While effects of organic enrichment on inshore, soft-sediment communities are well studied, little is known about how finfish farm-derived impacts will manifest in open ocean environments. This report identifies key species that may be affected by open ocean aquaculture and describes physiological indicators that may provide insight into organism health. This is the first of several project objectives that work toward developing environmental health measures for use in offshore environments.

The impact of video monitoring on estimating black petrel bycatch in bottom longline fisheries was assessed. Combining observer and video monitoring data resulted in lower estimated captures compared with using observer data alone. Simulations of different proportions of assessed video footage suggest currently overpredicted estimates of black petrel captures. Also, the analysis suggests that the presence of observers and/or cameras increased fishers’ compliance to report black petrel captures.

This report describes the results of the random-site potting survey for blue cod (Parapercis colias) off south Otago in March–April 2022. Estimates are provided for population abundance, size and age structure, sex ratio, total mortality (Z), and fishing mortality (F). The 2022 potting survey was the fourth in the south Otago time series, with previous surveys in 2010, 2013, and 2018. The 2010 survey was a dual random-site and fixed-site experimental survey in three of the six strata; and 2013 and 2018 were solely random-site surveys in all six strata.