Scientific name: |
Nemadactylus macropterus |
Other names: |
Ocean bream, silver bream, morwong (Australia), shimakurodai, tarakii (Japan) |
Depending on where tarakihi is caught, it can be ok to eat occasionally; or is worst choice seafood and should be avoided and replaced with an alternative such as kingfish or trevally.
Tarakihi is a long-lived relative of red moki that is common around New Zealand, but mostly found south of East Cape and around the South Island. They are associated with shallow reefs as juveniles but then school over open seafloors as adults from 50 to 250m water depth.
Tarakihi is caught by bottom trawling, mainly in target fisheries and as bycatch in other trawl fisheries, so there is concern about habitat damage. Trawling also catches a range of other fish. Other concerns include the limited amount of some basic biological information, the absence of quantitative stock assessments, the uncertainty over stock boundaries and the lack of a management plan for tarakihi. Seabirds, (including white-capped albatross, Salvin’s albatross and white-chinned petrels), fur seals and dolphins and a range of sharks are caught as bycatch in the trawl fishery.
Not certified under any scheme.
Tarakihi are sold in New Zealand. They are exported mainly to Australia (60%), Hong Kong and China with value of $2.84 million in 2015.
Asssessment output
Regional (stock) differences in sustainability of tarakihi were considered in this assessment. The West Coast of the South Island (TAR 7) has been compared to other areas. The result showed that terakihi caught on the west coast and top of the South Island was a better choice and ranked as orange: ok but some concerns. All other areas where terakihi are caught ranked near the top of the red species and should be avoided.
| Score: | TAR 7 – C, all other areas – D |
| Population size: | Unknown for most tarakihi stocks. For TAR 7 the stock is likely to be above 40%Bo. |
| Annual catch limit: | Limit set at 6,439 tonnes since 2007-08. |
| Recorded catch: | Reported landings of 6,038 tonnes in 2014-15, the biggest catch in 10 years. |
| Stock trends: | Unknown for most tarakihi stocks. For WCSI the stock appears to have been stable since 2006. “The stock relationships between TAR 2 (including TAR 1 BoP) and TAR 3 are unclear.” |
| MSY Status: | Unknown for most stocks. For WCSI the stock is likely to be at or above BMSY. |
| The Ministry of Primary Industries assessment plenary report includes: |
TAR 1 (Raglan to eastern Bay of Plenty), TAR 2 (East Coast North Island),TAR 3 (East Coast South Island): “Estimates of current absolute biomass for TAR 1, 2, 3, and 4 are not available.” TAR4 (Chatham Rise): “the fishery around the Chatham Islands has generally been lightly fished and the stock can probably support higher catch levels for the next few years.” TAR 7 (West Coast South Island): “In 2007 the range of model results for TAR 7 estimated that the stock was likely to be at or above BMSY. Trawl survey recruited biomass index for WCSI in 2013 is 17% higher than in 2007, suggesting the stock is at a similar level and that the evaluation of stock status relative to BMSY remains similar to that in 2007. WCSI CPUE index is marginally lower in 2013 than in 2007.” TAR 8 (lower west coast North Island, including Taranaki): “Overall, landings from the North and South Islands have remained relatively stable, since at least the late 1960s, despite changes in effort and methods of fishing. Given the long, stable catch history of this fishery, current catch levels and TACCs are thought to be sustainable.” (MPI 2016, p1470-1478). |
| Score: | All areas – C |
| Distribution: | Occurs around New Zealand but mostly in the cooler waters south of East Cape and around the South Island. |
| Maximum age (years): | 40+ |
| Age at sexual maturity: | 4-6 |
| Growth rate: | Moderate |
| Reproductive output: | Low to high |
| Age exploited: | 3-4 |
| Ability to recover: | Moderate |
| Score: | All areas – E |
| Fishing method(s): | Bottom trawling is the main method. In the North Island 70-80% of the catch is targeted; around the South Island only about 30% of the tarakihi catch is targeted, with most of the remainder reported as bycatch in target barracouta, red cod and flatfish bottom trawl fisheries. It is also caught by set nets in Kaikoura. |
| Habitat damage: | There is considerable damage to seafloor communities when caught by bottom trawl or midwater trawl which touches the bottom. Impacts include habitat modification, loss of biodiversity, loss of benthic productivity, modification of important breeding and juvenile fish habitat and redistribution of sediment. |
| Habitat of particular significance: | |
| Bycatch: | Other fish species in the target tarakihi fishery varies, with target tarakihi sets catching snapper, john dory, gemfish and trevally in east Northland; snapper, trevally and gemfish in the Bay of Plenty; and snapper and trevally as bycatch. East Coast North Island bycatch includes red gurnard, gemfish and blue warehou. Canterbury: the bycatch in this fishery includes red cod, barracouta and flatfish. The tarakihi target set net fishery bycatch includes very small amounts of ling and spiny dogfish. Smooth skates are caught as a bycatch in the West Coast South Island fishery. (MPI 2016, p 1470-1478.) |
| Ecological effects: | The combined effects of destroying seafloor habitats and non-target fish bycatch can have considerable ecological implications. |
| Score: | C |
| Bycatch: | Inshore trawl fisheries (of which a small proportion is terakihi) have an estimated seabird bycatch of 4370 seabirds. This includes cryptic mortality of birds that strike the trawl warps and are not recovered in the nets. Species reported include white-capped albatross, Salvin’s albatross and white-chinned petrels. Fur seal captures have also been estimated in the inshore trawl fisheries at about 20 per year. There is also the risk of Maui and Hector’s dolphin captures in inshore trawl fisheries where endangered Hector’s dolphin and critically endangered Maui’s dolphin are found. There is a risk of incidental capture of sea lions from Otago Peninsula south. (MPI 2016, p 1470-1478.) |
| Score: | B |
| Management component: | Single species but the stock structure is uncertain. |
| Score: | TAR 7 – C, all other areas – D |
| Quota Management Species: | Yes, since 1986. |
| Catch limits: | Yes |
| Management plan: | There is no approved inshore plan |
| Stock assessment: | No quantitative stock assessment, apart from a preliminary assessment of TAR 7 in 2008. |
| Research: | Focused research, mainly on TAR 7 and TAR 1 and 2, but still no current full stock assessment. |
| Observer coverage: | Observer coverage averaged 1.47% in the trawl fishery. There was no observer coverage outside TAR 1 and the northern part of TAR 8. Observer coverage is not likely to be spatially or temporally representative of the fishing effort. |
Fisheries map
Taken from the Ministry for Primary Industries’ Plenary report for fisheries management.
References
Paste here.