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THE SLMMERWHITING FISHERY IN SOUTHEASTQUEENSLAND. AJ.THWAimS AND L W1LUAMS E. Thwailcs, AJ. & Williams, L.E. 1994 06 01: The summer whiting fishery' in southeast Queensland. Memoirs ofthe QueenslandMuseum 35(1): 249-254. Brisbane ISSN 0079- 8835. Thesummerwhiting{SUlagocitiataandS. emails)catch from 12recreational fishingclubs in SE Queensland and the whiting (all species) catch ofthe commercial fisheries between CaloundraandSouthportisassessed Fivepopularsummerwhitingfishinglocations(Inskip cPohianntg,eBsriinbiteheaynedarMloyrmeetaonnwIesliagnhdts,(JYuMmWpi)npainndyaenadrlSyomutehapnorcta)tcwhepreercpheorsseonnpleord<ctta_evr(mYtnMiC)( ofsummerwhitingcaughtbyclubrecreationalfishershadoccurredfromAugusttoFebruary, 1959to 1991.itishypothesisedthatthesummQerwhitingfisheriesarestableattheselocations exceptatBribe Islandwhereitisdeclining. Sillagociliota, S,analis, whiting catrhmtrs, southeastQueensland. Andrew Thwaites <£ Lea Williams, Fisheries Senues, DepartmentofPrimaryindustries, GPOffox46, Brisbane, Queensland400/, Australia; i IXccemher IW3. Sillago ciliata (Sand whiting) and S. analis Bribie Island and Moreton Island, hypothc--. (Golden-lined whiting) (Sillagintdae) both have thatthis lack ofmovementcontinued throughout thecommon name 'summerwhiting'.5. ciliata is the year with the population on Bribie Island found along the east coast from Cape York to remaining separate from the population on eastern Victoria and along the east coastofTas- Moreton Island. Their study concluded that at mania (McKay,1985). 5. analis occurs ft both locations yearly CPUE (fish perperson pet northern Australia from Shark Bay. W.A. to day)t)3d increased. They concludedthatthis rise Moreton Bay and along the east coast of New was probably due to improvements in angling Guinea (McKay,1985), equipment and techniques The study found no 5. ciliatagrows ma maximum lengthof51cm, evidence ofchange in mean weight of summer while 5. analis grows to a maximum length of whiting at Moreton Island. They found that the 45cm (McKay,1992 Anecdotal evidence mean weightof:\ummcr whiting had deelinr.l ). ft] (Grant,1987; Davis, pers. comnv; Tchbult, pets BnbicIslandconcluding thatthedecline wasdue comm.) suggests that S. ciliata grows toa larger to;j rise in fishing pressure mean size and weight than S. dndtlls in St In 1992, commercial fishermen, netting from Queensland. The minimumlegal size ofsummer ocean and inside beaches between Bribie Island whiting forall fishers is 23cm total length. and Southport (Queensland), caughtc- 30tonnes Southeast Queensland has many popular ofwhiting(allspecies)betweenAugust 1992and recreational fishing locations for summer whit- February 1993 (Queensland Fisheries Informa- ing. Club anglers and others targeting summer tion System (SUNFISH)). A creel survey of whiting commonly fish from Inskip Point to the recreational angler catches by Morton (1982i south of Tin Can Bay. Bribie Island in the NW showed that S. ciliata account forc.97% and S % partofMoreton Bay. Moreton Island Id the E of unuiisv,1 ofthecatchonBribie Island. Pollock Brisbane,JumpinpintotheSofNorthStradbroke & Williams (1983) slated thai S ciliata was the IslandandSouthporttotheSofSouthStradbroke only whitingcaughtonMoreton Island. Nostudy Island. Inskip Point and Bribie island are con- has determined the species