I & I N S W W i l d F i s h e r i e s r e s e a r c h P r o g r a m

Ocean Trawl Squid(Teuthida)exPloitation status undeFined

Status of Gould’s or arrow squid (Nototodarus gouldi) has not been assessed in NSW. The main fishery is in Commonwealth waters - although a formal assessment has not been conducted the stock is considered to be ‘not overfished’ due to relatively low recent annual landings of this species which is considered to be an annual stock.

BackgroundNew South Wales ocean trawlers catch several species of squid which, apart from southern calamari, have not been clearly defined in monthly catch returns. Landings mainly comprise Gould’s squid (Nototodarus gouldi) and an undescribed species, slender squid (Uroteuthis sp.). Broad squid (U. etheridgei) is sometimes present in catches from ocean waters and small quantities of the small bottle squid (U. noctiluca) may also be landed from school prawn grounds adjacent to estuaries. Gould’s squid has relatively low market acceptance (< $3 per kg) but broad squid and slender squid are more valuable ($5 - $10 per kg) and are often included with southern calamari landings.

Gould’s squid is distributed around the south of Australia from southern Queensland to about Geraldton in WA, and also occurs around the northern half of New Zealand, where the species supports a large fishery (approximately 10 thousand tonnes per year). They range in depth from shallow coastal bays to depths of over 500 m on the upper continental slope, but are most abundant between about 50 and 400 m. Gould’s squid have a typical cephalopod life cycle, living for about one year before breeding and dying. In southern waters, most males are mature at 20-25 cm mantle length (ML) and females around 30 cm, although males can attain 35 cm (1.2 kg) and females 40 cm (1.6 kg). North of about Montague Island, maturity of Gould’s squid occurs at smaller sizes than off southern Australia, and few are caught larger than about 25 cm ML.

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scientiFic name common name comment

Nototodarus gouldi Gould’s squidAlso known as arrow squid and seine-boat squid. Important component of fish trawl catch off southern and central NSW.

Uroteuthis (Photololigo) spp. slender squidAlso known as pencil squid. Important incidental catch of prawn trawling off northern NSW.

Uroteuthis (Photololigo) etheridgei broad squid Minor component of ocean prawn trawl

catch.

Uroteuthis (Loliolus) noctiluca bottle squid Only a very minor component of landings

from ocean waters near estuaries.

Image © Bernard Yau

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Small quantities of Gould’s squid are landed by the NSW Ocean Trawl Fishery, mainly off the central coast. Much larger quantities of Gould’s squid are taken by trawlers and squid jig vessels operating in Commonwealth fisheries around southern Australia. These fisheries land one to two thousand tonnes per year, and although there is no formal stock assessment available, the status of these fisheries is considered to be ‘not overfished’ (Wilson et al. 2009).

Slender squid is a tropical shallow water species with distribution extending down Australia’s east coast to about Sydney in depths to about 100 m. Broad squid mainly inhabit estuaries and bays but, along with the slender squid, small numbers are also caught regularly on inshore ocean prawn grounds. Biological information is available for the broad squid but there is no detailed information available for the slender squid. However, data from Fisheries research Vessel Kapala inshore trawl surveys showed that most slender squid were between 15 and 30 cm ML with some larger specimens almost 40 cm ML. Most slender squid off NSW matured at sizes greater than 20 cm ML.

The NSW catch of ‘arrow’ and ‘unspecified’ squid reported by the Ocean Fish Trawl sector (5-10 t per annum) probably consists mainly of Gould’s squid. The ‘squid’ landings reported by Ocean prawn Trawlers (10-20 t) mainly comprise a mix of pencil squid and southern calamari. Onboard observer studies and fishermen’s co-op monitoring are needed to better quantify the species composition of ocean trawl squid catches.

additional notesTrawl landings off southern and central •NSW are dominated by Goulds squid, but small proportions of morphologically similar species are likely to be present in catches including pencil or slender squid and bottle squid.

Gould’s squid is a fast growing species, which •lives for a maximum of about 1 year.

Small catches of Gould’s squid are sometimes •discarded because of low market price.

Since 2000, landings have declined with •declining trawling effort, but catch rates have remained reasonably stable.

There is a combined recreational bag limit of •20 squid and cuttlefish.

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Commercial landings (including available historical records) of ocean trawl squid for NSW from 1984/85 to 2008/09 for all fishing methods. Note that the decline in reported catch during the 1990s was due to changes in catch recording requirements for fishers with both NSW and Commonwealth licences.

Historical Landings of Ocean Trawl Squid

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88/89 93/94 98/99 03/04 08/09

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Reported landings of ocean trawl squid by NSW commercial fisheries from 1997/98. Fisheries which contribute less than 2.5% of the landings are excluded for clarity and privacy.

Ocean prawn Trawl (Key Secondary Species)

Fish Trawl (Key Secondary Species)

Landings by Commercial Fishery of Ocean Trawl Squid

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catchRecreational Catch of Ocean Trawl Squid

The annual recreational harvest of ocean trawl squid in NSW is likely to be less than one tonne.

