Download FAR 2026/30 Catch per unit effort (CPUE) analyses and characterisation of the North Island commercial freshwater eel fishery, 1990–91 to 2023–24

This report presents the updated fishery characterisations and standardised catch per unit effort (CPUE) analyses for the North Island commercial freshwater eel fishery from 1991 to 2024. CPUE analysis is a method used to index abundance of a species by comparing catch with the effort over long periods of time. Results are often used by Fisheries New Zealand to adjust commercial total allowable commercial catch (TACC) of eels.

Characterisations were carried out for shortfin (Anguilla australis) and longfin (A. dieffenbachii) eels for each of the 12 fishery management regions known as Eel Statistical Areas (ESA), and CPUE analyses for four key ESAs (AA, Northland; AB, Auckland; AC, Hauraki; AD, Waikato). The current analyses were split into pre-ERS (i.e., before the electronic reporting system was used to report commercial catch) (1991 to 2019), and post-ERS (2020 to 2024) periods.

For the four key North Island shortfin eel fisheries there were initially no trends in the pre-ERS CPUE indices of abundance, followed by strong increases beginning from around 2002, especially in the last three years.

Longfin pre-ERS CPUE indices of abundance, for three of the four areas initially declined, followed by an increase, particularly in the last few years, whereas Hauraki showed no clear trend.

Post-ERS CPUE analyses for both species included only five years of data, meaning that trends in CPUE abundance indices should be interpreted cautiously.