alfonsino (byx 1)

An industry proposal on BYX 1 follows. The MFish initial position paper on BYX 1 is scheduled to be sent out on 1 July. This proposal is additional to those outlined in the MFish letter of 8 June 2006.

Proposal for the Renewal of the BYX 1 Adaptive Management Programme

Figure 1.Map of the BYX QMAs.

Introduction⁸

The Northern Fisheries Management Stakeholder Company Limited (TNFMSCL, Appendix 1) successfully applied to have BYX 1 put into the Adaptive Management Programme (AMP) at a TACC of 300 t (from 31 t) on 1 October 2001. The term of the current BYX 1 AMP is scheduled to expire on 30 September 2006.

Proposal

TNFMSCL, with the written support of 98% of the quota holders, proposes to increase the current TACC for BYX 1 to 600 t under the conditions of the AMP as specified by the Ministry of Fisheries in the "Revised Framework for the Adaptive Management Programme" dated December 2000. The BYX 1 AMP will continue for a 5 year term from 1 October 2006 to 30 September 2011.

This proposal will divide the existing BYX 1 QMA into two areas along the existing boundary between FMA 1 and FMA 9 (Appendix 2) and allocate300 t of quota to each area. A feature limit of 100 t per year will be imposed. Features are defined as a "prominent and definable undersea geographical unit, elevated from the surrounding seabed and similar in shape to a mountain or large hill". A list of features defined for the ORH 1 AMP is attached as Appendix 3, as many of these features will be common with this proposal. The catch assigned to a feature will be defined as all catches taken within a 5 nm radius of the centre of the "feature",using the start position of the tow as the location of the tow. Quota owners have agreed to harvest their ACE proportionately in each of the two areas. TNFMSCL will monitor the catches by sub-area and feature during the fishing season.

All quota owners will sign a "Memorandum of Understanding" containing the components of this proposal prior to beginning of the BYX 1 AMP.

Stock Monitoring

The BYX 1Fishstock will be monitored using:

1. Information about the distribution of catch and effort data by area and season, including target fishing information. All catch and effort data will be reported on the MFish TCEPR forms;

2. CPUE analyses of the existing and developing bottom/midwater trawl fisheries;

3. A logbook programme covering 50% of the bottom and midwater trawl effort (measured in terms of number of tows) targeted towards alfonsino (BYX) and bluenose (BNS);

4. Ageing of otoliths sampled under the logbook programme;

5. An assessment of environmental issues pertinent to BYX 1.

In addition, the following project will be investigated and developed:

6. A "hybrid" survey which uses directed commercial bottom and midwater trawl fishing effort in a research context over the first two years of the programme and will be reported back to the AMP Fishery Assessment Working Group (AMPFAWG) at the 2-year review. This study will include preliminary field trials and may be adopted for the final years of this AMP, depending on the outcome of the review by the AMPFAWG.

Design of the logbook programme:

For each day of fishing, every second tow will be sampled. The initial sampled tow will be decided with a flip of a coin to randomise the start for the day. Crew will randomly select and set aside in bins which identify the tow number, fifteen fish from each of five species when present in the catch (i.e., bluenose, rubyfish, ling, alfonsino and orange roughy; Appendix 4). These fish will be sampled upon landing at the shed. The following information will be collected from each fish:

length
sex
female gonad maturity stage
a sub-sample of 2 otolith pairs (the 4^th and 8^thfish in the sample)

Reporting

TNFMSCL does not consider that sufficient information will have been collected to perform a stock assessment of BYX 1 during this five year period. Therefore, the following timetable will be used for reporting to the AMPFAWG:

Fishery Assessment Criteria

Where is the stock,based on reasonable probability, in relation to Bmsy? Is the proposed TACC likely to move stock towards Bmsy?

The 2006 full-term review for the BYX 1 AMP concluded:

• BYX 1 was assumed to have been only lightly exploited and near the virgin level when it was first introduced into the AMP in Oct 2001. Annual catches were well below the 300 t TACC until 2004/05. On account of low catches, the large size of the area and the developing nature of the fishery, the impact of the fishery on the resource is assumed to have been negligible. BYX 1 in all probability remains above Bmsy and near its virgin level.

What is the quality of the available biomass indices?

The 2006 full-term review for the BNS 1 AMP concluded:

• Two CPUE series, one from the developing target trawl fishery and one based on bycatch in the bottom longline fishery for bluenose and hapuku/bass, were investigated in each of the Bay of Plenty and East Northland fisheries in search of credible indices of BYX1 abundance.

• Owing to small and infrequent catches in the longline fishery the variance of the associated indices was unacceptably large.

• Catch history in the target fishery was too short and catches too small in earlier years for the resulting index to be useful at this stage. This data set did however show the most promise and could in future provide an acceptable index. Future analyses should however be based on the catch, effort and positional data collected for each trawl (available because the fishery uses TCEPR forms), rather than collapsing information into trip strata.

Environmental effects

1. What are the potential environmental effects of increasing effort?

   Given the developing nature of the BYX 1 fishery, bottom trawling is expected to have an effect on the benthos of new fishing grounds if they are in areas which have not been trawled before. Mid-watertrawling, on the other hand, is expected to have a small effect. The effect on associated and dependent species such as seabirds and marine mammals is considered to be minimal.

2. Are suitable mitigation measures proposed?

   The standard environmental controls imposed by the Ministry of Fisheries on existing trawl fisheries apply e.g. prohibitions on net-sondemonitoring cables, and vessels over 28m in length must have a seabird warp mitigation device in use.
   
   Rates of capture/mortality of non-fish by-catch are expected to be low. These will be reported once the new mandatory MFish non fish bycatch form is implemented. In the meantime, current regulations still require fishermen to identify and record the capture of any seabird or marine mammal (dead or alive) from each tow.
   
   Marine Protected Areas may also be introduced in BYX1 which will mitigate the effects of fishing Six seamounts are currently closed and the unfished Norfolk Deep area has been nominated by Industry to be closed.
   
   In conclusion, we believe that BYX1 has a small environmental footprint and causes minimal adverse effects. There will be improvements in logbook participation and the recording of non fish bycatch in the future.

3. Is a suitable tool proposed for measuring the effects of fishing?

   Observer coverage is necessary to evaluate the effects of bottom trawling in BYX 1, in addition to the non fish bycatch form and the logbook programme. Coverage levels will be 25% of trips which target bluenose or alfonsino using bottom or midwater trawl gear.

Summary of Proposal