-
There
are two species of kahawai managed as an assemblage in the QMS:
kahawai and northern kahawai. Northern kahawai is probably confined
to far northern waters and very little information is available
for this species;
-
Commercial
catches have declined after peaking at 9 600 tonnes in 1987-88
reducing to 2 900 tonnes in 2002-03. The majority of commercial
landings is taken by purse seining for kahawai, however during
the last five years about 45% of the catch is taken as bycatch
of other fisheries. The proportion of target and bycatch varies
by stock management area;
-
Kahawai
is one of the fish species most frequently caught by recreational
fishers. MFish has now changed estimates of recreational catch
proposed in the IPP, which were based on an average of recreational
harvest estimates from national diary surveys;
-
Technical
experts recently reviewed the recreational harvest surveys undertaken
in 1996, 1999-00 and 2000-01 and now say that the 1996 estimates
should not be used. This group also caution against the use
of more recent surveys saying results may be implausibly high
for some important fisheries;
-
Recent
survey results (1999-00 and 2000-01) are substantially higher
than those from 1996. Accordingly, MFish now considers that
recreational utilisation is greater than portrayed in the IPP;
-
Kahawai
supports important Mäori customary fisheries but the size
of the catch is unknown and can only be estimated as a proportion
of recreational catch;
-
Current
estimates of recreational catch exceed that of the commercial
sector and when combined with estimates of customary Maori catch
the non-commercial fishery is approximately 140% of the size
of the commercial fishery;
-
Recreational
fishers have expressed strong concerns over what they perceive
is a marked decline in the amount and size of kahawai available
to them in recent years and attribute this decline to commercial
fishing and purse seining for kahawai in particular;
-
Industry
submits that there is a lack of information to support any suggestion
of a decline in stock size and submit information to support
no changes in the number of kahawai schools in recent years;
-
There
is conflicting information making it difficult to confirm either
claim. However, clearly there are widespread non-commercial
concerns about the fishing down of kahawai stocks. Equally there
are commercial concerns about the impact of any reduction in
catch to that sector;
-
Both
the recreational sector and some parts of industry support managing
kahawai at a level of biomass above BMSY. The current biomass
of kahawai is unknown;
-
A
1996 stock assessment for kahawai is an important reference
point but it is dated (trends in biomass since that time are
unknown) and there is considerable uncertainty associated with
its estimates of yield;
-
A
nationwide combined estimate of recreational catch, customary
catch, fishing-related mortality and reported commercial landings
now exceeds yield estimates based on the 1996 stock assessment;
-
There
is risk that current catches might be unsustainable in the long
term and there are competing demands for the use of kahawai
between the fishing sectors;
-
MFish
now proposes two options for setting TACs for kahawai, one based
on an estimate of current utilisation and the other based on
a reduction from current levels of use; and
-
Alternative
options for setting sustainability measures and other controls
for kahawai proposed in submissions are outlined and evaluated
in this paper.
