Assessment of the barramundi (Lates calcarifer) fishery in the Southern Gulf of Carpentaria, Queensland, Australia.

Abstract

Wild-capture barramundi (Lates calcarifer) forms the basis of important commercial, recreational and customary Indigenous fisheries in Queensland, with an estimated harvest of about 700 tonnes in 2015 (Saunders et al. 2016). For stock status assessment, barramundi in Queensland are considered to consist of seven genetically distinct populations. Within the Gulf of Carpentaria (GoC), there are two genetic stocks split at around 13⁰ S - a Northern Gulf of Carpentaria stock and a Southern Gulf of Carpentaria stock. The Gulf of Carpentaria Inshore Fin Fish Fishery harvests barramundi from both these stocks, but the current assessment focuses on the Southern Gulf of Carpentaria (Southern GoC) barramundi stock, which produces, on average, greater than 50% of the annual commercial harvest of barramundi in Queensland and was listed as transitional-depleting in the 2016 Status of Australian Fish Stocks report (Saunders et al. 2016).