Description
Summary:Statement: QUALITY OF DATA USED IN THE ASSESSMENT The assessment is based on data and analyses published in the peer review literature, stock assessment reports and data collected from various Commonwealth and State fisheries. Credit Peer reviews of this assessment were provided by: Jeremy Lyle (Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies, University of Tasmania) Iain Suthers (School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of New South Wales) The Marine chapter of the 2021 State of the Environment (SoE) report incorporates multiple expert templates developed from streams of marine data. This metadata record describes the Expert Assessment "State and Trend of epipelagic fish species". ***A PDF of the full Expert Assessment, including figures and tables (where provided) is downloadable in the "On-line Resources" section of this record as "EXPERT ASSESSMENT 2021 - Epipelagic Fish Species"*** --- DESCRIPTION OF TAXONOMIC GROUP FOR EXPERT ASSESSMENT Australia’s small epipelagic fishes (<50 cm) are comprised of a range of species including Australian Sardine, Jack Mackerel, Blue Mackerel, Redbait, Yellowtail Scad, Australian Herring, Australian Anchovy, Maray, Blue and Sandy Sprats, scads, hardyheads and silversides. Species assemblages vary among regions and through time with distinct temperate and tropical assemblages (Hobday et al. 2009; Norriss and Grounds 2020). This assessment focuses on temperate species off southern Australia waters as information on tropical stocks is limited. Blue Mackerel, Jack Mackerel, Redbait and Australian Sardine are targeted by the Commonwealth Small Pelagic Fishery (SPF). The SPF is managed in two sub-areas, east and west (of latitude 146°30’E), based on evidence of eastern and western stocks for jack mackerel, blue mackerel and redbait. State fisheries target a range of epipelagic species, including Australian Sardine, Maray, Blue Mackerel, Yellowtail Scad, Sandy Sprats, Australian Herring, tropical sardine (Scaly mackerel) and other species (e.g. Norriss ...