Epipelagic fishes
Map ID Number: Not mapped during the workshop
Location: Throughout the New Zealand Exclusive Economic Zone
Approximate area: Not recorded during the workshop
Description of area:
Surface waters to depths of approximately 400m.
Biological attributes:
Numerous epipelagic fish species, especially southern bluefin tuna (Thunnus maccoyii), bigeye tuna (T. obesus), porbeagle shark (Lamna nasus), blue shark (Prionace glauca), albacore (Thunnus alalunga), skipjack tuna (Katsuwonus pelamis) and moonfish (Lampris spp.) migrate seasonally in and out of the New Zealand Exclusive Economic Zone. There are hotspots of abundance off East Cape and the southwest coast of the South Island.
Criteria applied:
Trophic/functional diversity; representation (i.e. across physical types); extremities of range and adaptation to environment; degree of disturbance; special conditions and specialised organisms; species with a global distribution but New Zealand is a stronghold/significant; seasonal/migratory importance; unusual degree/proportion of biomass; aggregations; links to global patterns.
Status and management:
The southern bluefin tuna population is severely depleted and other pelagic fishes are being increasingly fished by the tuna longline fishery. Southern bluefin tuna is managed internationally through the Convention for Conservation of Southern Bluefin Tuna (CCSBT), which allocates quota for fishing nations. Many species will come under the Quota Management System in October 2004.
State of information:
There is good information on the tuna longline fishery, but not on population sizes and status.
References and further reading:
Bagley et al. (2000), Francis et al. (2000).