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Thread: Tailor Stocks Hanging by a Thread

  1. #1

    Tailor Stocks Hanging by a Thread

    Long term monitoring of tailor populations in the Fraser Island and Cooloola region reveal that this once abundant and iconic species has declined to dangerously low levels. Commercial yields since 1988 have gradually reduced to unprecedented lows for the years 2011 and 2012 with no indications that 2013 will see any improvement. Recreational catches along the entire eastern seaboard of Australia replicate commercial yields and the impacts to tourism of this may be felt for many years to come and particularly in Queensland.

    Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries & Forestry, John McVeigh, stated in 2012 that tailor populations are recovering with more mature fish now prevelant in the system and that the species is being sustainably fished. Mr McVeigh also says that annual monitoring of species of commercial or recreational importance ensures the future sustainability of Queensland's fisheries.

    Recreational fishing advocate and marine conservationist Lindsay Dines believes that Mr McVeigh is being fed incorrect information by Fisheries Queensland and that there is no evidence whatsoever that tailor are being sustainably fished or their population recovering. "On the contrary" said Mr Dines, "all the evidence points towards a species in serious trouble and managers who either do not know what they are doing or have agendas that enable a continuation of commercial fishing for tailor and other species when this is clearly not sustainable".

    Mr Dines supported his claims with graphs of commercial tailor yields from the Fraser Island and Cooloola region (attached) which are recognised as key spawning locations for this iconic species. "It is no longer viable for the pros, and anglers are heading interstate to where they feel they are a better chance of catching fish" says Mr Dines. He adds that the documented smaller size of tailor compared to the 1970s is now being recognised as a sign of overfishing in harvested species overseas. "We know that the tailor have shrunk, we know that commercial yields have collapsed, we know that anglers are having all sorts of difficulty finding tailor of legal size, but still we are told that everything is fine but without any evidence at all presented to support this assurance".

    Based on the commercial yields shown in the graphs presented by Mr Dines, I would also have to think that everything is not as rosy as the Minister and Fisheries Queensland would have us believe. Annual yields in the Fraser Island and Cooloola region that ranged between 17 and 100 tonne and averaged over 60 tonnes per year up to 2000, range between 3.2 and 40 tonne after 2000 with an average annual yield of just 23 tonnes. The 2011 and 2012 yields of 6 tonne and 3.2 tonne respectively for all of Fraser Island and Cooloola are an obvious indicator that all is not well. "These low yields are not as a result of less effort on the part of the pros" Mr Dines assures me. "In fact, there is more effort dedicated to their catching tailor than there ever has been" he said.

    Mr Dines also has concerns about seabirds such as Australasian gannets and several species of tern which are heavily reliant on tailor to herd baitfish to the ocean surface where the seabirds can access their prey. "Australia is a signatory to international treaties set up for the protection of several species of tern, yet we overfish tailor to the point where they can no longer provide food for the terns". "Only one thing can result and that is the depletion of tern populations" Mr Dines said when contacted this morning. "We must urgently put in place measures to stop further depletion of tailor stocks and allow the actual recovery of their population" he insists. "It may not be too late, but if we don't do something very soon, the likelihood of any recovery diminishes year by year".
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  2. #2

    Re: Tailor Stocks Hanging by a Thread

    are the alarm bells broken? why is the government dragging their knuckles on reducing the take (pro and rec) on this iconic species?
    fishing's as simple as 3 P's - patience, perserverance and PLASTIC!

  3. #3

    Re: Tailor Stocks Hanging by a Thread

    Yep, simply defies belief.

    I've heard the rec take is higher than pros, is this correct? My only concern is how do they measure the rec take......

  4. #4

    Re: Tailor Stocks Hanging by a Thread

    Quote Originally Posted by Just_chips View Post
    Yep, simply defies belief.

    I've heard the rec take is higher than pros, is this correct? My only concern is how do they measure the rec take......
    Angler participation, surveys at major fishing competitions and questionnaires.

