© 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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Common Stinkfish

Family Name:	Callionymidae
Scientific Name:	Foetorepus calauropomus (Richardson, 1844) or Synchiropus calauropomus (Richardson, 1844)
Recommended Status in S.A:	Data Deficient
Rationale:  The Common Stinkfish is included here because (i) it is a site-associated benthic fish species in upper and mid continental shelf waters, and thus may be vulnerable to site-specific impacts in some areas; (ii) it is captured in large numbers in various trawl fisheries in south-eastern and southern Australia (including prawn trawling in S.A.), and a number of assessments have indicated that fishes in Callionymidae are susceptible to population impacts due to trawling; (iii) there is little information on the distribution and relative abundance of this species in South Australia; (iv) little is known of the biology (particularly longevity, and reproduction), ecology or population dynamics; and (v) there has been insufficient monitoring over space and time of the prawn trawl bycatch, and potential population impacts.

Page Contents

Current Conservation Status

(no listings known)

Distribution

Southern Australia

The species ranges across southern Australia, from N.S.W. through to southern W.A., and the distribution includes Tasmania (Hutchins and Swainston, 1986). On the eastern side of the range, specimens from as far north as the N.S.W. / Queensland border have been recorded (Australian Museum records from 1969, 1978, 1985, 1987, 1991; Museum of Victoria record, 2004, cited in OZCAM database, 2007).
Common Stinkfish also occurs in New Zealand (Paulin et al., 1989).

South Australia

Examples of locations where the species has been recorded in S.A. include the S.A. / W.A. border; Fowlers Bay area of eastern Great Australian Bight; Investigator group of islands in the eastern Great Australian Bight, southern Eyre Peninsula; northern, central and southern Spencer Gulf (with numerous specimens collected from the Port Lincoln area); northern Kangaroo I.; far northern Gulf St Vincent (GSV) (e.g. Port Wakefield); metropolitan Gulf St Vincent (e.g. Outer Harbour, Glenelg, Marino, and other locations); Fleurieu Peninsula (e.g. Dodd’s Beach, Second Valley and other locations), and western and south-western GSV / Yorke Peninsula (e.g. Ardrossan, Troubridge I., and other locations) (MLSSA, 1997; Carrick, 1997; P. Jennings, SARDI, unpubl. data, 2003; Edgar et al., 2006; CSIRO Marine Research records, cited in CSIRO, 2007; Australian Museum records, Museum of Victoria records, South Australian Museum records, cited in OZCAM database, 2007).
Many of the museum records of this species in S.A. come from the gulfs region (South Australian Museum records, cited in OZCAM database, 2007).

Habitat

Common Stinkfish is known mainly from offshore waters, but also large coastal bays. It is found in a variety of habitats, including sand bottoms in upper continental shelf waters (e.g. Carrick, 1997; Hyndes et al., 1999); shallow seagrass beds (e.g. in N.S.W.), sponge “gardens” and silty bottoms in deeper waters (Hutchins and Swainston, 1986; Kuiter, 1996a).
Depth range is from the shallow subtidal to about 100m (Paulin et al., 1989; Kuiter, 1996a).

Notes on the Biology

Growth

Common Stinkfish grows to about 30 – 35cm (May and Maxwell, 1986, cited in Froese and Pauly, 2007; Kuiter, 1996a). One of the maximum sizes recorded is 0.18kg (Hutchins and Swainston, 1986), being a specimen taken in Westernport Bay in 1985 (Australian Anglers Association, Victorian Division, 2003).

Diet

Callionymids feed on small benthic invertebrates (Nelson, 1994; Bulman et al., 2001). The introduced New Zealand Screw Shell Maoricolpus roseus has been recorded as a minor part of the diet (Bax et al., 2003).

Reproduction

There is little information on reproduction in this species, but larvae are common in inshore waters in summer (e.g. in Port Phillip Bay: Jenkins, 1986).

Fisheries Information

Commercial – Commonwealth Fisheries

Common Stinkfish is a significant part of the discarded bycatch in the Commonwealth-managed South East Trawl Fishery (SETF). In the otter trawl sub-fishery of the SETF, an Integrated Scientific Monitoring Program (ISMP) reported that in 95 trawl shots, about 2 tonnes of Common Stinkfish were discarded (Wayte et al., 2004), which is an average of 21kg per trawl shot. In the Danish seine sub-fishery of the SETF, the ISMP reported that in 297 shots, 17.1 tonnes of Common Stinkfish were discarded (Wayte et al., 2004), which averages 57kg per shot.
Common Stinkfish has been recorded as a minor bycatch species in the Southern Shark Fishery, in Bass Strait. A bycatch survey in 1973-1976 recorded only 4 specimens in the bycatch of 6-inch gillnets, and none were recorded during a repeat survey in 1998-2001 (Walker et al., 2003).

