Deepwater Chondrichthyan Bycatch of the Eastern King Prawn Fishery in the Southern Great Barrier Reef, Australia

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Abstract

The deepwater chondrichthyan fauna of the Great Barrier Reef is poorly known and life history information is required to enable their effective management as they are inherently vulnerable to exploitation. The chondrichthyan bycatch from the deepwater eastern king prawn fishery at the Swain Reefs in the southern Great Barrier Reef was examined to determine the species present and provide information on their life histories. In all, 1533 individuals were collected from 11 deepwater chondrichthyan species, with the Argus skate Dipturus polyommata, piked spurdog Squalus megalops and pale spotted catshark Asymbolus pallidus the most commonly caught. All but one species is endemic to Australia with five species restricted to waters offshore from Queensland. The extent of life history information available for each species varied but the life history traits across all species were characteristic of deep water chondrichthyans with relatively large length at maturity, small litters and low ovarian fecundity; all indicative of low biological productivity. However, variability among these traits and spatial and bathymetric distributions of the species suggests differing degrees of resilience to fishing pressure. To ensure the sustainability of these bycatch species, monitoring of their catches in the deepwater eastern king prawn fishery is recommended.

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Most cited references 6

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The importance of habitat and life history to extinction risk in sharks, skates, rays and chimaeras.

Marcos V B Garcia, Luis O Lucifora, Jason R. Myers (2008)

We compared life-history traits and extinction risk of chondrichthyans (sharks, rays and chimaeras), a group of high conservation concern, from the three major marine habitats (continental shelves, open ocean and deep sea), controlling for phylogenetic correlation. Deep-water chondrichthyans had a higher age at maturity and longevity, and a lower growth completion rate than shallow-water species. The average fishing mortality needed to drive a deep-water chondrichthyan species to extinction (Fextinct) was 38-58% of that estimated for oceanic and continental shelf species, respectively. Mean values of Fextinct were 0.149, 0.250 and 0.368 for deep-water, oceanic and continental shelf species, respectively. Reproductive mode was an important determinant of extinction risk, while body size had a weak effect on extinction risk. As extinction risk was highly correlated with phylogeny, the loss of species will be accompanied by a loss of phylogenetic diversity. Conservation priority should not be restricted to large species, as is usually suggested, since many small species, like those inhabiting the deep ocean, are also highly vulnerable to extinction. Fishing mortality of deep-water chondrichthyans already exploited should be minimized, and new deep-water fisheries affecting chondrichthyans should be prevented.

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Biological vulnerability of two exploited sharks of the genus Deania (Centrophoridae)

J. STEVENS, S. Irvine, R. K. Daley … (2012)

Life-history parameters of Deania calcea and Deania quadrispinosa suggested that their productivity was very low. Maturity (L(T50) ) occurs at c. 80% of maximum observed total lengths (L(T) ) for both species and sexes. A large proportion of mature females were neither pre-ovulatory nor pregnant, and the reproductive cycle included a distinct resting phase after pregnancy. For D. calcea, mean ovarian fecundity was 12 and maximum observed litter size was 10 (average of six); D. quadrispinosa averaged 17 pups per litter. Birth L(T) was 28-33 cm for D. calcea and 23-25 cm for D. quadrispinosa. The male and female reproductive cycles were aseasonal, and consequently, the length of the reproductive cycle could not be determined. Preliminary ageing data from dorsal-spine growth bands suggested that female D. calcea lived to 31-36 years and males to 24-32 years. The L(T) -at-age data using external bands on the spines showed maturity occurring at 15·5 years (males) and 21·5 years (females), whereas banding on the internal dentine indicated maturity at 10·5 and 17·5 years for males and females. Thus, a female lifetime of 31-36 years allowed for a maximum of 7 litters if a 2 year cycle is assumed or only five litters with a 3 year cycle, resulting in a lifetime fecundity of only 42 pups (2 year cycle) or even lower (3 year cycle).

