Total allowable commercial catch review for Queensland stout whiting (Sillago robusta), with data to December 2021

Abstract

Stout whiting form a single biological stock on the east coast of Australia, in south-east Queensland and New South Wales. This report provides a recommended total allowable catch for the Queensland stout whiting fishery in 2022. Queensland commercial catch and effort data (1991-2021) were analysed to reconstruct stout whiting harvest and calculate standardised catch rates. Stout whiting catch rates have increased since 2016 and now exceed the 30 year average. Since 2017, the total allowable commercial catch (TACC) for Queensland remained at 1106 tonnes (t), before being increased to 1281 t in 2021.

Based on the trends in standardised catch rates, three recommended TACC options are presented for consideration by Fisheries Queensland managers and the fishery working group. The recommended biological catch (RBC) at Btarg (1393 t) was instated as a maximum cap for the TACC, should the calculated TACCs exceed this value. In the case of this assessment, all three recommended TACC options exceeded 1393 t as a result of record high standardised catch rates. Hence, all TACC options presented have been capped at 1393 t.