Characterisation and CPUE for the red gurnard fishery in GUR 2 from 1989 to 2023

An updated characterisation and catch-per-unit-effort (CPUE) analysis for the GUR 2 fishery suggests little change in this fishery since the previous analysis in 2016, other than a decline in catch during 20212023. The majority of the commercial catch is taken by bottom trawl effort targeting red gurnard, with tarakihi target trawl effort taking around a third of the catch.

The CPUE-based abundance index suggests that abundance declined during 2020–2021 and has been at or about the BMSY compatible target reference from 2021 to 2023, with reduced relative exploitation rates due to the reduced catch.

Spatial residuals from an event-level CPUE model suggest that gurnard were concentrated in the deeper areas of Hawke Bay during 2016–2018, but their distribution expanded to nearer shore areas during 2019–2021. A move back to deeper areas, including south of Hawke Bay, is apparent in 2022 and 2023, but a lack of fishing in northern inshore parts of Hawke Bay in 2023 implies that in is difficult to determine the extent to which this change may have been influenced by the effects of Cyclone Gabrielle in February 2023. Higher catch rates evident in CPUE analyses that include effort from the deeper tarakihi target fishery support the hypothesis of a shift in gurnard distribution to deeper areas in 2022 and 2023.