Fisheries Research Articles

Quantifying teleost discards in the shark fisheries of Western Australia

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

8-9-2022

Journal Title

Journal of Fish Biology

ISSN

Print: 0022-1112 Electronic: 1095-8649

Keywords

Conservation, Demersal gillnets, Discarding, Teleost

Disciplines

Aquaculture and Fisheries | Behavior and Ethology | Marine Biology | Natural Resource Economics | Natural Resources and Conservation | Natural Resources Management and Policy | Population Biology | Sustainability

Abstract

Quantifying discards is essential for assessing the impact of fisheries on non-target species and the ecosystems in which these fisheries operate. In Western Australia (WA), fishers are required only to report catches of retained species. For the currently operating shark fisheries of WA, the authors quantified catch time series of discarded teleosts using data from at-sea observers collected since 1993. Sixty-two teleost species were observed in the catch of which 20 were routinely discarded. The most commonly discarded teleosts were western buffalo bream/silver drummer, Kyphosus cornelii/K. sydneyanus, and dusky morwong, Dactylophora nigricans. Annual discards peaked in the 1990s; nonetheless, current discard levels, 36.9 ± 2.1 (S.E.) t year−1, are much lower than the overall annual retained catches (c. 1000 t year−1). The catch time series reconstructed in this study are important inputs for assessing the ecosystem-based approach used for managing WA's shark fisheries.

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Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

https://doi.org/10.1111/jfb.15193