composition od sidered tobe primarilysummerwhitingfisheries recreational catch at Inskip Point, Jumpinpin or while Moreton Island, Jumpinpin and Southport Southport or the commercial catch in the study have mixed fisheries with catches of bream area Bui as the commercial netand recreational (Sparidae), summer whiting and flathead fishers fish the same areas, their catches should (Platycephalidae). A tag and release study by besimilar. Morton's(1982)creelsurveysuggests Morton (1982) showed that spawning S ciliata therefore that the bulk ofthe net fishers whiting rarely move more than 5kmfrom the initital point catch will be summer whiting. & ofcaptureduring August toFebruary. Pollock Only a few studies acknowledge that recrea- Williams (1983) in a study of the recreational tionalfisheries,havejustasimportantaneffect oil summer whiting fishery at the southern end of a population of fish as the commercial fishery 250 MEMOIRSOFTHEQUEENSLANDMUSEUM ; !S£,nfillipPomi METHODS M'S i TinCon8ay[ / North Goals i j SourcesofData TedKm Recreational fishing clubs provided individual i . Culuuiidio fisher catch records from competitions. Data wereenteredintoadatabasewhereforeachfisher 1 27"3 thedate,location,numbersofeachspeciescaught t 1 [MaraKinJklandj (e.g. whiting, bream, flathead - catch records do Bris^ban* • not differentiate between the individual species okaliiadd of whiting) and total weight of catch were • i1i Saw recorded. l k«Idwd Commercial fishing records came from: The a'9 «WP'; iM'E| >\!».SouthIp5o4rTt'! F(i1s9h73B-o1a9r8d1()19a5n9d-t1he97S2)U,NQFuIeSenHsdlaatnadbaFsiesh(B1o9a8r8d- 1991). No data were available for 1982-1987. FIG. 1. Locality map. FishBoardandQueensland FishBoarddatahave (e.g. Pollock,1979;Quinn& Pollock,1992).This beencriticised fortheirreliability (Grey & Spen- study will utilise the summer whiting catch cer,1986). However they are the only data avail- records of 12 recreational clubs and historical able for this period and should be viewed as catchesofall whiting species by thecommercial indicative ofthe level ofcatch. fisheriesinanattempttogaugethe 'health' ofthe summer whiting fisheries in SE Queensland. StudyLocations Recreational fishing dataallow determination of Five popular recreational fishing locations themeanweightofsummerwhiting.Commercial chosen were: Inskip Point, southern Bribie Is- whitingcatchesfromCaloundratoSouthportwill land, Moreton Island, Jumpinpin and Southport beanalysedwithemphasisonthenetfisheryfrom (Fig.1). Commercialfisheriesdatawereforwhit- 1988-1991. ing (all species) between Caloundra and South- port (Fig.1). Commercial trawl data for 1988-1991 were limited to Moreton Bay to remove data collected about the stout whiting r r ./VVt >*«n»**<->*--o-^»-**..'** *1*1.*1*.I*LI*11I*I-I*..*.*M1«1•li.l-l*1*li#11*1*1 ***«<><^*.<-'******* »#*•«*<--**•*-<»*••s^* ir;^*'*^^**1*'*'*'** A Inskip Point Bribie island Moreton Island Jumpinpin Southport ^^ vy *,*<r»f<"i-^<»**»** ****£**i********** *********/•V******r *«•**#*-\k*<>**•********-****-C-*^-<,****«*** g Inskip Point Bribie Island Moreton Island Jumpinpin Southport FIG. 2. A, Yearly meanweight(YMW); B, Yearlymeancalch(YMC), ateach location. 