Download FAR 2024/83 Stock hypothesis for ling in the Sub-Antarctic (LIN 5&6 and LIN 6B)

Mormede, S. Dunn, A.; Webber, D.N. (2024). Stock hypotheses for ling in the Sub-Antarctic (LIN 5&6 and LIN 6B). New Zealand Fisheries Assessment Report 2024/83. 13 p.

Ling (Genypterus blacodes) is an important commercial fish species in New Zealand middle depths waters and is caught mainly by bottom trawls, bottom longlines, and increasingly by potting.

This report investigates various stock hypotheses for in the Sub-Antarctic ling. Differences in growth suggested that LIN 3&4, LIN 5&6, and LIN 7WC were likely to be different stocks and that the current boundaries between those stocks were likely to be adequate. Catch rates, age structure, and growth data suggested that LIN 6B was unlikely to be part of LIN 3&4, with weak evidence that it was part of LIN 5&6.

Because of the paucity of data available to assess LIN 6B as a separate stock, and the similarities in the information between LIN 5&6 and LIN 6B, the Fisheries New Zealand Deepwater Working Group decided to include LIN 6B with LIN 5&6 as a single Sub-Antarctic ling stock (LIN 5&6 and LIN 6B) for the 2024 stock assessment of Sub-Antarctic ling.