Minor Octopus Commercial Catch

In addition to Pale Octopus targeted by the Tasmanian Octopus Fishery and fishers operating under developmental permits, Māori Octopus (Macroctopus maorum), Gloomy Octopus (Octopus tetricus), and Pale Octopus (Octopus pallidus) are landed in Tasmanian waters predominantly as by-product by the Scalefish Fishery, the Rock Lobster Fishery, and the Tasmanian Octopus Fishery. Historically, a targeted fishery for Māori Octopus existed in Eaglehawk Bay. See here for a more detailed overview of octopus fishing in Tasmania.

In cases where landed octopus where not recorded to species level, we made the simplistic but realistic assumption that these are primarily Māori Octopus. However, for transparency, data with no species name have been assessed and presented here as ‘Octopus, unidentified’.