The recent market failure of wild-caught Barramundi has seen the price to fishers fall to an all-time low. Anecdotal information suggests that this failure is, in part, from a lack of development in packaging, presentation and grading of product, and has seen demand from the foodservice and hospitality sectors decline over time. Research as to what the wild catch Barramundi sectors require today in terms of user-friendly packaging and presentation should be undertaken to define what requirements are needed in order to improve market share for this iconic species. Research is also needed to ensure that any new approach undertaken by the wild Barramundi sector is supported by the market. Understanding current and desired market positioning vis a vis competitors as well as what is needed to achieve the desired positioning will assist this.

Current stock assessment of Black jewfish in the NT relies on outputs from a Stock Reduction Analysis (SRA) based on assumed stock-recruitment relationships and catch-and-effort information. Increases in Black jewfish catches in 2017/18 after several poor years were inconsistent with the SRA forecasts, demonstrating a need: 1) to better understand the drivers of fishery productivity and recruitment; and 2) for information on abundance and size-structure.

Environmental variability strongly influences abundance and recruitment in coastal fisheries of northern Australia. In contrast to Barramundi and King threadfin, anecdotal information suggests that Black jewfish catches may be negatively correlated with freshwater outflow during the wet season. However, data on external drivers of population structure and physiological responses to environmental variability are currently lacking.

Another critical knowledge gap is the abundance and size-structure of Black jewfish populations. At present, the only information available is from commercial catch data and surveys of recreational fishers. These fishery-dependent sources have important biases, particularly size selectivity. There is an urgent need for more robust, fishery-independent data on population abundance and size-structure for Black jewfish.

This project will examine a range of environmental variables and physiological parameters from sampled fish to identify the key drivers of productivity and recruitment for Black jewfish. We will also collect fishery-independent data on the abundance and size-structure of Black jewfish populations using high-resolution sonar, with a view to developing a monitoring methodology to support the CLF harvest strategy.

The overall goal is to improve the accuracy and predictive performance of Black jewfish stock assessment, thereby increasing confidence in the information used to justify management decisions and providing increased certainty to fishers across all sectors. A new, full-time post-doctoral fellow position, jointly funded by CDU and AIMS, will lead the project activities under the supervision of the project investigators. FRDC funds are requested for technical assistance, travel and operating.