Kahawai FAP

Kahawai Final Advice Paper

Ministry of Fisheries

29 June 2004

Trends in utilisation

109. Fisheries characteristics, commercial catch limits and trends were summarised in the IPP in paragraphs 82-101.

110. Non-Commercial Fishers submit that a more complete description of the commercial catch history is required than is provided in the IPP.
111. Non-Commercial Fishers and Mark Feldman submits that when quotas were imposed on other species in 1986 companies’ diverted fishing effort onto those species not under quota, most notably kahawai. Submissions outline a scenario of largely unrestricted purse seine effort depleting kahawai fishstocks, particularly around the South Island. Further, these and many of the other non-commercial submissions state that the number of kahawai available to recreational fishers and the average size of kahawai have decreased over time. Submissions attribute these declines to purse seining.
112. Non-Commercial Fishers submit that the public have been concerned about the decline in kahawai since the late 1980s. Non-Commercial fishers acknowledge that a recent report on the size of kahawai taken by recreational anglers has not changed between 1994 and 2003 but say that the intention of the Minister in introducing catch limits for purse seining was to rebuild the fishery and there have been no signs that this has been occurring. Non-Commercial Fishers submit that accepting the dregs of an overheated purse seine fishery that was unconstrained until 1991 is not good enough and will not be accepted by non-commercial fishers, now or in the future.
113. Mark Feldman submits that the IPP premise of associating declining commercial landings in KAH 3 with reduced purse seining in that area should not be accepted. He submits that it is naïve to believe that commercial fishers would stop fishing in KAH 3 for any other reason than reducing catch rates.
114. Sanford submits that commercial catches have been heavily constrained since the early 1990s by purse seine catch limits, seasonal restrictions, area exclusions and an agreement to avoid schools of immature kahawai.
115. Sanford submits that the decline in commercial landings since 1990 is most apparent in QMAs 3 and 8. It submits that the reduced landings in KAH 3 were due to reduced fishing activity resulting from the imposition of voluntary management measures. These it submits were:

1. “a voluntary agreement to avoid fishing in southern Tasman Bay because of the importance of the area both to recreational fishers and as a feeding place for small kahawai; and
2. a similar voluntary agreement to cease fishing in Cloudy Bay and within one nautical mile of the coast north of Kaikoura. The latter area was an important part of the commercial fishery as kahawai schooled daily in this area as part of a diurnal migration between deep and shallow water, but were usually unavailable in deeper water”.

116. Sealord Group Limited submits that historically it was responsible for the majority of kahawai landings from KAH 3. It submits that landings reduced when the cannery it supplied closed and its purse seine vessel was sold.

117. Figure 1 shows a representation of combined landings by sector groups over time. The figure is based on reported commercial landings data, recreational harvest estimates up to 1996 are those data reported for the sensitivity analysis version of the 1996 stock assessment and the two point sources graphed for 1999-00 and 2000-01 are based on recreational harvest estimates as reported in table 3. Customary landings are included in the non-commercial estimates until 1996. After that, customary harvest is shown separately based on 25% of the recreational estimates. The combined commercial purse seine catch limits (CCL) are shown. Also depicted are the 1996 estimates of MCY based on a natural mortality of M=0.2 (7,600 tonnes and 8,200 tonnes).
     
     

 

118. MFish notes recreational submissions suggesting unsustainable levels of commercial fishing. Figure 1 does suggest the level of commercial fishing alone was in excess of MCY estimates between 1987 and 1991. However, MFish does not share submitters views that management of the kahawai fishery after 1991 was ineffective and that as a result any kahawai stock is depleted due to commercial fishing.
119. As shown in Figure 1, the introduction of purse seine limits was effective in limiting commercial catches. The reported number of annual purse seining target sets on kahawai was reduced from about 250 sets in 1987-88 prior to the introduction of catch limits to average about 60 sets after their introduction. Commercial catches have declined after peaking at 9 600 tonnes in 1987-88 to 2 900 tonnes in 2002-03. MFish notes that commercial purse seine catch limits currently apply only to purse seining when kahawai is the target species. Landings in some years in excess of CCLs as shown in Figure 1 are due to landings of kahawai as bycatch.
120. Commercial landings from KAH 3 have declined by more than 5 000 tonnes between 1980 and 2003. Most of the early part of this reduction in landings is due to imposing purse seine catch limits, however these have not constrained commercial landings since 1995-96. MFish notes the reasons given for declining commercial landings provided in submissions. Industry submits that profitability of this fishery has been eroded by measures that they have voluntarily agreed to and the closure of a cannery, which have resulted in a changed distribution of the purse seine fleet. Recreational fishers submit that declining catch rates are a more likely cause of the cessation of purse seine fishing in KAH 3.
121. Trends in non-commercial catch, while developed for the 1996 assessment model, are unknown. The two most recent harvest estimates suggest recreational fishers currently account for a much greater component of total landings than the commercial sector. Whether this is the result of a more recent increase in recreational catches or recreational catches of kahawai have been substantially higher than previously thought in the past is unknown. Most recreational submissions claim that recreational catches of kahawai have declined. If this were to be the case then historical catches may have been substantial.
122. It is clear that collectively non-commercial catches now contribute significantly to the total mortality on kahawai stocks. Further, revised estimates of current utilisation are beyond the best available estimates of sustainable use of the fishery (7 600 and 8 200 tonnes).