  5. #5

    Re: Tailor Stocks Hanging by a Thread

    Can someone tell me what the Tailor is used for that the pro's take? Is it intended for human consumption? I do enjoy eating fresh Tailor the same day it is caught, however it certainly isn't the nicest once frozen or a few days old. I would think that the money recreational fishermen pump into the local economy would far outweigh any reason for a small number of pro's raping the gutters of Cooloola and Fraser Island.

    Also, it would be interesting to find out the flow on effect this has in relation to the pelagics that target Tailor, is the yearly spanish mackerel quota affected by the decline in Tailor numbers?

    Cheers

  6. #6

    Re: Tailor Stocks Hanging by a Thread

    I would expect Kev that the rec take of tailor would in the main be greater than the commercial take. And when less than 2 tonne was taken by beach seine nets between Noosa Heads and Sandy Cape for the entirety of 2012, then it's easy to imagine the rec take for the same region being higher than that. However, the results of surveys completed into NSW rec fishing havens which found more and larger tailor post establishment inside rfh's indicates that the overall affect of nets on tailor pops is greater than rec impacts. This would be due, I firmly believe, to altered migrations caused by nets and reduced recruitment that results.
    If the more and larger tailor inside rfh's are there because it is safe from nets rather than the nets having reduced pops and individual size prior to establishment, then the altered migration scenario must have some truth anyway. Has to be one or the other and the same result results. Whichever is the reason for more and larger tailor inside net free regions, it is easy to see that we need more of them to protect tailor.

    I do think that tailor bag limits need to be reduced and the size limit increased. I also believe that it would be advantageous to extend the Indian Head to Waddy Point closure during August and September to Sandy Cape. This would only be of benefit however if netting north of Ngkala Rocks ceased.

    GM - I find it hard to believe that the tailor that I've seen taken by net along this beach (Teewah) are destined for human consumption. The flesh is mushy and falls off hooks when freshly bought from the pros on the beach. I have never seen the catch iced, so it's hard to imagine that it is saleable once it reaches a retailer.

    I had been prepared to allow the 2011 yield of 3.6 tonne between Noosa Heads and Sandy Cape to be a one off and by far the worst result on record and had hoped for a better 2012 before going too nuts with things. But less than 2 tonne for the same area in 2012 to worsen the worst result on record has taken us into totally unchartered territory. We can't allow nothing to change, as is currently the plan of attack. The Precautionary Principle must surely be enacted under these circumstances - unless we've thrown caution to the wind and I'm not convinced we haven't.

  7. #7

    Re: Tailor Stocks Hanging by a Thread

    Scary stuff.... what do we do?

  8. #8

    Re: Tailor Stocks Hanging by a Thread

    Scary stuff indeed. I agree about the bag limit, you shouldn't keep more than 1 good feed of this species as they loose that great flavor when frozen.

    Slider if I could play devils advocate for 1 moment.... obviously the catches are down, and I think I can see effort is down (BTW I'm terrible at analyzing data), but can the effort be down because of price $, number of netters working, weather, other species targeted, ect, resulting in lower catches?
    Cheers

  9. #9

    Re: Tailor Stocks Hanging by a Thread

    well i know 2010...5 or 6 fish every time from june till september ...2011 one or two in july then nothing...2012 four fish ...2013 i have caught 3 so far this year since june...

  10. #10

    Re: Tailor Stocks Hanging by a Thread

    Slider = Lindsay Dines. In case you guys were'nt aware.

    Quoting yourself in an article written as though it was published somewhere and presented here as if it is actually an authoritative piece of work.

    Published in the "News" section here as if it is actually some kind of official report. Which it is not.

    Interesting approach. Not exactly up-front is it?

    Draw your own conclusions.
    Note to self: Don't argue with an idiot. They will only bring you down to their level and beat you with experience....

