Torres Strait Finfish Fishery: Spanish mackerel stock assessment, with data to June 2023. Year Three Report.

Abstract

The Torres Strait Spanish mackerel fishery commenced in 1941. The fishery for Spanish mackerel is by line fishing only and managed as a single stock. Spanish mackerel are important to the Torres Strait people and fishing culture. They are an economic and traditional food source.

The Australian Fisheries Management Authority commissioned annual updates to the Torres Strait Spanish mackerel stock assessment for three years 2021–2023. This was to support quota management and to monitor spawning biomass estimates.

This stock assessment analysed data up to June 2023. The assessment was overseen by the Torres Strait Finfish Fishery Resource Assessment Group (TSFFRAG). Across analyses, the median estimated spawning biomass of Spanish mackerel in the 2022–2023 financial year (labelled the 2023 fishing year) was 41 percent of unfished estimates at the start of the fishery in 1941.