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Fur ther readingJackson, G.d., B.M. Steer, S. Wotherspoon and A.J.

Hobday (2003). Variation in age, growth and maturity in the Australian arrow squid Nototodarus gouldi over time and space - what is the pattern? Marine Ecology-Progress Series 264: 57-71.

Jackson, G.d., S. Wotherspoon and B.L. McGrath-Steer (2005). Temporal population dynamics in arrow squid Nototodarus gouldi in southern Australian waters. Marine Biology 146 (5): 975-983.

Kailola, p.J., M.J. Williams, p.C. Stewart, r.e. reichelt, A. McNee and C. Grieve, eds. (1993). Australian Fisheries resources. Canberra, Australia, Bureau of resource Sciences, department of primary Industries and energy, and the Fisheries research and development Corporation.

Norman, M. and A. reid (2000). A Guide to Squid, Cuttlefish and Octopuses of Australasia, CSIrO publishing.

Nottage, J.d., r.J. West, S.S. Montgomery and K. Graham (2007). Cephalopod diversity in commercial fisheries landings of New South Wales, Australia. Reviews in Fish Biology and Fisheries 17: 271-281.

Nowara, G.B. and T.I. Walker (1998). effects of time of solar day, jigging method and jigging depth on catch rates and size of Gould’s squid, Nototodarus gouldi (McCoy), in southeastern Australian waters. Fisheries Research 34 (3): 279-288.

O’donnell, K.J. (2004). Growth and reproduction of the Squid, Photololigo etheridgei, in the Hawkesbury river, NSW. Sydney, Centre for research on ecological Impacts of Coastal Cities, university of Sydney: 221 pp.

O’Shea, S. and K.S. Bolstad (2004). First records of egg masses of Nototodarus gouldi McCoy, 1888 (Mollusca : Cephalopoda : Ommastrephidae), with comments on egg-mass susceptibility to damage by fisheries trawl. New Zealand Journal of Zoology 31 (2): 161-166.

pecl, G.T. and N.A. Moltschaniwskyj (2006). Life history of a short-lived squid (Sepioteuthis australis): resource allocation as a function of size, growth, maturation, and hatching season. ICES Journal of Marine Science 63 (6): 995-1004.

Queensland Fisheries. (2010). Stock status of Queensland’s fisheries resources 2009-10. Queensland, department of employment, economic development and Innovation: 65 pp.

Stark, K.e., G.d. Jackson and J.M. Lyle (2005). Tracking arrow squid movements with an automated acoustic telemetry system. Marine Ecology-Progress Series 299: 167-177.

Catch rates of ocean trawl squid harvested using fish trawling for NSW. Two indicators are provided: (1) median catch rate (lower solid line); and (2) 90th percentile of the catch rate (upper dashed line). Note that catch rates are not a robust indicator of abundance in many cases. Caution should be applied when interpreting these results.

Catch Per Unit Effort Information of Ocean Trawl Squid Harvested by Fish Trawling in NSW

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1992/93−1994/95 n = 11 305

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Length Frequency of Goulds Squid

The length distribution of Gould’s squid caught during trawl surveys by the Fisheries Research Vessel Kapala was comprised mainly of squid between 10 and 30 cm mantle length (ML). In NSW there is no minimum legal length for squid.

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© State of New South Wales through Industry and Investment NSW 2010. You may copy, distribute and otherwise freely deal with this publication for any purpose, provided that you attribute Industry and Investment NSW as the owner.

disclaimer: The information contained in this publication is based on knowledge and understanding at the time of writing (April 2010). However, because of advances in knowledge, users are reminded of the need to ensure that information upon which they rely is up to date and to check currency of the information with the appropriate officer of Industry and Investment NSW or the user’s independent adviser.

Steer, B.L.M. and G.d. Jackson (2004). Temporal shifts in the allocation of energy in the arrow squid, Nototodarus gouldi: sex-specific responses. Marine Biology 144 (6): 1141-1149.

Triantafillos, L., G.d. Jackson, M. Adams and B.L.M. Steer (2004). An allozyme investigation of the stock structure of arrow squid Nototodarus gouldi (Cephalopoda : Ommastrephidae) from Australia. ICES Journal of Marine Science 61 (5): 829-835.

Wadley, V. and M. dunning (1998). Cephalopods of commercial importance in Australian Fisheries. Hobart, CSIrO: 84 pp.

Waluda, C.M., p.N. Trathan and p.G. rodhouse (2004). Synchronicity in southern hemisphere squid stocks and the influence of the Southern Oscillation and Trans polar Index. Fisheries Oceanography 13 (4): 255-266.

Wilson, d., r. Curtotti, G. Begg and K. phillips, eds. (2009). Fishery Status reports 2008: status of fish stocks and fisheries managed by the Australian Government. Canberra, Bureau of rural Sciences & Australian Bureau of Agricultural and resource economics.

please visit the CSIrO website, http://www.marine.csiro.au/caab/ and search for the species code (CAAB) 23 636004, 23 617901 and 23 617010, common name or scientific name to find further information.