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Biennial reproductive cycle in an extensive matrotrophic viviparous batoid: the sandyback stingaree Urolophus bucculentus from south-eastern Australia.

F. I. Trinnie, T. I. Walker, P Jones … (2012)

Urolophus bucculentus, the largest urolophid species found in southern Australia, exhibits a biennial reproductive cycle. Ovulation occurs during October to January followed by a 15-19 month period of gestation followed by parturition during April to May and a short rest period while the ovarian follicles continue to develop for subsequent ovulation. Male breeding condition peaks during April to June to coincide with the period of parturition. Urolophus bucculentus has the highest matrotrophic contribution reported for any urolophid species, with a mean wet mass gain from egg in utero (4 g) to full-term embryo in utero (250 g) of c. 6250% (maximum c. 7200%), and perhaps explains the biennial female reproductive cycle where 50% of females contribute to each year's recruitment. Litter size (one to five) increases with total length (L(T) ). Females reach a longer maximum L(T) (L(Tmax) ) than do males (885 v. 660 mm). The L(T) at maturity for males and females at 50% mature (L(T50) ) is c. 414 mm (63% of L(Tmax) ) for males and c. 502 mm (57% of L(Tmax) ) for females, length at maternity indicates that recruitment production occurs later in life at c. 632 mm L(T) (71% of L(Tmax) ).

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Author and article information

Contributors

Covadonga Orejas: Role: Editor

Journal

Journal ID (nlm-ta): PLoS One

Journal ID (iso-abbrev): PLoS ONE

Journal ID (publisher-id): plos

Journal ID (pmc): plosone

Title: PLoS ONE

Publisher: Public Library of Science (San Francisco, CA USA )

ISSN (Electronic): 1932-6203

Publication date (Electronic): 24 May 2016

Publication date Collection: 2016

Volume: 11

Issue: 5

Electronic Location Identifier: e0156036

Affiliations

[1 ]Centre for Sustainable Tropical Fisheries and Aquaculture & College of Marine and Environmental Sciences, James Cook University, Townsville, Queensland, 4811, Australia

[2 ]CSIRO Australian National Fish Collection, National Research Collections Australia, Hobart, Tasmania, 7001, Australia

Instituto Español de Oceanografía, SPAIN

Author notes

Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Conceived and designed the experiments: CLR WTW CAS. Performed the experiments: CLR. Analyzed the data: CLR. Contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools: CLR WTW CAS. Wrote the paper: CLR. Critical revision of manuscript: WTW CAS.

* E-mail: Cassandra.rigby@ 123456my.jcu.edu.au

Article

Publisher ID: PONE-D-15-36239

DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0156036

PMC ID: 4878763

PubMed ID: 27218654

SO-VID: 20872661-b9b2-4179-ad59-a03e2d9cea3f

License:

This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

History

Date received : 17 August 2015

Date accepted : 9 May 2016

Page count

Figures: 6, Tables: 2, Pages: 24

Funding

CLR was supported by an Australian Postgraduate Award, and the Oceania Chondrichthyan Society and Passions of Paradise provided funding via a Student Research Award ( http://oceaniasharks.org.au/). Water temperature data was sourced from the Integrated Marine Observing System (IMOS) - IMOS is supported by the Australian Government through the National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy and the Super Science Initiative. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.

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Data Availability All relevant data are within the paper and its Supporting Information files.

Deepwater Chondrichthyan Bycatch of the Eastern King Prawn Fishery in the Southern Great Barrier Reef, Australia

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Most cited references 6

The importance of habitat and life history to extinction risk in sharks, skates, rays and chimaeras.

Biological vulnerability of two exploited sharks of the genus Deania (Centrophoridae)

Biennial reproductive cycle in an extensive matrotrophic viviparous batoid: the sandyback stingaree Urolophus bucculentus from south-eastern Australia.

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