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White Teatfish (Sea Cucumber) (2023)

Holothuria fuscogilva

  • Jenny Keys (Department of Agriculture and Fisheries, Queensland)
  • Ian Butler (Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences)
  • Ben Kelly (Department of Industry, Tourism and Trade, Northern Territory)

Date Published: June 2023

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Summary

White Teatfish is a species of sea cucumber found in northern Australia. It is assessed as sustainable on QLD's east coast and in the Torres Strait Bêche-de-mer Fishery. Stocks in the NT and the Commonwealth Coral Sea Fishery are undefined.

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Stock Status Overview

Stock status determination
Jurisdiction Stock Stock status Indicators
Northern Territory Northern Territory Undefined

Nil

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Stock Structure

White Teatfish is broadly distributed throughout the tropical Indo-Pacific [Conand 1990]. There are likely to be multiple populations in all northern Australian states and territories. However, there is very little information on the distribution, abundance and stock structure of White Teatfish in northern Australia. Current taxonomic records indicate that its distribution extends from Ningaloo in Western Australia to Brisbane, Queensland [ALA 2018]. The known depth range of this species is 0–40 m, but most animals are caught between 15 m and 30 m [Conand et al. 2013].

Here, assessment of stock status is reported at the management unit level—Torres Strait Beche-de-mer Fishery, Coral Sea Fishery (Commonwealth), Trepang Fishery (Northern Territory) and East Coast Sea Cucumber Fishery (Queensland).

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Stock Status

Northern Territory

Northern Territory Trepang Fishery licensees are permitted to harvest White Teatfish, but have not done so in the last 10 years. This is because much of the area of the fishery (from the high–water mark to three nautical miles beyond the territorial sea baseline) is shallower than the apparent depth preference for this species (15–30 m), as well as lack of suitable reef habitat at this depth within the declared fishery. All six Northern Territory Trepang Fishery licenses are owned by a single entity, with only a subset of licenses being active in any given year.

White Teatfish have been caught in the Northern Territory outside of the Trepang Fishery under a single special research permit. Exploratory fishing undertaken through this permit was subject to stringent harvest and reporting conditions.

There are no accounts, formal or otherwise, of the harvest of White Teatfish by charter boat clients, Indigenous fishers or recreational fishers in the Northern Territory. The small, sporadic and exploratory commercial harvest of White Teatfish in this jurisdiction means that there is insufficient information available to confidently classify the status of this stock.

On the basis of the evidence provided above, the Trepang Fishery (Northern Territory) management unit is classified as an undefined stock.

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Biology

White Teatfish (Sea Cucumber) biology [Purcell et al. 2012]

Biology
Species Longevity / Maximum Size Maturity (50 per cent)
White Teatfish (Sea Cucumber) 12+ years, 570 mm TL 320 mm TL, 4 years
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Distributions

Distribution of reported commercial catch of White Teatfish. Due to confidentiality constraints, catches from the Northern Territory are not shown.

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Tables

Fishing methods
Northern Territory
Commercial
Hand
Charter
Diving
Management methods
Method Northern Territory
Commercial
Effort limits
Limited entry
Size limit
Spatial closures
Vessel restrictions

Northern Territory – Indigenous (Management methods). The Fisheries Act 1988 (NT), specifies that “…without derogating from any other law in force in the Territory, nothing in a provision of this Act or an instrument of a judicial or administrative character made under it limits the right of Aboriginals who have traditionally used the resources of an area of land or water in a traditional manner from continuing to use those resources in that area in that manner”.

Queensland – Indigenous (Management Methods). For more information see: https://www.daf.qld.gov.au/business-priorities/fisheries/traditional-fishing.

Queensland - Commercial (Catch). Queensland commercial and charter data have been sourced from the commercial fisheries logbook program. Further information available through the Queensland Fisheries Summary Report https://www.daf.qld.gov.au/business-priorities/fisheries/monitoring-research/data/queensland-fisheries-summary-report 

Queensland – Commercial (Management Methods). Harvest strategies are available at: https://www.daf.qld.gov.au/business-priorities/fisheries/sustainable/harvest-strategy  

Commonwealth – Recreational. The Australian Government does not manage recreational fishing in Commonwealth waters. Recreational fishing in Commonwealth waters is managed by the state or territory immediately adjacent to those waters, under its management regulations.

Commonwealth – Commercial (Catch). Catch is by calendar year. All catch is Indigenous in Torres Strait.

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Catch Chart

Commercial catch of White Teatfish - note confidential catch not shown
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References

  1. Atlas of Living Australia (ALA) 2018, Holothuria (Microthele) fuscogilva Cherbonnier, 1980.
  2. Butler, I, D'Alberto, B and Tuynman, H 2022, Torres Strait Bêche-de-mer and Trochus fisheries, in Patterson, H, Bromhead, D, Galeano, D, Larcombe, J, Timmiss, T, Woodhams, J and Curtotti, R (eds), Fishery status reports 2022, Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences, Canberra.
  3. Conand, C 1990, The fishery resources of Pacific island countries. Part 2. Holothurians, FAO, Rome.
  4. Conand, C, Purcell, S and Gamboa, R 2013, Holothuria fuscogilva. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2013: e.T200715A2681354. Downloaded on 27 July 2018.
  5. Helidoniotis, F 2021, Stock assessment of white teatfish (Holothuria fuscogilva) in Queensland Australia. Department of Agriculture and Fisheries, Queensland Government. Brisbane, Queensland.
  6. Murphy, NE, Plagányi, EE, Edgar, S, Salee, K and Skewes, TD 2020, Stock survey of sea cucumbers in East Torres Strait. Draft final report. December 2020. CSIRO, Australia. 120 pp.
  7. Noriega, R, Keller, K, Butler, I and Curtotti, R 2022, Coral Sea Fishery, in Patterson, H, Bromhead, D, Galeano, D, Larcombe, J, Timmiss, T, Woodhams, J and Curtotti, R (eds), Fishery status reports 2022, Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences, Canberra.
  8. Purcell, S, Samyn, Y and Conand, C 2012, Commercially important sea cucumbers of the world, FAO Species Catalogue for Fishery Purposes. No. 6, Rome, 150 pp.
  9. Queensland Department of Agriculture and Fisheries 2021, Sea Cucumber Fishery Harvest Strategy: 2021–2026.
  10. Roelofs, A, Woodhams, J and Grubert, M 2018, White Teatfish (Sea cucumber) Holothuria fuscgilva, in Stewardson, C, Andrews, J, Ashby, C, Haddon, M, Hartmann, K, |Hone, P, Horvat, P, Mayfield, S, Roelofs, A, Sainsbury, K, Saunders, T, Stewart, J, Nicol, S and Wise, B (eds) 2018, Status of Australian fish stocks reports 2018, Fisheries Research and Development Corporation, Canberra.
  11. Skewes, T, Dennis, DM, Koutsoukos, A, Haywood, M, Wassenberg, T and Austin, M 2004, Stock survey and sustainable harvest strategies for Torres Strait bêche-de-mer, AFMA project R01/1345, CSIRO Marine and Atmospheric Research, Cleveland, Queensland.
  12. Skewes, T, Plaganyi, E, Murphy, N, Pascual, R and Fischer, M 2014, Evaluating rotational harvest strategies for sea cucumber fisheries, CSIRO, Brisbane.

Downloadable reports

Click the links below to view reports from other years for this fish.