Yellowtail Kingfish is a high priority species for recreational fishers and the basis of an important commercial fishery in NSW. The biological stock structure is reasonably well understood, with genetic analyses showing that the population in Western Australia is genetically distinct from the population along the eastern and southern Australian coasts (Commonwealth, Queensland, New South Wales, Victorian, Tasmanian and South Australian waters) and New Zealand. Tagging studies have confirmed movements between Australia and New Zealand and South Australia to NSW. Therefore Yellowtail Kingfish are assessed through the Status of Australian Fish Stocks (SAFS) initiative at the biological stock level, being two stocks - Eastern Australia and Western Australia.

The most recent (2018) SAFS assessment for the Eastern Australian biological stock of Yellowtail Kingfish was ‘Undefined’, due mainly to knowledge gaps around the degree of mixing throughout this stock which spans more than 3,000 km of coastline. Reasonable data for assessment exists only within NSW, and uncertainty around whether an assessment of that component of the stock reflected the entire stock resulted in an ‘Undefined’ status, with a recommendation that this uncertainty be resolved.

Yellowtail Kingfish within NSW has been assessed as ‘Growth Overfished’ (2003/04 to 2013/14), and current evidence indicates a Depleted stock. There are ongoing discussions within NSW about appropriate management changes that may assist recovery; however these are hampered by the ‘Undefined’ status in SAFS.

The FRDC National Priority 1 aims to reduce the percentage of ‘Undefined’ stocks within SAFS, which also has an objective of providing a roadmap to recovery for ‘Depleted’ stocks. To address both of these and to promote better and more collaborative monitoring, assessment and management across all relevant jurisdictions, there is a clear need to review existing knowledge across the entire stock and to identify areas of uncertainty that require addressing.

Per- and poly-fluoroalklys (PFASs) are now emerging as pollutants with potentially catastrophic impact on aquaculture facilities. Two key research institutes have already demonstrated the presence of PFASs in marine fish broodstock and have observed impacts on offspring that are consistent with those observed in
literature studies. As testing continues there is the expectation that the number of facilities affected will increase. To compound the challenge our understanding of the impacts of PFASs on aquatic species is limited. In order to further assess these impacts, PFASs must be introduced into experimental systems in a
controlled fashion and therefore we must have the capacity to remove those pollutants before release. To protect our facilities and permit PFAS impacts research there is a need to rapidly assess available PFAS treatment technologies.

The hatchery sector for SRO is still developing and any assistance with its underlying operating challenges or potential increases to its seed market significantly improve the prospects for its continued development.

Tetraploid SRO: Triploid SRO can grow up to 30% faster than normal SRO and commonly have a significantly longer marketability window. Accordingly, many framers have eagerly awaited the supply of more triploid seed. In order for this to occur new techniques that overcome the shortcomings of direct induction are required - techniques that don't involve the direct application of harmful chemicals to what will eventually be a foodstuff.

Gamete preservation: Currently techniques for strip spawning SRO gametes typically results in the destruction of valuable broodstock and the collection of many more gametes than are required immediately. The capacity to simply and cheaply store gametes for relatively short periods of time offers a number of advantages. Once the hatchery operator is satisfied with the performance of gametes (usually apparent within hours to days) gametes could be shared with other hatcheries. This is particularly valuable where brood stock are scarce because of time of year or they are from a limited population in a breeding program. If problems occur, stored gametes could be used to commence a second batch without the need to continue to hold and feed broodstock, or to recreate a particular cross (or new crosses) within a breeding program.

Maturation: SRO broodstock can take up to 10 weeks to bring into condition within a hatchery and can consume up to 80% of the algae required for a hatchery production run - this is both time consuming and expensive. Technology that accelerates reproductive condition and then stimulates spawning on demand could significantly reduce these costs.