  11. #11

    Re: Tailor Stocks Hanging by a Thread

    Mike - I have noticed that you play the devil's advocate well and I appreciate the question.
    The problem with determining actual effort in many, if not all of Qld's fisheries, is that the license holder usually only logs the days when fish are caught. In the K8 fishery, days spent searching when no fish are caught are never logged and only the days when fish are caught are logged. So if a species is gradually being depleted and extra effort is required to catch the same quantity of fish, then the extra effort is effectively invisible.
    So what we have here is a case of 'days fished', as supplied with the data by FQ being indicative of only days when fish are caught. If fish become scarce, then the days fished can reduce because there are less successful trips which gives the appearance of reduced effort.

    I've been watching the local netter who catches the majority of tailor from Teewah Beach, Rainbow and Fraser the last few years driving up and down the beach whenever weather conditions are suitable, but not wetting a net cause he can't find any schools. None of those days count apparently, but they should to enable FQ to determine actual effort.

    In this case, the number of boats (license holders) has remained relatively constant from 1988 to 2012 with no actual reduction in the number of fishers fishing and the price of tailor has increased marginally, but no less than is attained for other species. Target switching to dart has occurred to compensate for the lack of tailor in recent years, but dart have also hit the wall as far as yields are concerned and I'm not seeing them anymore either.

    So in answer to your question - effort has been increasing but the fish aren't there to reflect the effort. You'll also notice that the CPUE has declined almost in parallel with yields and this indicates that either schools are smaller or there are less of them. Gauging by yields for 2011 & 2012 - there aren't any schools as a single school would/should account for more than the total yield for the year. That can only mean major probs for terns and gannets.

  12. #12

    Re: Tailor Stocks Hanging by a Thread

    Moonlighter - I thought it would be obvious that my approach is in response to the method that appears to have been adopted by Fisheries to make us all think they're doing a great job - in the News section, written as if by a journalist quoting members of their own staff. Propaganda I would call it and I feel if it is good enough for them, then it's good enough for me. Well I thought it would be obvious when I have never refrained from signing my full name at the bottom of hundreds of posts over the years and very recently in both the wrong wrong wrong thread and the .... other one that was going at the same time which you surely commented in. I mean, I was hardly going to get away with it was I? No hidden agendas or any conspiracy theories to concern yourself with, just a light hearted jab at FQ is all.

    Jackash - good question. A knee jerk response would be to ban the netting of tailor to allign with NSW. While this may see some benefit, I'm doubtful that it would solve the problem to a sufficient degree as it hasn't in NSW. A bycatch allowance of 100 or 150kgs would need to apply and herein lies a problem. Tailor will still flee from nets intended for mullet, bream, whiting, dart, trevally, goldens, snubbies etc because they will still associate netting with danger as nets are still dangerous to their species - even if it's just because of the bycatch. Alarm signals from the other species which are still of the same 'prey guild' as tailor (have a common predator - nets) will still cause alterations to tailor's spatial dynamics and cause loss of nutritious food, inappropriate spawning location and fecundity loss through stress of constantly avoiding the predator.
    There is only one answer as far as I'm concerned and that is to create net free regions in locations where they spawn such as Indian Head to Sandy Cape, Noosa River to Double Island Point which are also locations where anchovy and sardine spawn which is part of the reason why tailor migrate and spawn in these locations. Ready access for larvae to estuaries such as the Noosa and in the Sandy Straights are another reason for spawning where they do. Ocean currents have a bearing here as does water temperature.
    Net inside the estuary mouths for mullet and close the open beaches to netting and tailor and other species will resume their historical spatial dynamics and populations will rebound - even with recreational pressure.

    The bycatch scenario above is the same as for spanish and spotted mackerel. Because these 2 species are still being taken in nets intended for school mackerel or longtails, the spaniards and spotties are still fleeing nets with similar problems as explained for tailor, and their recovery since 2003 when netting for these species was banned, has been slowed as a result. Is worth noting that a fifth of the W34 & W35 spotty yield for 2012 was taken in nets.