Commercial – State Fisheries

Common Stinkfish is minor part of the bycatch in the Bass Strait Central Zone Scallop fishery (Haddon and Semmens, 2001, 2002, 2003). During a bycatch survey in 2001, 8 specimens were recorded in 35 random tows (Haddon and Semmens, 2001). In 2002, 38 specimens were recorded in 59 random tows (Haddon and Semmens, 2002), and in 2003, 1 specimen was recorded in 17 random tows (Haddon and Semmens, 2003).
The Common Stinkfish is a commonly recorded part of the bycatch in the estuarine prawn fishery in N.S.W. (Liggins et al., 1996; Gray and Kennelly, 2001; Macbeth et al., 2004). For example, about 2,260 (SE = 1,360) specimens of Common Stinkfish were reported in the bycatch of the prawn haul in the Manning River, between September 1998 and August 1999, and a lower number (less than 400) was recorded from the Wallamba River bycatch during that period (Gray and Kennelly, 2001).
Common Stinkfish is a significant part of the bycatch in the Ocean Fish Trawl (Wreck Bay and Tathra inshore grounds) and Ocean Prawn Trawl (shelf sector) fisheries in New South Wales, with a frequency of occurrence of 27% across all trawls sampled in both of these fisheries (N.S.W. Department of Primary Industries, 2004).
According to data by Carrick (1997, also cited by Svane, 2005), Common Stinkfish has been one of the top 12 bycatch species (by number) in the Spencer Gulf prawn trawl fishery in South Australia. For example, during a bycatch survey undertaken in the mid 1990’s, 458 specimens of S. calauropomus were caught during 32 trawl tows in Spencer Gulf, comprising almost 0.5% of the total catch by numbers (including prawns), and nearly 3% of the fish bycatch. Museum of Victoria houses some recent specimens (2005) from prawn trawling locations in Spencer Gulf, such as “The Gutter” and Plank Point.
In S.A., during bycatch sampling in the Blue Crab fishery (2002-2005), no Common Stinkfish were caught in Spencer Gulf during those years, and 1 specimen was caught in a pot in Gulf St Vincent in 2003 (none in GSV in 2002, 2004, 2005) (Svane and Hooper, 2004; Currie and Hooper, 2006).

Vulnerable Characteristics of the Species and Threatening Processes

The species is vulnerable to capture in trawl fisheries, which may be a significant source of mortality. A study of the susceptibility of trawl-caught fishes to population impacts (Stobutski et al., 2001) ranked fish bycatch species according to two overriding characteristics (based upon biological and ecological criteria): (i) the susceptibility to capture and mortality due to prawn trawling, and (ii) the population's capacity to recover after depletion. The rank of each species on these two characteristics determined its relative capacity to sustain trawling, and therefore its priority for research and management. Species that were the least likely to be sustainable included those in the Callionymidae. These species are highly susceptible to capture by trawls, they are benthic or demersal, their primary habitat is soft sediments, and their diet may include prawns. The recovery capacity of these species is also low, at the estimated removal rate by trawling (Stobutski et al., 2001).
Common Stinkfish has been listed as one of the bycatch species in the N.S.W. Ocean Trawl Fishery that has a “high” fishery impact profile (New South Wales Department of Primary Industries, 2004). Studies in New South Wales showed that the species suffers trawl trauma when hauled in trawls; has moderate “resilience”, but a low probability of survival when caught, and the species was classified overall as a “high risk” species in terms of population impacts from trawl fishing (NSW Department of Primary Industries, 2004). Given that the species occurs in sand habitats in the gulfs region of S.A., and has been previously reported as one of the most common species in the fish bycatch in the Spencer Gulf prawn trawl fishery (Carrick, 1997), it is likely that populations of Common Stinkfish in S.A. would be similarly vulnerable to decline from the type of impacts specified for populations in N.S.W.
In a draft ecological risk assessment of the South East Trawl and Danish Seine Fishery (Wayte et al., 2004), 3 “productivity attributes” and 6 “attributes of susceptibility” for F. calauropomus were used to categorise it as a “medium risk” species in terms of susceptibility to population impacts from trawling in that fishery.

Research Requirements

Very little is known of the biology, ecology and population dynamics of this species.
Long term monitoring of the quantities of this species in the bycatch of trawl fisheries is required, particularly before and after the adoption of gear improvements to reduce bycatch, and in “control” (non-trawled) areas.

Management Requirements

In prawn fisheries, adoption of gear designs that reduce the high levels of bycatch of sand-dwelling species such as Common Stinkfish (see below) should be encouraged. Measures are required in other fisheries (e.g. fish trawls) to reduce the large bycatch of benthic species such as Common Stinkfish.

Management Notes

It is noted that prawn fisheries in southern Australia have made significant efforts during the past decades to reduce the bycatch of finfish species. Examples for Spencer Gulf and Gulf St Vincent include the spatial and temporal organisation of the fishing fleet in some areas (e.g. Spencer Gulf) to minimise capture of undersized prawns and bycatch species, and developments in gear design to reduce bycatch, such as square-mesh cod-ends, bycatch chutes, and the fitting of exclusion devices (e.g. MacDonald, 1998; Carrick, 1997; Broadhurst et al., 1999; South Australian Prawn Industry Association web site, 2000; PIRSA 2003). In New South Wales prawn fishery, studies have investigated the effects of mesh size, shape, and increases to the lateral mesh openings in cod-ends. In two of the three types of seine used in that prawn fishery,  new designs made from 25- and 29-mm mesh hung on the bar (i.e. square-shaped mesh) significantly reduced the catches of non-target fish by between 58 and 95% (Macbeth et al., 2004, 2005; Broadhurst et al., 2004).