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Common Jack Mackerel (2023)

Trachurus declivis

  • Rocio Noriega (Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences)
  • Gretchen Grammer (South Australian Research and Development Institute)
  • John Stewart (New South Wales Department of Primary Industries)
  • Tim Ward (Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies, University of Tasmania)

Date Published: June 2023

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Summary

Australia's two Common Jack Mackerel stocks are sustainable. The eastern stock extends from southern Queensland to south-eastern Tasmania and most of the catch is taken off southern NSW. The western stock extends from Bass Strait to south-western Western Australia and is not fished extensively.

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Stock Status Overview

Stock status determination
Jurisdiction Stock Stock status Indicators
South Australia Western Sustainable Catch, effort, spawning biomass, exploitation rate
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Stock Structure

The stock structure of Common Jack Mackerel is uncertain [Bulman et al. 2015]. Richardson [1982] found evidence of population subdivision between Western Australia, including the Great Australia Bight, and eastern Australia. However, Daily Egg Production Method (DEPM) surveys suggest that Common Jack Mackerel spawns throughout Bass Strait and that separation of Eastern and Western stocks may occur around the Bonney Coast [AFMA 2017]. Richardson [1982] also found evidence of multiple populations among east coast samples, suggesting some additional structuring. Smolenski et al. [1994] also found evidence of structuring between New South Wales and south-eastern Tasmania, although the differences were not temporally consistent. These studies suggest that further investigation of stock structure in Common Jack Mackerel is warranted. Currently, Common Jack Mackerel in the Commonwealth Small Pelagic Fishery (SPF) is assessed and managed as separate stocks in the eastern and western subareas [Bulman et al. 2008]. 

Here, assessment of the stock status is presented at the biological stock level—Eastern and Western.

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Stock Status

Western

The Western stock of Common Jack mackerel is caught in the Commonwealth managed SPF, and in Tasmanian, Victorian and South Australian fisheries. Stock status classification takes account of catches in all jurisdictions.

Commonwealth catches of 643 and 700 t were taken from the western stock in 2015–16 and 2016–17 respectively. The only Commonwealth catch from the Western stock between 2017–18 and 2021–22 was 12 t in 2019–20 [Noriega et al. 2022].

Catches (Tasmania, South Australia, and Victoria) are not available for 2021–22 and have usually been small and confidential for the preceding five years.

Small recreational catches of the Western stock are taken in waters off Tasmania, Victoria and South Australia.

The Commonwealth manages Common Jack Mackerel under a harvest strategy that has been tested using MSE [AFMA 2017] that includes ecosystem and population modelling [Smith et al. 2015]. Exploitation rates applied to each SPF species provide a high likelihood that stocks will be maintained, on average, at the target reference point of 50% of the unfished biomass, with a less than 10% chance over 50 years of falling below the limit reference point of 20% of the unfished biomass.

A spawning biomass of at least 34,978 t was estimated for the Western stock using the DEPM in 2016–17 [AFMA 2017, Ward et al. 2018]. Based on the most recent estimate of spawning biomass for the western stock and applying the exploitation rate of 12% for Common Jack Mackerel in the SPF harvest strategy, the 2021–22 RBC was set at 4,197 t [AFMA 2021]. After factoring in state catches, the TAC for the SPF was set at 4,180 t.

Recent catches of the Western stock have been low and are well below the RBC calculated using the harvest strategy. This level of fishing mortality is unlikely to have substantially reduced spawning biomass. 

The above evidence indicates that the biomass of this stock is unlikely to be depleted and that recruitment is unlikely to be impaired. Furthermore, 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 Western biological stock of Common Jack Mackerel is classified as a sustainable stock.

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Biology

Common Jack Mackerel biology [Lyle et al. 2000; Marshall et al. 1993; Webb 1976; Ward and Grammer 2018]

Biology
Species Longevity / Maximum Size Maturity (50 per cent)
Common Jack Mackerel 17 years, 470 mm FL 5–6 years, 315 mm FL 
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Distributions

Distribution of reported commercial catch of Common Jack Mackerel

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Tables

Fishing methods
South Australia
Commercial
Unspecified

Commonwealth – Commercial (Catch). Commonwealth data are presented for 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 the 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 – Indigenous (Management methods). https://www.dpi.nsw.gov.au/fishing/aboriginal-fishing.

