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Ribaldo is a sustainable species which inhabits temperate deepwater areas on the continental shelf of south-eastern Australia.

Ribaldo inhabit temperate deepwater areas on the continental shelf. They occur close to the seabed at depths of 450–2,500 metres and are most commonly found at depths of 500–1,000 metres. Ribaldo are associated with sea mounts and rough sea beds. Juveniles may be pelagic. One stock of Ribaldo, in the Southern and Eastern Scalefish and Shark Fishery and adjacent waters off New South Wales, is assumed for assessment and management purposes [AFMA 2022].

Here, assessment of stock status is presented at the biological stock level—South Eastern Australia.

South Eastern Australia

This cross jurisdictional stock has components in the Commonwealth and New South Wales. The stock status classification reported here is based on analyses conducted for the SESSF, which includes state catches. 

Historical catches increased from low levels in 1990 to a peak of more than 200 t in 2003. Commonwealth-landed catch dropped in 2005 to about 100 t, following implementation of a TAC, and has remained around this level since then.

In New South Wales, commercial fishery data, including catch of Ribaldo, is available from 2009–10, although in a number of years the data are classified as confidential. The total reported annual commercial catch of Ribaldo has been less than 5 t, with less than 3 t being reported annually in the last seven years and 775 kg reported during 2021–22. Recreational and Indigenous catches of Ribaldo in New South Wales are unknown. Surveys of recreational and Indigenous catches have either not specified catches of Ribaldo [West et al. 2015, Murphy et al. 2022] or reported them into a broader ‘finfish– other’ category [Henry and Lyle 2003]. 

Ribaldo in Commonwealth fisheries is managed as a Tier 4 stock under the Southern and Eastern Scalefish and Shark Fishery (SESSF) Harvest Strategy Framework [AFMA 2021]. The 2020 Tier 4 analysis [Sporcic 2020] informed the management of the stock for the 2021–22 fishing season. 

The 2020 Tier 4 analysis [Sporcic 2020] estimated that the recent average standardised catch-per-unit-effort (CPUE) was above the target reference point and the limit reference point, producing an RBC of 405 t for the 2021–22 fishing season. The above evidence indicates that the biomass of the stock is unlikely to be depleted and that recruitment is unlikely to be impaired.

Commonwealth-landed catch in 2021–22 was 98.4 t, based on catch disposal records. The weighted average of 4 calendar years (2017 to 2020) was calculated and used to estimate discards and state catches of 7.1 t and 1.3 t, respectively [Althaus et al. 2021]. For the 2021–22 fishing season, total catch and discards were estimated to be 106.8 t [Emery et al. 2022], which was below the RBC of 405 t for 2021–22 [Sporcic 2020]. The above evidence indicates that the current level of fishing mortality is unlikely to cause the stock to become recruitment impaired. 

On the basis of the evidence provided above, the South Eastern Australia biological stock is classified as a sustainable stock.

Ribaldo biology [Gomon 2008; Sutton et al. 2010]

Distribution of reported commercial catch of Ribaldo

Commonwealth – Commercial (Management Methods/Catch). Data provided for the Commonwealth align with the Commonwealth Southern and Eastern Scalefish and Shark Fishery for the 2021–22 financial year. 

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 – Indigenous. The Australian government does not manage non-commercial Indigenous fishing in Commonwealth waters, with the exception of Torres Strait. In general, non-commercial Indigenous fishing in Commonwealth waters is managed by the state or territory immediately adjacent to those waters.

New South Wales – Recreational (Catch). Murphy et al. [2022].

New South Wales – Indigenous (Management Methods). https://www.dpi.nsw.gov.au/fishing/aboriginal-fishing

Commercial catch of Ribaldo - note confidential catch not shown

1. AFMA 2021, Harvest strategy framework for the Southern and Eastern Scalefish and Shark Fishery (amended 2021), Australian Fisheries Management Authority, Canberra.
2. AFMA 2022, Southern and Eastern Scalefish and Shark Fishery species summaries 2022, Australian Fisheries Management Authority, Canberra.
3. Althaus, F, Thomson, R and Sutton, C 2021, Southern and Eastern Scalefish and Shark Fishery catches and discards for TAC purposes using data until 2020, CSIRO Oceans and Atmosphere, Hobart.
4. Emery, T, Wright, D, Davis, K, Keller, K, Woodhams, J and Curtotti, R 2022, Commonwealth Trawl and Scalefish Hook sectors, 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.
5. Gomon, MF 2008, Family Moridae. pp. 302-315 in MF Gomon, DJ Bray and RH Kuiter (eds), Fishes of Australia's Southern Coast. Sydney: Reed New Holland 928 pp.
6. Henry, GW and Lyle JM 2003, The National Recreational and Indigenous Fishing Survey. Tasmanian Aquaculture and Fisheries Institute, Hobart. FRDC 99/158.
7. Murphy, JJ, Ochwada-Doyle, FA, West, LD, Stark, KE, Hughes, JM and Taylor, MD 2022, Survey of recreational fishing in NSW, 2019/20 – Key Results.  NSW DPI – Fisheries Final Report Series No. 161. ISSN 2204-8669.
8. Sporcic 2020, Draft tier 4 assessments for selected SESSF species (data to 2019), CSIRO Oceans and Atmosphere, Hobart.
9. Sutton, CP, Tracey, DM, Andrews, AH, Hart, AC and MacGibbon, DJ 2010, Validated age and growth of ribaldo (Mora moro). New Zealand Fish. Assess. Rep. 2010/24. 26 pp.
10. West, LD, Stark, KE, Murphy, JJ, Lyle JM and Doyle, FA 2015, Survey of recreational fishing in New South Wales and the ACT, 2013/14. Fisheries Final Report Series.