East Coast Bêche-de-mer Fishery - Department of … ECBDMF for 2008-09 to 2011–12 are reported in...

Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry

Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry

Great state. Great opportunity.

2011–12 fishing year report

East Coast Bêche-de-mer Fishery

© State of Queensland, 2014.

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Queensland East Coast Bêche-de-mer Fishery update The Queensland East Coast Bêche-de-mer1 fishery

(ECBDMF) is one of the oldest fisheries in the state, with

commercial harvesting beginning in the early 1800s. The

ECBDMF operates along the Queensland east coast within

the area bounded by the Offshore Constitutional Settlement

(Figure 1).

This report provides an update to fishing statistics to

30 June 2012.

Figure 1: Boundary of the Queensland East Coast Bêche-de-mer Fishery.

Main features of the fishery in 2011/12 Feature Details

Species targeted Harvest of all species of sea cucumber is permitted (with the exception of a current 0 TAC on black teatfish). Key species include

• white teatfish (Holothuria fuscogilva)

• burrowing blackfish (Actinopyga spinea)

• curryfish (Stichopus vastus and Stichopus hermanni)

Fishery symbols B1

Current management regime

Fisheries Act 1994, Fisheries Regulation 2008

Gear Hand harvested

1 Bêche-de-mer (or trepang) is the term referring to the commercial product produced by processing (gutting, boiling and drying) the body of sea cucumber or holothurian.

Queensland East Coast Bêche-de-mer Fishery Update—2011/12 effort year

Main management methods

Commercial only • Input controls

limited entry: 18 transferable licences (held by three operators)

gear restrictions: permitted to harvest by hand, using free-diving methods or with the aid of hookah apparatus or Self Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus (SCUBA)

hand harvest only with a maximum of four2 divers in the water fishing at any one time. Boat and dory limits also apply.

area closures: Great Barrier Reef Marine Park (GBRMP) implemented by Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority (GBRMPA) and Queensland State Marine Parks (GBR Coast Marine Park and Great Sandy Marine Park).3 In 2004, all bêche-de-mer species gained greater protection from fishing (+ approx. 15% in total area) with changes in GBRMP zoning– shallow species (0-10m habitat) increase from 21% to 37%, deeper species (10-50m habitat) increase from 10% to 25%

rotational zoning scheme (RZS): the ECBDMF is divided into 156 zones of approximately 100 to 150 square nautical miles (nm) that can be fished for a maximum of 15 days in any one year. Each area is allocated for fishing only one year in every three.4

Burrowing Blackfish zones

• Output controls

quota managed (see below)

size limits: species-specific minimum size limits5

Recreational only Permitted only to harvest by hand, without the aid of hookah apparatus

or SCUBA.

Recreational bag limit: no more than five in total (all species combined, other than black teatfish).6

Quota

Commercial Total Allowable Catch (TAC) of 361 tonnes (t).

In 2011–12, the commercial TAC comprised:

• 0 t of black teatfish

• 53 t of white teatfish, divided into:

40 t north of 19°S (Zone 1)

13 t south of 19°S (Zone 2)

• 308 t of other species, including Burrowing Blackfish zones quota below:

Lizard/Waining: 75 t

Gould Reef: 45 t

M37–40: 15 t

M45–46: 15 t

Bunker: 60 t

Fishing season 1 January to 31 December

2 Whilst legislation states up to 10 divers may be fishing at any given time, a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) drawn up by industry has further limited divers to four. 3 Approximately 37% of commercially diveable sea cucumber habitat in the GBRMP is closed to fishing (Roelofs 2004). 4 As per the MOU between sea cucumber industry operators. 5 Minimum size limits are set beyond that of current best estimates of size at first maturity for each species. 6 The recreational take of black teatfish is prohibited.


Commercial fishery licences

Total number of licences in the fishery – 18

Number of active licences – 5

Management changes

Changes to the existing fishery management arrangements to be implemented for the 2011–12 season included:

• permit conditions being amended to include a requirement for the holder to

report an unload notice. The unload notice is to be provided as soon as

practicable after the BDM have been unloaded from a vessel. It is expected

that product will be weighed at the holder’s facility and a weight for each

quota category will be provided. Quota will be deducted from unload notices

not prior notices. A prior notice for each trip will still be required for

compliance and inspection purposes.