1 SUMMER WHITTNG FISHERY INSEQLD IS) TABLE 1.Resultsofthe linearregression analysison SampleSizes YMW the ofsummerwhiting Samplesizes in each yearforthecalculationof YMW 1 —- ------—- Period{n) ul Sientf,level Island wateIrneskaibpoPvoein1t0,0f0infbiiseh.IAsltanJduamnpdinMpoirnetaonnd InskipPt 80-91 |12> 0.0328 0.2684 Southportthe samplesizes in each yearaveraged Bnbie Is 59-91 (33) 0.6844 0.0000 60 and 600 fish per year respectively with the lowestsamplesizebeing 17 fish atJumpinpin in flribieIs 72-91(20) 0.1234 0.0713 YMC 1964, Sample sizes for the calculation of Moreton Is 59-91 (33) -0.0210 0.5625 averagedabove150anglerdaysperyearatBnbil- Jumpinpin 50-9] (19) 0.1327 0.0695 Island and Moreton Island. Sample sizes at the Southport 77-91 (15) -0-0659 0.3106 other 3 locationsaveraged40-75 anglerdays per year with the minimum sample size being 10 fishery which started operations in the early anglerdays at Jumpinpin in 1980. nineties and operates outside the areas tradition- allytrawled forprawns. StatisticalAnalysis YMW YMC LengthofClub Competitions Linear regressionson and Bt each location and on commercial whiting catch used Recreational fishing competitions lasted for lessthan24hoursinallcases.Competitionswere Statistix, version -i, by Analytical Software (1992). heldatnightforall locationsexcept Brihie Island and Inskip Point where the compuitions were RESULTS heldduring theday. Nighttimecompetitions last 12-15 hours, daylight competitions 8-10 hours. Yearly Mean Weight(YMW) ofSUMMER CalculationorYearly Mean Weightand Whitingcaughtby Recreational Angl Yearly Mean Catch (Fig.2A) Y'early mean weight (YMW) of fish caught at There is nosignificanttrendinYMW atSu each locationwascalculatedbydividingthetotal port. Jumpinpin, Moreton Island or Inskip Point weight ofsummer whiting caught by fishers in whereas it has declined significantly at Bribic eachyearbythetotal numberofsummerwhiting Island (Table 1). HYowMeWver there has been no caught by fishers tYhaMtWyear. The only whiting significant trend in ;jt Bribie IslandYsMinWce records used in the calculation werethose theearly 1970s(Tabic 1)from which time where both the number of fish and weight of has averaged e.0.I46±0.008kg/fish (Table 21. whiting caught were recorded. The yearly mean catch (YMC) ateach ofthe locations was calcu- Yearly MeanCatch (YMC)ofSummer latedasthemeanofthenumberoffishcaughtper Whiting Caughtby Recreational fisherperday (CPUE) Anglers(Fig.2B) YMC There is no recognisable trend in at In- Timeforthe Study skip Point (Tabic 3). At Bribie Island YMC in- August to February,1959-1991; total yenrlv creased from 1959-1974 then decreased commercial catch of whiting (all species) for -1991 (Table J) by ( 10 hslvperson/day. At 1959-1991,exceptfor 1982-1987 wherenodata were available, was analysed as total monthly TABLH 3, KcnuHn ofthe linearregressionanalysis on catches were not available for most years. the YMCufsummer whiting. 1 1 TABLE2. YMWaleachlocation. Period(n) R' Signit level Inskip 80-91 (12) 0.3934 0.0032 Period Av. St.dev. Min Mjx Bribie 59-74(16) 0.5255 0.0009 YMW weight weigh! Unhid 75-91(17) 0.3217 0.0103 (kg) (ktf Moreton 59-91 (33) 0.5842 0.0000 Inskip KO-9! 