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Catch Chart

Commercial catch of Common Jack Mackerel - note confidential catch not shown

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References

  1. AFMA 2009, Small Pelagic Fishery Management Plan 2009, Australian Fisheries Management Authority, Canberra, Federal Register of Legislative Instruments F2010L00081, 51 pp.
  2. AFMA 2017, Small Pelagic Fishery harvest strategy, June 2008, last revised April 2017, Australian Fisheries Management Authority, Canberra.
  3. AFMA 2021, Species summaries 2021, Small Pelagic Fishery (SPF), SPFRAG Comments December 07 2020, Australian Fisheries Management Authority, Canberra.
  4. Bulman, C, Condie, S, Findlay, J, Ward, B and Young, J 2008, Management zones from small pelagic fish species stock structure in southern Australian waters, Final report to the Fisheries Research and Development Corporation and Australian Fisheries Management Authority (FRDC Project No 2006/076), CSIRO, Hobart, Australia.
  5. Bulman, C, Fulton, EA and Smith, ADM 2015, Jack mackerel stock structure in the SPF, CSIRO, Hobart.
  6. Grammer, GL, Ward, TM and Durante, LM 2022, Commonwealth Small Pelagic Fishery: Fishery Assessment Report 2019-2021. Report for the Australian Fisheries Management Authority. South Australian Research and Development Institute (Aquatic Sciences), Adelaide. SARDI Publication No. F2010/000270-10. SARDI Research Report Series No. 1021
  7. Grammer, GL, Ward, TM and Durante, LM 2022, Commonwealth Small Pelagic Fishery: Fishery Assessment Report 2019-2021. Report for the Australian Fisheries Management Authority. South Australian Research and Development Institute (Aquatic Sciences), Adelaide. SARDI Publication No. F2010/000270-10. SARDI Research Report Series No. 1021.
  8. Kailola, PJ, Williams, MJ, Stewart, PC, Reichelt, RE, McNee, A and Grieve, C 1993, Australian fisheries resources, Bureau of Rural Sciences and Fisheries Research and Development Corporation, Canberra.
  9. Lyle, JM, Krusic-Golub, K and Morison, AK 2000, Age and growth of Jack Mackerel and the age structure of the Jack Mackerel purse seine catch, final report to the Fisheries Research and Development Corporation, project 1995/034, FRDC, Canberra.
  10. Marshall, J, Pullen, G and Jordan, A 1993, Reproductive biology and sexual maturity of female Jack Mackerel, Trachurus declivis (Jenyns), in eastern Tasmanian waters, Australian Journal of Marine and Freshwater Research, 44: 799–809.
  11. Noriega, R, Davis, K and Dylewski, M 2022, Small Pelagic 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.
  12. Richardson, BJ 1982, The geographical distribution of electrophoretically detected protein variation in Australian commercial fishes. I. The Jack Mackerel (Trachurus declivis Jenyns), Australian Journal of Marine and Freshwater Research, 33: 917–926.
  13. Sharples, R, Cresswell, K, Hartmann, K and Krueck, N 2023,Tasmanian Scalefish Fishery Assessment 2021/22, Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies, University of Tasmania.
  14. Smith, ADM, Ward, T, Hurtado, F, Klaer, N, Fulton, E and Punt, AE 2015, Review and update of harvest strategy settings for the Commonwealth Small Pelagic Fishery: Single species and ecosystem considerations, Final Report of FRDC Project No. 2013/028, CSIRO Oceans and Atmosphere Flagship, Hobart, 74 pp.
  15. Smolenski, AJ, Ovenden, JR and White, RWG 1994, Preliminary investigation of mitochondrial DNA variation in Jack Mackerel (Trachurus declivis, Carangidae) from south-eastern Australian waters, Australian Journal of Marine and Freshwater Research, 45: 495–505.
  16. Ward, TM and Grammer, GL 2018, Commonwealth Small Pelagic Fishery: Fishery Assessment Report 2017, Report to the Australian Fisheries Management Authority, South Australian Research and Development Institute (Aquatic Sciences), Adelaide, SARDI Publication No. F2010/000270-9, SARDI Research Report Series No. 982, 114 pp.
  17. Ward, TM, Grammer, GL, Ivey, AR and Keane, J 2020, Spawning biomass of Jack Mackerel (Trachurus declivis) in the East sub-area of the Small Pelagic Fishery during summer 2019, Report to the Australian Fisheries Management Authority, South Australian Research and Development Institute (Aquatic Sciences), Adelaide, SARDI Publication No. F2020/000206-01, 42 pp.
  18. Ward, TM, Grammer, GL, Ivey, AR, Smart, JJ and Keane, P 2018, Spawning biomass of Jack Mackerel (Trachurus declivis) and Sardine (Sardinops sagax) between western Kangaroo Island, South Australia and south-western Tasmania, Report to the Australian Fisheries Management Authority, South Australian Research and Development Institute (Aquatic Sciences), Adelaide, SARDI Publication No. F2018/000174-1, SARDI Research Report Series No. 983, 51 pp.
  19. Webb, BF 1976, Aspects of the biology of Jack Mackerel Trachurus declivis (Jenyns) from south east Australian waters, Tasmanian Fisheries Research, 10: 1–17.

Downloadable reports

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