• Change in quota usage implemented: reduction in white teatfish quota in

zone 1 from 51 t to 40 t. The category of ‘other species’ changed from 297 t

to 308 t.

• All licence holders received a direction in March 2011 to instruct nominees to

include additional information in their logbook. For the 2011–12 season,

nominees continued to include the zone they were fishing (including

burrowing blackfish zones as above) and curryfish species information (i.e.

C.F.V. for Stichopus vastus or C.F.H. for Stichopus hermanni). Nominees no

longer needed to provide a weight estimate of their daily catch.

Accreditation under the EPBC Act (Part 13 and 13A)

Part 13: accredited 18 July 2011

Part 13A: current accreditation (Wildlife Trade Operation) expires 17 July 2014

Total annual harvest by sectors

Commercial: 324 t (derived from buyers returns) + unquantified recreational and

Indigenous catch (no estimate but considered negligible)

Charter: Nil

Recreational: No estimate but considered negligible

Quota usage White teatfish: 43 t (81% of quota)

White teatfish (Zone 1): 39 t (98% of quota)

White teatfish (Zone 2): 1 t (11% of quota)

Other species: 247 (80% of quota)

Commercial Total Allowable Catch (TAC) of 361 tonnes (t).

In 2011–12, the commercial TAC comprised:

• 0 t of black teatfish

• 53 t of white teatfish, divided into:

40 t north of 19°S (Zone 1)

13 t south of 19°S (Zone 2)

308 t of other species

GVP Approximately $4.3 million. Primarily exports to China.

Stock status Two stocks assessed in 2012


Sustainably fished: White Teatfish (Holothuria fuscogilva)

Undefined: Burrowing blackfish (Actinopyga spinea)

For more information on the stock status of Queensland fisheries resources see http://www.daff.qld.gov.au/28_16916.htm

Monitoring Commercial logbooks (CFISH), Prior reporting of commercial catch against respective quota allocations, Buyers’ returns logbooks.

Catch and effort data validation

Routine – data accuracy is regularly verified with fishers at both point of data entry and via range checks report.

Compliance and enforcement

Units inspected by Queensland Boating and Fisheries Patrol in 2011–12: 8

Offences detected in 2011–12: 2 during the course of one inspection. This

equates to compliance rates of 88% on units inspected.

Complementary management

Fisheries Queensland continues to collaborate with Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority (GBRMPA) on complementary management arrangements (permits are issued by GBRMPA for this fishery).

Stakeholder engagement

Meetings with stakeholders were held in Brisbane during the first half of 2012.


Queensland East Coast Bêche-de-mer Fishery summary Catch and effort statistics

Commercial

Total catch, effort (days), licences and GVP in

the ECBDMF for 2008-09 to 2011–12 are

reported in Table 1. The 2011-12 quota year is

the eighth year of operation of the fishery since

the introduction of the Rotational Zoning

Scheme (RZS).

Table 1: Commercial fishery catch, effort and economics in the ECBDMF 2008–09 to 2011–12 derived from daily logbooks (Source: Fisheries Queensland CFISH Database, 22 January 2012). Note – catch reported in logbooks are derived from daily estimates and may differ from total quota usage.

The catch has decreased since last year but

remains relatively steady compared to the

previous ten year period. The catch rate has

decreased over the previous three year period

but also remains relatively steady when

comparing the longer time series (Figure 2).

Figure 2: Total catch (t) and catch rate (kg/hr) for the ECBDMF from 2002–03 to 2011-12 (Source: Fisheries Queensland CFISH database 22 January 2013).

Figure 3: Species contribution to total catch for the ECBDMF from 2002–03 to 2011–12 (Source: Fisheries Queensland CFISH database 22 January 2012). *includes burrowing blackfish, relevant pre 2006–07 when the two species were not differentiated.

Commercial species composition during

2011–12 remained similar to that reported in

2010–11. Burrowing blackfish was the most

dominant species, contributing 57% of the total

catch, a decrease of approximately 2% from

last year’s harvest. White teatfish attributed

nearly 14%, a decrease of 2% from last year.

Curryfish attributed approximately 13%

(including Stichopus hermanni and Stichopus

vastas), a decrease of nearly 5% from last year

(Figure 3). Prickly redfish contributed nearly

13% of the total catch, an 8% increase from

last year.

