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Eastern School Whiting
Latin name: Sillago flindersi
Common name: Whiting
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Wild Caught
Region:
NSW
- Eastern school whiting is a fast-growing species of fish found only around southeastern Australia caught by bottom trawl fishing methods in NSW.
- Eastern school whiting populations are around healthy levels, but recent catches have exceeded sustainable levels and overfishing may be occurring.
- The accidental catch of threatened and endangered species like endemic sharks and rays is a major issue in Australian trawl fisheries. In NSW, there is low confidence in the accuracy of fisher reports of low levels of interactions considering the high fishing effort and a significant threat to vulnerable species cannot be discounted.
- Marine parks in NSW provide the most effective science based protection from the significant ecological risks posed by trawling, but alarmingly, at the time of writing, the NSW Government was considering opening highly protected marine parks to fishing.
- NSW Ocean Trawl Fishery (1,039t in 2019/20)
Eastern School Whiting are found in oceanic waters from southern Queensland to eastern Victoria and Tasmania from coastal sandflats to depths of >100m, where it is found over sandy substrates. Commercial fisheries operate in NSW and Victorian Commonwealth-managed waters, using Danish Seine and, in NSW, primarily bottom trawl fishing methods.
Eastern school whiting populations are around healthy levels, though there is concern fishing pressure in NSW exceeded sustainable levels in recent years. This may potentially lead to overfishing if not addressed in future.
Key ongoing concerns include the poor management of threatened and endangered species caught as bycatch and a high level of discards and byproducts caught. Fisher reporting of this bycatch is not considered reliable and observer coverage is inadequate.
Bycatch is thought to include white sharks, scalloped hammerhead and grey nurse sharks, seahorses and pipefish and green turtles. The fishery also operates in a region identified as an extinction-risk ‘hotspot’ for endemic sharks and rays like the whitefin swell shark, but there are no fishing rules in place to halt their decline.
In reporting provided by the NSW Department of Primary Industries (DPI) in 2021 as part of the accreditation to export overseas, no threatened and endangered species bycatch was reported for two of the five most recent fishing years.This reporting is considered an unlikely reflection of the fishery’s real impacts.
At the time of writing, a research observer program had been completed based on data from 2017-19, but this data has not been published so it is not possible to understand the impact of the fishery.
Bycatch species that are not endangered or threatened, and discards are not required to be reported in the Ocean Trawl Fishery, from which the majority of the Eastern School Whiting catch comes in NSW.
The trawl gear used poses moderate risks to seafloor habitats. Fishery managers have trialed trawl gear designs that could reduce disturbance impacts but it is unclear whether these designs will be introduced to the entire fishery. There is a lack of understanding of the impacts on habitats and ecosystems due to a lack of investment in research by managers.
Marine parks in NSW provide the most effective science based protection from the significant ecological risks posed by trawling, but alarmingly, at the time of writing, the NSW Government was considering opening highly protected marine parks to fishing.