0.128 ±0.006 ' 0.120 0.135 Moreton 70-91 (22) 0.1238 0.0602 Bribic 7IMM 0.146 ±0.008 0.13-1 i\16 Jmp'pifi 59-91 (30) 0.4118 0.001 Tloreton 59-91 0.100 ±0.016 0.137 0.216 Jmp'pin 70-91 (20 0.0979 0.9720 imp'pin 59 91 DMA ±0.015 0.113 0.250 S'port 61-91 U8> 0.3934 0.0032 S pari 77-91 0.16? ±0.15 0.121^-^: 0.187 S'port 77 "hlM -0.0659 (I /]<;< 252 MEMOIRSOFTHEQUEENSLANDMUSEUM DISCUSSION SizeofSummer Whitjnci YMW The decline in at Bhbie Island from & 1959-1972wasobservedby Pollock Williams (1983)butouranalysisshowsthisceasedin 1972, YMW The ofsummer whiting on Bribic Island stabilised in 1972 at 0.146±6.008kg/fisb. Pos- sible causes for the decline from 1959-1972 are : I, increased fishing pressure due to increased number ofanglers; 2, increased fishing pressure due to improvements in angling techniques and AM HsherlM £3Trawlflstmy LINetttshwy equipment; 3, population decline of summer whiiing due to loss ormodification ofhabitat; 4, naturaldeclineinthepopulationofsummerwhii- PIG. 3. Yearly commercial catch of whitins fall ing due to weather effects such as fresh water species) fromCaloundratoSouthport. runoff; 5, higher percentage of S. analis in the catch, which has a smaller mean weight than S. MoretonIslandandJumpinpintherewasanover- ciliata(Grant,1987; Davis, pers. comrn.; Tebbutt allincrease(Table3)upto 1970afterwhichuhas pers. eomm.) been stable. At Southport there was an increase Possibility (1) is supported by the opening of (Table 3) from 1959-1991 with no change from theBribieIslandbridgeinOctober 1963. Pollock 1977-1991. Data are notavailableforcatches at Sc Williams (1983) reported improvements in Southportfrom 1965-1976. angling techniques and equipment with fishing YearlyCommercialWhitingCatches TABLE5.CatchdataofthenetfisheryfromCaloundra The total whiting catch for the commercial toSouthport. fisheries(Fig.3)showsasignificantriseinyearly Year Daysfished CPUE Whiting whiiing (all species) caich from 1959-1991 (R- squared6.4633, Significance level 0.000). How- Otf/day) caichfkg) ever since the early 1970s there has been no 1988 6591 20 133266 significantchangeintotalcommercialcatch.The 1989 6418 19 127980 commercial catch (1971-1991) averaged e.150 1990 6219 19 121669 tonnes(min. 142tonnesin 19S0,max.277tonnes ! 1991 6887 Ift 112354 in 1973). Catchdataforthe netfishery 1988-1991 (Table trips corresponding to favourable tides and the 5 show no significant change in numberofdays standardisation of light angling gear and bait. fiJshed or CPUE (kg/day/boat). A decline in the This supports (2). (3) is supported by Hyland & total catch ofwhiting in the net fishery occurred Butler(1989)and Hylandetal. (1989)whoshow between 1988-1991 with a yearly decline in natural and human modification to habitats catchofaround 6%. around BribieIslandoverthestudyperiod. There is no evidence to prove or disprove (4). (5) is unlikely because a creel survey in November 1980a< BribieIslandbyMorton (1982)indicated thatS. ciliata made up 91% ofthe catch and for YMW TABLE4. YMC aleach location. the sameyearthe at BribieIsland wasone of the lowest for 33 years at 0.135kg/fish. It is Period Mean St.dev. Mm. Max. hypothesised thatthisdecline isanactualdecline YMC YMC YMC in the mean weight of legally sized S. ciliata Inskip 80-91 343 ± 14.4 10.4 n: 4 caYusMedWby acombination of 1-5. Bnbie 75-**1 [8.7 ±5.5 8.3 "-:.!j no statistaitcaJlucmhpainngpei.nHforwoemve1r9,71g-r1ap9h91ofsYhoMweWd Moreton 70-91 17.9 ±4.1 9.6 24.6 Jmp'pin 70-91 6.2 +2.3 3 11.6 paterJiuomdp.iAnspidnat(aFairge.2a)vasiulgagbelsetsfoardoencllyinOeoofvetrheth2a1t S'pon 77-91 1') i -',.!:. 1! 