Diversity and composition of catches and discards in a recreational charter fishery

Reproductive characteristics of Ratabulus diversidens and Ambiserrula jugosa (Pisces: Platycephalidae) from continental shelf waters of south-eastern Australia

“…Both species attain maturation at a TL smaller than these restrictions, thus providing some potential resource protection. However, large numbers of both species (especially A. jugosa ) are potentially discarded across commercial and recreational fisheries throughout their distributions (Macbeth et al ., 2012; Gray & Kennelly, 2018). Discard mortality levels are not known for either species, but could be high especially for those taken from deeper depths (Lyle et al ., 2007).…”

“…Flathead are typically dorso-ventrally compressed, well camouflaged, benthic ambush predators morphologically adapted at burying or remaining partially buried in unconsolidated soft sediment environments across estuarine and continental shelf and upper slope waters (Douglas & Lanzing, 1981; Barnes et al ., 2011 a ; Coulson et al ., 2015). Many flathead species feature in commercial, recreational and traditional fisheries (Bawazeer, 1989; Gray et al ., 2002; Sabrah et al ., 2015; Schnierer & Egan, 2016; Gray & Kennelly, 2018; Akita & Tachihara, 2019). Consequently, the life history characteristics of several harvested species have been studied, and inter-specific similarities and differences in species demographic characteristics within the family have been identified (Barnes et al ., 2011 b ; Coulson et al ., 2017).…”

“…This study redresses the lack of reproductive data for two east Australian endemic flathead species that interact with regional fisheries in different ways; the freespine flathead Ratabulus diversidens , which although not specifically targeted is widely harvested as a byproduct species in commercial and recreational fisheries (Macbeth et al ., 2012), and the mud flathead Ambiserrula jugosa , which is mostly discarded across fisheries because of its small size (Broadhurst et al ., 2002; Gray & Kennelly, 2018). Both species are distributed across tropical and temperate waters; R. diversidens between latitudes ~19.25°S and 37.85°S, and A. jugosa between ~14.15°S and 35.05°S (Bray, 2020).…”

Charter fishing in the Aegean Sea (Turkey), Eastern Mediterranean: The missing point of fisheries management

“…sewage, toxic antifouling, and grey waters), damage caused by boat anchors, or other damage caused to caught species, have also been reported (Alós et al, 2009;Lloret et al, 2008b). In spite of this, and of the call for a greater emphasis on the monitoring of recreational fisheries (Gray and Kennelly, 2018), managers have paid little attention to the impacts of recreational fisheries in the Mediterranean, which are not monitored with the same thoroughness and frequency as commercial fisheries (Lloret et al, 2008a;Cardona and Moralis-Nin, 2013) in comparison the one in the USA (Lew and Larson, 2015;Lew et al, 2016). In the Mediterranean, the attention to recreational fisheries began approximately two decades ago at the General Fisheries Commission of the Mediterranean (Caddy, 2012).…”

“…For instance, in Australia, the New South Wales (NSW) coastal charter-vessel line fishery has been in operation since the 1950s, and currently has 276 registered vessels operating from 36 ports. Furthermore, it is one of the most valuable fisheries in the state providing $AUD 50.2 million annually to local economies (McIlgorm and Pepperell, 2014;Gray and Kennelly, 2018). There have also been studies on charter fishing in other regions, such as South Africa (Pradervand and Van der Elst, 2008) and the USA (Liese and Carter, 2011;Steinback and Brinson, 2013;Lichtkoppler et al, 2015;Lew and Seung, 2014;Leonard, 2016;Lew et al, 2016;Hilger and Lovell, 2017;Rollins and Lovell, 2019).…”