This report presents results of the 2022 inshore trawl survey of the west coast North Island (WCNI), the 9th in a time series starting in 1989, but with a 19-year gap between 1999 and 2018 surveys.

The survey extends from Scott Point on Ninety Mile Beach to Mana Island covering a depth range from 10–200 m north of Cape Egmont and 10–100 m to the south. Since 2018, there has been no sampling within 2–4 nautical miles of the coast between Maunganui Bluff and the Waiwhakaiho River, New Plymouth, a no-trawl area established to protect the Māui dolphin.

Everything that is caught in the trawl is sorted, identified, and weighed, and length and maturity data are collected for selected species and otoliths (fish ear stones) for ageing the four main species of interest: snapper, red gurnard, John dory, and tarakihi. The trawl survey provides time series of relative biomass estimates and age, length, and maturity stage information used for stock assessments and fisheries management advice for key inshore species.

In 2023, 95 phase one stations were successfully completed followed by four phase two stations completed to improve the coefficient of variation for tarakihi.

There were 72 species recorded in total, with snapper by far the most abundant. Biomass estimates (in tonnes) for the key species across the whole survey were: snapper, 8396.3 t ; red gurnard, 1160.5 t; tarakihi, 447.6 t ; John dory, 305.3 t.

The 2022 snapper biomass estimate was lower than that from the 2019 and 2020 surveys, but still significantly higher than the historical surveys in the 1990s. There were high numbers of juvenile snapper under 5 years old but a lower number of adult fish. The variability in adult snapper biomass in this survey may be due to fish moving inshore into shallow water to spawn, or may reflect the highly patchy distribution of snapper at this time of year.

The biomass estimate for adult red gurnard was relatively stable, but the biomass of smaller fish was substantially below historical estimates.

South Island recreational blue cod fisheries are monitored by Fisheries New Zealand using potting surveys to assess the status of the stocks. The results of the Foveaux Strait surveys are important inputs for full quantitative stock assessments conducted for BCO 5 every five years.

This report describes the results of the random-site blue cod (Parapercis colias) potting survey carried out in Foveaux Strait in February 2023—as well as for three previous surveys (2010, 2014, and 2018). Estimates are provided for population abundance, size structure from fish length, and age structure from otoliths (ear bones collected for ageing), as well as population sex ratio, total mortality, and fishing mortality.

The overall weighted mean length of blue cod in 2023 was 32.0 cm for males and 28.5 cm for females, and mean age was 5.9 years (1–11 years) for males and 6.2 years for females (1–16 years). There were no clear age class modes in 2023 and little evidence of spawning activity during the survey.

The scaled length frequency distributions and mean length of all blue cod were similar for all four surveys, although, in 2023, the proportion of small males was less than in previous years.

Survey abundance (total blue cod mean catch rate) from the four surveys significantly increased between 2010 and 2014, with no change in 2018, followed by a significant decline of 57% in 2023.

The proportion of pots with no catch was similar for the first three surveys (25 to 32%), but in 2023 this increased to 49%. There were no trends in sex ratio over the time series which was around 50% male.

The age structure was similar among the four surveys with most fish between 4 and 8 years of age and relatively few fish over 10 years, particularly males. The fishing pressure is concentrated on just a few older cohorts, some of which are poorly represented.

Relative to the target reference fishing mortality of F=0.15 for blue cod, the estimated mortality in 2023 was nearly seven times higher, indicating that overfishing is occurring. Fishing mortality was also considerably higher than the target for all three previous surveys.

This report provides results for the 20th summer trawl survey of hoki, hake, ling, and associated species in the Sub-Antarctic carried out from 23 November to 23 December 2022. Seventy-four of the 80 planned phase one stations were completed; there was no time to carry out phase two.

When compared with the previous survey in 2020, biomass estimates in core strata (200–800 m depths) were up by 31% for hoki, up by 10% for ling, and down by 25% for hake. The precision target (coefficient of variation) of 15% was met for hoki and ling but slightly exceeded for hake.

The hoki length and age distributions were mainly adult fish with few 1+ fish (2021 year class, fish less than 45 cm) and few 2+ fish (2020 year class, 45–55 cm). The hake and ling length and age distributions were broad, with few juvenile fish.

The acoustic estimate of midwater fish abundance was lower than that in 2020 but still above the average of the time series.

A total of 188 species or species groups were caught, of which 88 different species of fish and squid (29 560 fish) were measured, and 12 320 fish were individually weighed during the survey.

It is widely acknowledged that the existing regulatory arrangements for dietary supplements in New Zealand under the Dietary Supplements Regulations 1985 (the Regulations) do not provide adequate coverage for the range of such products currently available.

Use of shallow samples to estimate the total carbon storage in pastoral soils.