29.5 years this is inconclusive. , SUMMERWHITING FISHERYINSEQLD 253 YMW Average at Inskip Point is lowrt Ihan Hi these locations overthe 20yearperiod. Because otherlocations. It is hypothesisedthatthisisdue Inskip Point and Bribie Island are considered to t(oGraahniUgh9e8r2p)r.opoTrhteionYoMf SW. oantaliIsnsiknitphePocianttc,h be hiQgMhmecrrthwahnitoitnhegrsf.isYheMriCes tishehiirgYheMsCtsatsIhnosuklipd Moreton Island and Southport have remained Point. The YMC's at Bribie Island, Moreton Is- stable over the study period with variations landand Southportaresimilarbutlowerthanthe causedbyyearlyfluctuationssuchasweatherand YMC 4t Inskip Point. The YMCill Jumpinpin is tidesat the timeofdubcompetitions much lowerthanatanyoftheotherfourlocations (Tabic4). YMCofSummer Whiting The YMC at Bribie Island is the same as at Morton's (1982) creel survey in 1980 of Moreton Island and Southport because: I, the everyday anglers on DribieIsland found thatthe population of legally sized summer whiling al oafvetrhaatgeyecaart.chWpeercaanlgcluelratweaYsM13CfiaslhBmnbNiocveImslbaenrd cBlriubbiceoImspleatnidtihoanssdewcelrieneldo:ngoerr2a,ttMheorleentgotnhIosflitahuel during 1980 as 25 per angler Therefote YMCs and Southport i'12-15hrs) than at Bribie Island inthis study arelargerthan the actual CPUE'sat (8-10hrs>. YMC eteaecrhealtoicoantailonfdisuheintog:c1l,ucbalacnugllaetriosnionfcluded fornolmy CommercialCatchof Whminu those who caughtone ormore summer whiting, Reliability of commercial catch data pnor to those who caught none were excluded from the 1981 hasbeen validly questioned(Gray & Spen calculation; 2, club anglers possibly having cerJ9&6) but they remain the only available in- higher CPUE's than non club anglers due to formationandare indicative ofthelevelofcatch. experience. Catches for the commercial net and trawl CPUE is commonly used as an indicator of fisheriescannotbeseparatedpriorto 1981 soitis stock abundance by fisheries biologists (Gul- notcertainwhyasignificantincreaseoccurredup gI«eisndi.nl9Y64M;CBanmnaeyrotlhe&reAfuosrteini,nd1i9c8a3t)e.cAhnayngcehsani-n etoxp1a9n7s3i,oanlotfhothueghcotmhememrucsitallifkieslhyerrieeassoinnstearrmestohef summerwhiting abundance In the present study number of commercial fishers and the areas YMChasincreasedfrom 1959totheearlyseven- fished and advances in the types ofgearused. tics at 4 of the 5 study locations (Bribie Island, After 1988theyarc separatedintonetandtrawl Moreton Island, Jumpinpin and Southport). It is catches. The whiting catch of the net fishery is possible the rise in YMC is due to an increase in considered to consist i>\ summer whiting as this stocksi/cbut thisisunlikely astheYMC has not is the most common whiting caught by recrea- be Standardised tor improvements in angling tional fishrrs who fish the same areas as the techniques andequipment. No dataareavailable commercial fishers. A significantdecreaseofthe forYMC at Inskip Point until 1980. total whiling catch in the net fishery ofc.6% per YMCincreased atBribieandMoretonIslands, ycai ha$ occurred from 1988-1991.This decline Jumpinpin and Southport from 1959 tothe early can be explained to a degree by a decline in the seventiesduetoan improvementinanglingtech- total numberofdayson which net fisherscaught niquesandequipment,suchastheintroductionof whiting (Table 5). Howeverthisdoesnotexplain hollow fibreglass rods and the availability nf thedrop in total catch in 1991 whenalmost6,9<Kl lightergear. days of fishing were reported, the greatest num- 19T9h1edYueMCto:at1,BraibdieeclIisnleanidndtehcelitnoetadlfnruommb1e9r75o-f