SUMMARY

SUMMARY

IDENTIFICATION

SCIENTIFIC NAME(s)

Nelusetta ayraudi

SPECIES NAME(s)

Chinaman-leatherjacket, Ocean Jacket

COMMON NAMES

Ocean leatherjacket, Chunks

Ocean jackets (Nelusetta ayraudi) are distributed in southern Australian waters from Cape Moreton in Queensland to North West Cape in WA (including Tasmania). They can be found in waters from 2 m to 200 m in depth. Juveniles of this species occur close to shore in bays and estuaries and have been caught in seagrass, over sand and rocky reefs (Miller and Stewart 2009).

A number of leatherjacket species are taken by commercial and recreational fisheries operating in NSW waters contributing significantly to the total catch of fish taken from the NSW Ocean Trap and Line Fishery (~340 tonnes in 2005/2006), in addition to other NSW fisheries, such as the Ocean Fish, Ocean Prawn and Haul-net Fisheries. In recent years, however, leatherjacket landings have been dominated by ocean jackets (Nelusetta ayraudi). Other species of leatherjacket which are significant in landings are the yellowfin (Meuschenia trachylepis), velvet (M. scaber), sixspine (M. freycineti) and fanbelly (Monacanthus chinensis). The status of all these species is undefined, due to a lack of biological and fishery data (Wilson et al. 2010).

The abundance of ocean jackets appears to have increased significantly since 1999/2000. Status of all other leatherjacket species is undefined (Wilson et al. 2010).

Ocean Jackets have been considered as two separate stocks by Wilson et al. (2010): eastern and western Australia delineated by 138o longitude. Stocks from the eastern Great Australian Bight and the south-east of South Australia are considered a common stock.


ANALYSIS

Weaknesses

    SCORES

    Management Quality:

    Management Strategy:

    NOT YET SCORED

    Managers Compliance:

    NOT YET SCORED

    Fishers Compliance:

    NOT YET SCORED