Commercial Catch and Effort
State-wide catch in 2021/22 was estimated at 26.8 t. The total catch in the TAC area was 24.4 t (1.7 t from the north-east coast (Area 1), 10.8 t from the east coast (Area 2) and 11.9 t from the south-east coast (Area 3)), which represented 68.2% of the 2021/22 TAC of 35.8 t (i.e., a TAC under-catch of 31.8%). The unusually high under-catch was due to the continued deflated market condition during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2021/22. The total catch outside of the TAC area was 2.3 t. State-wide effort, in terms of both days fished and gear units (100 m net hour), increased due to increased effort in Areas 2 and 3. Catch increased in Area 2 and decreased in Areas 1 and 3 while standardised catch per unit effort (CPUE) in the TAC area decreased by 24% relative to 2020/21.
