© Baker, J.L. (2009) Marine Species of Conservation Concern in South Australia Full citation Baker, J.L. (2009) Marine Species of Conservation Concern in South Australia: Volume 1 - Bony and Cartilaginous Fishes. Report for the South Australian Working Group for Marine Species of Conservation Concern. J. Baker (consultant); Science and Conservation Division, and Coast and Marine Conservation branches of S.A. Department for Environment and Heritage (DEH); Marine and Coastal Community Network of S.A. (MCCN), and Threatened Species Network (TSN). Web version published by Reef Watch, South Australia.

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BERYCIDAE: RED SNAPPERS AND SWALLOWTAIL

© B. Yau efishalbum.com

 
The Berycidae is a small family of commercially important marine fishes, distributed throughout the Atlantic, Indian, and western and central Pacific Oceans. Berycid fishes are usually red or orange colour; have strongly forked tails, large heads, and large eyes. Currently, there are two genera and 10 named species recognised (Froese and Pauly, 2009).

Representatives of both genera (Beryx and Centroberyx) occur in southern Australian waters (Kuiter, in Gomon et al., 1994). Most species occur in deeper shelf and upper slope waters (e.g. to 500m). All species within the Berycidae that occur in southern Australian waters are fished commercially, particularly in the Commonwealth-managed trawl fisheries. Examples include:

• Nannygai (Redfish) Centroberyx affinis from south-eastern Australia;

• Bight Redfish Centroberyx gerrardi, found across southern Australia (particularly WA and SA), and fished in the Great Australian Bight;

• Swallowtail Centroberyx lineatus, found across southern Australia, in both shallow (e.g. 15m) and deep (e.g. 300m) water;

• the deep water Imperador Beryx decadactylus, often found near sea mounts; and

• the cosmopolitan, deep water Alfonsino or Alfonsin (Beryx splendens), fished in south-eastern and southern Australia. Alfonsino has been targeted in recent years by trawlers in N.S.W., in the East Coast Deepwater Zone (ECDWZ) of the South East Trawl fishery (SETF) component of the Southern and Eastern Scalefish and Shark Fisheries (SESSF), and is also a by-product of Orange Roughy fishing. Alfonsino is also taken in the South East Non Trawl fishery (SENTF) component of the SESSF. In the South East Trawl Fishery, fishers’ logbooks recorded a catch of about 8.7t of Alfonsino in 2000/2001, and a scientific monitoring program during that period recorded a catch of 15.1t, 99% of which was retained (AFMA, 2002a). In the SENTF, fisher’s logbooks recorded about 5.3t during 2000/2001. It is noted that a large catch of this species (390t), was taken in the Great Australian Bight Trawl Fishery in 2000 (Lynch and Garvey, 2003); however in other years since the early 1990s, Alfonsino has apparently not been caught in the GAB region, or has been caught in very small quantities. This species was also taken during exploratory fishing in the Western Deepwater Trawl fishery, which began in 1979 (Jernakoff, 1988, cited by Trinder, 2007). In 2006, AFMA invited fishers to apply for Statutory Fishing Rights to fish Alfonsino, in the ECDWZ. In 2007-2008, the estimated catch was 25.3 tonnes (AFMA data, 2009). Alfonsino is also taken in the High Seas Fishery. There are various examples of depletion. An international meeting and review of demersal fisheries in the southern Indian Ocean concluded that B. splendens stocks have been depleted by commercial fishing in that area (FAO, 2002). Also, during the 1980s, analysis of catch per unit of effort data from the semi-pelagic trawl fishery in northern New Zealand indicated that stocks of B. splendens had declined substantially since the development of the trawl fishery (Horn and Massey, 1989). In eastern and southern Australia, issues that make Alfonsino of conservation concern include (i) the probability that this is a long-lived, slow-growing, aggregating species (e.g. aggregations have been trawled over seamounts – see Uchida et al., 1986); (ii) the lack of stock assessment; (iii) the periodic large catches of this species over time, in both south-eastern Australia and in the high seas off Australia; (iv) Australian quota set in the absence of knowledge of population sizes or dynamics; (v) irrespective of high fishing costs, the indication to date from previous catch data (including 3 years of exploratory fishing on 7 AFMA permits issued in 2000, that included the Wanganella Bank to the south of Norfolk Island: Caton and McLoughlin, 2005) that quota cannot often be met, which may indicate that it has been set too high and the resource is insufficient in size to meet the quota; (vi) the lack of regulation of high seas fishing (e.g. for straddling stocks), and the possibility of Alfonsino fishers moving to that area of unregulated fishing, if quota is reduced to a more conservative level (e.g. AFMA, 2008g). The species is not discussed further here because it occurs mainly in continental slope waters, not within South Australian jurisdiction.
  

The Nannygai or Redfish (Centroberyx affinis), which occurs in south-eastern Australia, is a species of conservation concern due to fishing-induced population declines (e.g. Andrew et al., 1997; and see AFFA, 2004a, for summary of the fishery). During the late 1990s and early 2000s, the species was considered to be over-fished, with problems in the fishery including “growth over-fishing” , and consequent discarding (e.g. AFFA, 2004a). By 2007, the wording of the status was changed to “overfished status and overfishing status uncertain” (Larcombe and Begg, 2008). In 2004, the TAC of Redfish taken in Commonwealth fisheries was 1,575t (= 1,568.1t in the South East Trawl fishery component of the Southern and Eastern Scalefish and Shark Fisheries - SESSF, and 6.9t in the Gillnet, Hook and Trap sector) (AFMA, 2003j). By 2007, the actual TAC was reduced to 778t, and the total catch from the South East fishery was 231t, almost all taken by trawling (Larcombe and Begg, 2008). The Nannygai is not discussed in detail here because C. affinis is not found in South Australia.

Redfish and Nannygai species are also important targets for sports fishers who target deeper water species. Recreational catches of Redfish / Nannygai species from southern Australian States were reported in Henry and Lyle (2003).

Another species in South Australia, the Small-eyed Redfish (Smalleye Redfish) Centroberyx sp., has been recorded, to date, only in the Great Australian Bight of S.A. and W.A. (Hutchins and Swainston, 1986; Daley et al., 1998), and is a minor component of the Redfish catch in the Great Australian Bight Trawl fishery. The Small-eyed Redfish is poorly known, and specimens are required by museums. Centroberyx sp. is not discussed here because it is found in waters deeper than 200m (Daley et al., 1998), and thus does not occur in South Australian State waters.

The related species, Bight Redfish Centroberyx gerrardi and Yellow-eyed Red Snapper C. australis, are discussed below, as is the Swallowtail C. lineatus, due to its frequency of capture, and, like other Centroberyx species, its vulnerable population characteristics.

Associated taxa

Bight Redfish / Red Snapper / Golden Snapper / Rosy Nannygai	Centroberyx gerrardi (Günther, 1887)
Yellow-eyed Red Snapper / Yelloweye Redfish / Yellow-eye Nannygai	Centroberyx australis Shimizu and Hutchins, 1987
Swallowtail	Centroberyx lineatus (Cuvier, 1829)