2008-09 2009-10 2010-11 2011-12

Total catch (t)

356 355 387 324

Total effort (days)

643 619 609 541

Licences (active)

6 7 6 5

GVP $A million)

4.7 4.9 5.4 4.3

051015202530354045

050

100150200250300350400450

2002-0

3

2003-0

4

2004-0

5

2005-0

6

2006-0

7

2007-0

8

2008-0

9

2009-1

0

2010-1

1

2011-1

2

Catc

h rate

(kg

/hr)

Catc

h (t)

Catch (t) Catch rate (kg/hr)

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

2002

-03

2003

-04

2004

-05

2005

-06

2006

-07

2007

-08

2008

-09

2009

-10

2010

-11

2011

-12

Cat

ch c

om

posi

tion

%

Other Golden sandfish Blackfish* Prickly red fish

White teat fish Curryfish Blackfish - burrowing


Fisheries Queensland and the sea cucumber

industry are continuing to monitor the harvest

of burrowing blackfish through the use of

improved reporting for the species in logbooks

and prior reports. Since the division of

burrowing blackfish from the blackfish complex

in 2006–07, harvest has continued to increase.

Spatial issues/trends

Fisheries Queensland is investigating the use

of finer-scale spatial information to ensure that

the status and performance of the fishery can

be adequately reviewed (e.g. assessing the

effectiveness of the RZS fishing strategy at

minimising local-scale depletions).

The voluntary RZS is part of an industry

Memorandum of Understanding designed to

distribute effort across the fishery area and to

mitigate the risk of localised depletion, a trait

commonly attributed to sea cucumber fisheries.

The RZS is an innovative industry-led initiative

that demonstrates the commitment of operators

to the long-term sustainability of the fishery.

Of the 156 available RZS zones, five were

nominated for burrowing blackfish harvest and

52 were nominated for the harvest of other

species in the 2011–12 quota year, of which

compliance is monitored through the vessel

monitoring system. Figure 4 shows the

locations of the nominated zones along the

Queensland coast. For species other than

burrowing blackfish, operators were limited to

15 days in any one nominated zone, whereas

there were no limits on effort in the burrowing

blackfish zones.

Figure 4: RZS zones nominated by industry for harvest of burrowing blackfish and ‘other species’ in 2011–12.

Recreational

There is no recreational fishery information

available for bêche-de-mer. However, the

harvest from this sector is considered to be

negligible.

Charter

There is no charter fishery for bêche-de-mer.


Performance against fishery objectives The Performance Measurement System (PMS) functions as a reporting framework that is a transparent,

defensible set of criteria for evaluating the performance of the fishery against management objectives.

The full PMS for the ECBDMF including the links between the objective, indicators and performance

measures can be found at: http://www.daff.qld.gov.au/28_11060.htm

Table 2: Performance measures and outcomes for the ECBDMF in 2011–12

Performance measure Performance

Target species

Catch reported through compulsory daily fisher

logbooks exceeds individual species review

reference points (species total catch per quota

year) (t):

Sandfish (Holothuria scabra)–15t;

Golden sandfish (Holothuria scabra var.

versicolor)–10t;

Prickly redfish (Thelenota ananas)–40t;

Surf redfish (Actinopyga mauritiana)–25t;

Deep water redfish (Actinopyga echinites)–25t;

Stonefish (Actinopyga lecanora)–10t;

Blackfish (Actinopyga palauensis)–25t;

Burrowing blackfish (Actinopyga spinea)–15t*;

Tigerfish (Bohadschia argus)–25t;

Greenfish (Stichopus chloronotus)–50t;

Curryfish (Stichopus vastus)–25t;

Curryfish (Stichopus hermanni)–50t;

Brown sandfish (Bohadschia marmorata)–25t;

Amberfish (Thelonata anax)–50t;

Flowerfish (Bohadschia graeffei)–25t;

Lollyfish (Holothuria atra)–50t;

Snakefish (Holothuria coluber)–25t;

Pinkfish (Holothuria edulis)–50t;

Elephant trunkfish (Holothuria fuscopunctata)–50t

*RRP refers to catch outside the burrowing

blackfish zones, which have spatially defined TACs.

Triggered

Burrowing blackfish exceeded the review

reference point in 2011–12 by 15 t.

