Platten et al., 2007:

"CapReef is a community-based monitoring program that has been established following a series of recent changes to management of the Great Barrier Reef. The purpose of CapReef is to improve community involvement and knowledge in managing the Capricorn part of the Great Barrier Reef ecosystem through monitoring and analysis of the local effects of management changes. Projects include: measuring changes in recreational fishing catch and effort, relative abundance and size structure of key fish species, determining changes in fisher participation and fishing patterns, and tracking movement of key fish species in and out of closed waters.

Catch information was obtained from over 3800 trips, catching over 54 000 fish from more than 200 separate fish species and fishing at around 200 listed locations. The survey was conducted in the area between the Percy Islands in the north to Bustard Head in the south between June 2005 and May 2007."

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3.2.1 Species of fish caught

"Table 2 shows the 30 most common species caught in order of the number of fish taken. It also shows the number of trips that reported catching these fish. While the catch records show over 200 fish types, the majority come from around 30 species and the 15 species examined in detail in this report make up over 80 per cent of the catch. This list is quite varied with reef (14), soft bottom (7) and pelagic or midwater (9) species recorded. These types are quite blurred however, with numerous species utilising different habitat types (eg Red Snapper often occur on soft bottom and Cobia are frequently caught on bottom baits).

The top five most common reef fish in terms of the numbers caught were Longfin Rockcod, Red Emperor, Venus Tuskfish, Grass Emperor and Redthroat Emperor however in terms of the number of trips where fish were recorded the order changes to Longfin Rockcod, Coral Trout, Red Emperor, Grass Emperor and Stripey Snapper. That is Coral Trout and Stripey Snapper are caught more frequently on trips but in smaller numbers than Redthroat Emperor and Venus Tuskfish.

The list changes even more radically when the fish kept are analysed. Figure 5 shows that amongst reef species, the order becomes Grass Emperor, Coral Trout, Venus Tuskfish, Redthroat Emperor and Red Emperor. In fact only just over 1 per cent of Longfin Cod and 10 per cent of Red Emperor are retained. This compares with over 80 per cent of Coral Trout being kept.

The pelagic catch is dominated by School Mackerel (the most commonly retained fish in the region). The major pelagic species include the Mackerels (School, Spanish and Spotted), Sharks and Trevally (Figure 6). There is no change in the order of kept fish amongst the major mackerel species with all remaining in the same order as the total catch. Between 67-83 per cent of Mackerel are retained. However, most Sharks and Trevally are released with around 3 per cent of sharks and 43 per cent of Trevally retained.

     

  

 

Overall approximately 6 per cent of the total catch is released. This varied slightly with location (Figure 7). The trips to wide grounds and offshore reefs kept a higher proportion of fish than inshore and island trips. The lowest retention rate was near the islands where only 36 per cent of fish were retained.

3.2.2 Catch differences between locations

The species mix in the catch varies from inshore to the offshore reefs. Table 2 and Figures 8 and 9 show that some species are taken more frequently inshore than offshore, while others show a reverse trend. Ranking indicates the occurrence of the species in the catch in the different locations. Amongst the pelagic species the most marked trend occurs in the catch of School Mackerel and Spotted Mackerel. These are taken much more frequently close to the coast. By contrast Spanish Mackerel are more frequently taken on the deep wide grounds than closer inshore or near the offshore reefs and shoals.

Redthroat Emperor, Venus Tuskfish, Collar Seabream and Coral Trout are the most dominant catch from the offshore reefs and shoals, Red Emperor, Red Snapper and Hussar predominate in the catch of the wide fern grounds while within the Keppels and other continental islands, Longfin Rockcod are the most common catch. The small Mackerels (School and Spotted) are the most commonly captured species in the inshore catch."

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3.2.4 Spearfishing

"The catch from 42 spearfishing trips was considered in the CapReef data. All of these trips were to the inshore or island locations. The trips caught 243 fish comprising 24 different species (Figure 13)."

 

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4.2.1 Catch rates by location

"The catch rate was strongly influenced by the locations fished (Figure 15), although the smaller numbers of trips to the more distant locations means there is considerable variation in the 95 confidence limits of catch rates in these locations. The trend suggests that catch rates are higher in the more distant locations (wide grounds and offshore reefs) than closer to the coast. The number of trips to these areas is the reverse with the trips to the offshore reefs and the wide grounds making up only 5 and 4 per cent of trips respectively (Figure 16). Although catch rates are higher in these locations, the overall total catch numbers are in fact smaller than close to the islands (Table 4)."

                

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5.2.1 Effect of Bag Limits

"An examination of the total number of fish kept per person shows that up to 49 fish per person were kept (Figure 19). The total catch limit for defined reef species is 20 fish per person. There were 20 trips where the kept fish per person was 20 fish or greater. However a number of fish are exempt from this list. For example, Grass Emperor and Mackerel species are not part of the list and their numbers are not included. Examination of the 20 trips shows that nine trips caught a total of 20 reef species or greater.

 

Table 6 shows the number of trips that caught or exceeded the bag limits for particular species. The analysis shows that the greatest number of trips catching the bag limit occurred for Spanish Mackerel (16 trips), 12 trips caught the bag limit for Redthroat Emperor and Venus Tuskfish, eight trips caught five or more Stripey Snapper and six trips caught the bag limit for Coral Trout and Red Snapper. Five trips caught the limit of Spotted Mackerel, four the limit for Red Emperor, two the limit of Hussar and one the limit for Painted Sweetlips.

  

5.2.2 Effect of Size Limits

An assessment of the catch as to which species are most likely to be influenced by size limits is provided in section three. Most species considered desirable as food species are probably influenced by size limits. However some (eg Coral Trout) are commonly taken above the minimum size and thus have high retention rates. In contrast Longfin Rockcod and Red Emperor are regarded as worthwhile food species but have very low retention rates (Figure 5) and their catch rates seem highly likely to be particularly influenced by minimum size regulations. It is also possible that the high release rates of Gold Spotted Rockcod may also be at least in part influenced by the minimum and maximum size regulations."

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Citation and/or URL

Platten, J., Sawynok, B. and Parsons, W., 2007, What is the catch? The catch of recreational fishers offshore from central Queensland. Infofish Services. 

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Spatial Coverage

Percy Islands to Bustard Head 

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Temporal Coverage

2005 - 2007

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Update Frequency

Not applicable 

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Other Information

None