Several important questions and opportunities arise with the development of this new recreational fishery. Fishers have already demonstrated a willingness to release this species post-capture. Off the back of the successful post-release survival study on Southern Bluefin Tuna (FRDC project 2013-025) the fishers are interested to understand the post-release survival rates of Swordfish. While the impacts of the recreational fishery to Swordfish populations is expected to be relatively low, due to the niche nature of the fishery, it is truly positive that the recreational fishers would like to have the information at hand to make informed decisions when choosing to release this species as well as potentially reduce the impacts of catching and handling on animals post-release.
To address this question satellite tags will be deployed in fish caught using recreational fishing methods off the east coast of Tasmania to monitor their movement and behaviour post-release to determine survival. The methodologies will closely follow those developed and implemented during the successful post-release study on Southern Bluefin Tuna.
Another important question relates to whether the fish that are being caught off Tasmania are resident or migratory. The main swordfish population typically inhabit waters further north along the east coast of Australia well up into the Coral Sea. It is expected that the fish available to the recreational fishery off the coast of Tasmania are larger fish that migrate south. It is possible however, that the fish off Tasmania are resident and associating with seafloor features, as they have been found to do further up the coast of Australia (ETBF commercial fisher, pers. comm.).
If they are a resident population there is potential for localised depletion, but if their presence here is migratory then a recreational fishery, with appropriate management, can be developed into the long term as the main swordfish population in the Western and Central Pacific is considered to be in a healthy state. The results will also increase our understanding of Swordfish movement and migration by applying tags to fish further south than has been done previously.