    GM Bluewater - sorry for being sidetracked, but I can't be sure that tailor depletions have affected mackerel pops or not. It can't have helped of course, but we would need to know if the macks have adapted to compensate for the loss of tailor. I know they were loving the grinner population as it was a few years ago, but they may have depleted the grinners somewhat and be struggling for an alternative. Grinners may not be as nutritious as tailor and I expect that they aren't and this could well be relevant. I notice that spanish and spotty yields from SEQ waters have remained relatively constant since 2003, but perhaps they should have increased if a healthy tailor population existed.

  13. #13

    Re: Tailor Stocks Hanging by a Thread

    hi Lindsay - my own catch data would support your analysis, for moreton anyway. And the old heads state anecdotally that the fish have shrunk at Fraser. Questions I have, is their any reason the qld graph stops at 2005? And is the reason for the decline in effort in 2011/2012 attributed to your previous response re effort not being recorded on non productive days? The data from 2004 appears most alarming.

  14. #14

    Re: Tailor Stocks Hanging by a Thread

    Cheers Lampuki,

    Yes, reduced effort in 2011/12 can be attributed to no tailor schools available to net and flawed method of ascertaining actual effort.

    Tailor at Fraser are now universally small - this has been especially noticeable the last 2 to 3 years and I have noticed less large fish since 2000. But this isn't what I mean by tailor having shrunk.

    It was determined by DPI commissioned researchers that 2 year old tailor in 2004 were smaller than 2 year old tailor in the 70s. The 2004 research couldn't establish a reason why tailor had shrunk. At that point debate was raging around the world between fish biologists as to why harvested fish species were shrinking, like tailor. All sorts of harvested species had been found to be of a smaller size at maturity than they previously had been and the debate was whether this is caused by phenotypic plasticity or if it is an evolutionary change or just the size selectivity of the fishery. Without going into detail as to the differences between the 3 phenomena and causes, it is now accepted that reducing size at maturity is an evolutionary change brought about by excessive harvesting and fish that have shrunk are being overfished. Reduced size is said to be a symptom of overfishing.

    An ecological fact associated with any species of animal that is under strong predation pressure, is that they release glucocorticoids and other stress related chemicals from a pituitary gland (HPA). These are chemicals associated with the 'fight or flight response to predation pressure. High levels of these chemicals in an animal's system cause loss of reproductive ability, infertility, loss of mass, increased vulnerability to disease (think Gladstone), higher per capita predation rates, reduced offspring survival and growth rates. These changes are slow to reverse when predation pressure is removed - think atlantic cod.

    For instance - Atlantic silverside underwent a known evolutionary change in response to experimental harvesting pressure to a smaller size at age inside 5 generations. By the fifth generation, adult fecundity (reproductive ability) had declined on average 60% and larval survival to 10 days had reduced by 61%. These fish also hid for longer from simulated predatory attacks and had a reduction of 25% in food conversion efficiency and slower growth rates.

    So when nets are being shot all over the place and tailor are constantly fleeing these nets, the above stated factors (and more) become applicable to tailor - and any other species similarly affected. Irrespective of us being certain of why tailor have shrunk, the fact is that the possible ramifications are large and we are turning a blind eye to these factors. The collapse in rec and commercial catches should have alarm bells ringing very loudly indeed.

  15. #15

    Re: Tailor Stocks Hanging by a Thread

    As to all of Qld tailor data finishing in 2005: I found this data in about 2001 and was able to extend to 2005 using the data from the CHRIS (Coastal Habitat Resource Information System) website which only covers 1988 to 2005. The data to 2012 that I've used, I had to purchase from FQ and there are budgetry limitations as to how much data I could buy.
    FQ are currently working on a new public data information system which will include recent data that I am told will be up and running in the next month or 2 and I should be able to fill any relevent gaps in my data then.

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