Management response:

No change to management arrangements

required. This issue of over-run was addressed

at the latest Industry Liaison Meeting. This

level of over-run does not present any risk to

sustainability of the stocks.


http://www.daff.qld.gov.au/28_11060.htm


Surveyed populations undergo a repeated

measures re-survey in the third year following their

initial survey.

ECBDM Working Group agreed that the PMS

would be amended to include the following

provision: Should a burrowing blackfish zone TAC

be exceeded in a season, then a re-survey of that

area will be instituted. If the re-survey is not

conducted however, a TAC of 15 t per season will

be instituted in that area until such time as a re-

survey is completed.

Triggered

In 2011–12 the harvest of burrowing blackfish

in one allocated zone was more than the

specified TAC.

Lizard Reef (TAC 75 t) BFZ recorded 105 t.

All other zones recorded under the specified

TAC.

Management response: No change to

management required. The TAC for this area

has been set extremely conservatively (still

less than 10% BMSY). MSY estimated for this

area is approximately 600t. As above, the issue

of over-run was addressed at the latest

Industry Liaison Meeting.

Results of repeated measures surveys on target

populations in spatially discrete areas indicate that

the estimated standing biomass has decreased by

≥15%.

Not triggered

In 2009–10 industry members undertook a re-

survey of the Gould Reef following a trigger in

the 2008–09 season. A draft report (2011) has

been reviewed by Fisheries Queensland. The

stock in this area is considered to be healthy

with the exception of some depletion in the

south-west corner. As a precautionary

measure, Industry has imposed self-closure of

this area pending further investigation.

1. Effort in any MOU zone* exceed 15 days per

year

2. Operators fish outside the MOU zones allocated

for a particular fishing year.

1. Triggered

Three rotational zones recorded more than 15

days fishing activity in 2011–12. These zones

recorded an extra 0.5, 4 and 6 days of fishing.

2. Triggered

Fishing did occur outside the specified MOU

zones.

Logbooks detected 20 days of fishing outside

the zones.

Management Response:

Fisheries Queensland is discussing with

Industry an improved process to manage and

monitor the rotational zoning scheme. This

level of over-run does not present any risk to

sustainability of the stocks.



3. Population density is estimated to be at least

70% of the unfished population density.

*refers to rotational zones in an effort year. Only

applies to species other than burrowing blackfish in

the burrowing blackfish zones in the first year of

any three year period. Does not include the harvest

of burrowing blackfish in burrowing blackfish zones.

3. Not measured

This measure is industry dependent and

relates to the re-opening of a fishery for a

species—black teatfish is the only species in

the ECBDMF meeting this requirement and no

population density estimates were made in

2011–12.

Bycatch and protected species

The percentage of protected animals released alive

is less than 90%.

Not triggered

No interactions with protected species were

reported in 2011–12.

Ecosystem

A significant negative impact on the ecosystem is

identified as a direct result of fishing activities in the

ECBDMF.

Not triggered

Fisheries Queensland are not aware of any

information in 2011–12 indicating

unsustainable negative impacts of removing

commercial target BDM on the ecosystem. Social

More than 30% of the active vessels in the fleet are

used to commit an offence under the Fisheries

Regulation.

Not triggered

One of the five active vessels (20%) in the fleet

was used to commit an offence under the

Fisheries Regulation during 2011–12.


Species of conservation interest (SOCI) interactions There were no interactions with protected

species in the ECBDMF reported through the

SOCI logbook in 2011-12.

Compliance statistics Compliance and enforcement in the ECBDMF

are the responsibility of the Queensland

Boating and Fisheries Patrol (QBFP). During

2011-12, 8 units, including 7 commercial fishing

vessels, were inspected in the ECBDMF. Two

offences were detected during the course of

one inspection corresponding to a compliance

rate of 88% on units inspected. A breakdown of

the compliance statistics for 2011-12 are

reported in Table 3.

Table 3. Compliance offences in 2011-12

Offences Prosecution

Contravene a condition of an authority 2

Document compiled by

Megan Leslie

Acknowledgements

Anthony Roelofs, Dr Tracey Scott-Holland,

Phillip Gaffney, Kerrod Beattie, Dr James

Webley, Tu Nguyen, Dr Susan Theiss, Anna

Garland, Doug Zahmel, Michelle Winning and

the Queensland Sea Cucumber Association.

Front cover image

Sandfish (Holothuria scabra)


Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry13 25 23www.fisheries.qld.gov.au

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