Download FAR 2025/31 Catch per unit effort analyses and fisheries characterisation for BCO 3 from 1990 to 2024

This report provides an update of the characterisation and catch per unit effort (CPUE) analysis for the blue cod fishery in the BCO 3 area (east coast South Island from Clarence River to Slope Point) up to the end of the 2023–24 (2024) fishing year. Blue cod were caught mainly by cod pot (63% of catch) and bottom trawl (24%), over the last 35 years. The bulk of the landings from cod potting were taken from Statistical Areas 024 (north Otago) and 026 (south Otago), which have contributed 66%, and 20% of the catch respectively, over the 35-year time series. For the last five years, area 026 has become the main contributor, accounting for 56% of the catch compared to 32% from 024. The cod pot vessel fleet has declined by about one half from about 30 to 15 vessels since 2007. CPUE indices (assumed to be proportional to abundance) were estimated using Generalised Linear Models (GLM) run for Statistical Areas 024 and 026, and these fluctuated but generally trended upward, peaking in 2014, before declining steeply. The trends in CPUE were mirrored by the abundance estimates from both the north and south Otago potting surveys over the overlapping period from 2010 to 2022, suggesting that blue cod abundance in the Otago fishery dropped sharply from 2013 to 2018.