beArsoftdhaeyCsPfUisEhedofinwthhietifnogurhyaesarrepmeariionde.d fairly summer whiting or 2. adecline in the numberof constantfrom 1988-1991 (Tabic5)thosewhiting legallysized summerwhitingwith acorrespond- stocks utilised by net fishers in the Moreton Bay ing increaseinthenumberofundersizedsummer region are probably stable whiting. YMC ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS There is no evidence of a decline in ai any of the other study locations from the early seventies, As there have been no significant ad- Thanks must be extended m the Aniate i vances in angling techniques and equipment ing Clubs who made theirclub records available during this time, which would require stand- and toall the reviewers whoofferedconstructive ardisation ofthe data, it is likely that the stock criticism on this paper. The paper hov, levelsofsummerwhitinghaveremainedstablea* remains the sole responsibility ofthe authors A 254 MEMOIRSOFTHEQUEENSLAND MUSEUM special thanks must alsobe extended to Graeme Department of Primary Industries information Duckworth for creation of the recreational seriesQI89004. (QDPI: Brisbane). fisheries database and Ken Davis and Fred Teh- HYLAND, S.J. COURTNEY, AJ. BUTLER. C,T. buttwhoestimatedthemean weightsand lengths 1989. Distribution of seagrass in the Moreton ofthe two species ofsummerwhiting. region from Coolangatta to Noosa. Queensland Department of Primary Industries information seriesQI89010. (QDPI: Brisbane). LITERATURECITED MCKAY, R.J. 1985. A revision of the fishes of the Family Sillaginidae. MemoirsoftheQueensland BANNdEisRtrOiTbu,tiSo.ns&oAfUcSaTtIchN,peCr.u1n9i8t3.efUfsoritngtofrmeeqauseunrcey 19M92u.sSeiullmag2i2n:id1f-i7s3h.esoftheworld.FAOFisheries fish-stock abundance. Transactions of the Synopsis 125. 14: 1-87. American Fisheries Society 1 12: 608-617. MORTON, R. 1982. Reproductivebiologyandtagging DREDGE, M. 1976. Aspects ofthe ecology of three studies of summer whiting, Sillago ciliata estuarinedwellingfish in southeast Queensland. (C.&V.), at Bribie Island, Queensland. MSc. MScThesis.UniversityofQueensland(Unpubl). Thesis, UniversityofQueensland. GRANT, E. 1982. 'Guide to fishes'. (Department of 1991.Fishcommunitiesinsaltmarsh,mangroveand Harboursand Marine: Brisbane). tidal residential canal developments in the 1987. 'Grants fishes of Australia'. (Wilke: Bris- Moreton region, Queensland. PhD Thesis, bane). UniversityofQueensland. GRAY, M. & SPENCER, S. 1986. The structure and POLLOCK,B. 1979. Anglersprobablytakethebulkof economics of fish and seafood marketing in Queensland tailor catch. Australian Fisheries Queensland. Pp. 68-92. In Hundloe, T.J. (ed.), (September)31:32. 'Fisheries management*. (Griffith University POLLOCK, B. & WILLIAMS, M. 1983. An assess- Press: Brisbane). ment of the angling fishery for summer whiting, GULLAND,J. 1964.Catchperuniteffortasameasure Sillago ciliata and S. analis, in Moreton Bay, of abundance. Rapports et Proces-Verbaux des Queensland from 1959 to 1980. Proceedings of Reunions Conseil International pour I*- the Royal Society ofQueensland94: 85-90. ExploraliondelaMer 155: 8-14. QUINN, R. &POLLOCK, B. 1992. Long term varia- HYLAND, S.J. & BUTLER, CX 1989. The distribu- tions in angler- catches for a tropical inshore tionandmodificationofmangrovesandsaltmarsh fishery. Proceedings of the Royal Society of - claypans in southern Queensland. Queensland Queensland 102:65-77.