Researchers took data from a long-term experiment on elevated atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) impacts on grassland and applied them to a real farm. They used an ecosystem model and a farm system optimisation model to compare the current farm with the farm in the future under elevated CO2. The future farm made more profit but required more P fertiliser, greater management input and had higher farm total greenhouse gas emissions. The next stage should be to run the farm with climate as well as CO2 changes.

Keywords: FACE, climate change, impacts, elevated carbon dioxide, APSIM, AgInform

Commercial fisheries in New Zealand waters interact with non-target species, with some of these interactions resulting in incidental captures and mortality. Captures of protected species are documented by fisheries observers, providing an independent record of the number and identify of the species captured in New Zealand’s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ). For species with sufficient numbers of observed captures, the observer records and fishing effort data are used to develop statistical models to estimate the total number of captures across species and fisheries in New Zealand waters. This study presents total capture estimates of marine mammals and sea turtles in trawl and longline fisheries for the period between the 1995–96 and 2014–15 fishing years (a fishing year runs from 1 October to 30 September).

This report summarises bycatch and discards of fish and invertebrates in New Zealand arrow squid and scampi trawl fisheries for 2002–03 to 2015–16, based on analysis of fisheries observer and commercial catch effort data. Barracouta, silver warehou, and spiny dogfish were the main bycatch species in the arrow squid fishery, with total annual bycatch of 9000–40000 t and discards of 1000–16000 t. Javelinfish, other rattails, and sea perch were the main bycatch species in the scampi fishery, with total annual bycatch of 2400–5600 t and discards of 900–4100 t.

This report summarises commercial catch and effort statistics for rock lobsters, which are also known in New Zealand as “crayfish” or “kōura”.

The summaries presented in this document cover the rock lobster legal fishing years (1 April–31 March) for April 1979 to March 2023.

There are nine Quota Management Areas (QMAs) that cover all inshore waters of the North Island, the South Island, and the Chatham Islands. There are 43 smaller statistical areas that lie within these nine QMAs. The summaries are ordered by QMA, with each QMA identified by a three-letter code and a number. The rock lobster code is CRA, so the nine QMAs are labelled CRA 1 to CRA 9.

The first three tables for each CRA QMA summarise, by statistical area and fishing year, (1) number of vessels, (2) catch, and (3) effort. The last category is defined as the total number of rock lobster pots lifted within each fishing year and statistical area. The fourth table summarises catch by month and fishing year for the entire QMA, and a fifth table gives the monthly catch by statistical area for just the final fishing year, which is 2022–23 in this document.

The sixth table for each QMA summarises catch-per-unit-effort (CPUE) by statistical area and fishing year. CPUE in this table is defined as the catch (in kilograms) from the second table divided by the number of potlifts in the third table. There is a seventh table providing CPUE that has gone through a mathematical procedure called “standardisation” which attempts to factor out aspects of the CPUE which might change over time. The standardisation procedure has been suspended beginning with 2019–20 because there are comparability issues associated with the changeover from paper forms to electronic reporting.

Jack mackerels (JMA) support significant commercial fisheries in New Zealand, with over 75% of the total jack mackerel catch taken by trawl fisheries off the west coasts of the North Island and South Island, in JMA 7. Three jack mackerel species are found in New Zealand waters, namely Trachurus declivis, T. murphyi, and T. novaezelandiae.

New Zealand commercial catches of jack mackerels have been recorded under the general code JMA. Therefore species-specific catch information is not available from the fishery data. Estimates of proportions of the three Trachurus species in the catch, based on observer data which includes separate codes for each species, are essential for assessment of the individual stocks.

This report updates the data collected by the New Zealand observer sampling programme from trawl landings of jack mackerels in JMA 7 with the data collected during the 2021–22 fishing year, including estimates of species proportions and sex ratios in the landings, catch-at-length (fork length, cm), and catch-at-age for these species.

Estimated proportions of catch by species based on observer data have historically shown that T. declivis comprises 61–73% of the catch for all statistical areas, followed by T. novaezelandiae at 21–33%, and T. murphyi at 2–8%. In 2021–22, proportions of T. declivis, T. novaezelandiae, and T. murphyi were 77%, 23%, and less than 1%, respectively.

Sampled sex ratios of T. declivis and T. novaezelandiae were close to a sex ratio of 1:1 in the 2021–22 fishing year, and sex ratios for T. murphyi were biased towards females (56%) in 2021–22.

Trachurus declivis and T. novaezelandiae fish in the observer data indicated decreasing proportions of larger and older fish in the commercial catch in recent years, whereas the length and age data for T. murphyi indicated the catch mainly comprised large, older fish, with little evidence of younger fish coming through.

This report presents the results of a field survey made in December 2022 to estimate the abundance of kina in Tory Channel, Marlborough Sounds (SUR 7A). Kina densities were determined along with roe biomass from dive and camera transects, with estimates of abundance utilising high resolution bathymetry data. Total biomass of kina in the survey area was estimated to be 595 t, with a CV of 19%; the biomass of kina roe was estimated to be 62.9 t, most of which was in the highest quality category.