual Review Report for Deepwater Fisheries for 2014/15. MPI Technical Paper No: 2016/09. Prepared by the Ministry for Primary Industries. March 2016. 103p. S.J. Baird, D. Tracey, S. Mormede, M. Clark (2013) The distribution of protected corals in New Zealand waters. Prepared for DOC, February 2013. 96p. MFish (2010) National Fisheries Plan for Deep-Water and Middle-Depth Fisheries, 2010. 51p. Ballara, S L (2015) Descriptive analysis of the fishery for hake (Merluccius australis) in HAK 1, 4 and 7 from 1989–90 to 2012–13, and a catch-per-unit-effort (CPUE) analysis for sub-Antarctic hake. New Zealand Fisheries Assessment Report 2015/12. 60 p.