Seafood to Avoid Scampi Scientific name: Metanephrops challengeri Other names: NZ scampi, kaisersgranat (Germany), langoustine-de-NZ (France) Ranking: E (Red - Worst Choice)

Icon Explanations

The main concerns with this fishery are: the high level of bycatch, the impact of the fishery on marine biodiversity, the unknown sustainability of recent catch levels and limits in all of the larger quota management areas, the uncertainty about stock boundaries, and the absence of a management plan.

The fishery assessment plenary report states: That for all the larger quota management areas: There are no stock assessments or yield estimates for any scampi stock. It is not known if recent catches and current catch limits for any scampi stock is sustainable in the long term or will allow the stock to move towards a size which will support the maximum sustainable yield." (MFish 2007, p773).

Market: Export value of $11.825 million in 2004.

Status and sustainable yield
Status: Unknown.
Annual catch limit: Total catch limit of 1,291 tonnes set in 2004-05.
Recorded catch: Reported landings of 872 tonnes in 2005-06.
Population size: Unknown other than for areas subject to underwater photographic surveys in the Bay of Plenty.
Stock trends: Declining catch rates in SCI1 and SCI2 was substantially undercaught.

Fishing method
Method: Bottom trawling with fine mesh gear.
Habitat damage: Trawls scrape the seabed impacting on a range of non-target species. For example, over 1,100 km2 is swept by trawlers in the Bay of Plenty each year which is one of the smaller scampi fisheries (Cryer et al 2002).
Bycatch: here is a high level of up to five times the target catch of a range of quota and non-quota species. Around the Auckland Islands threatened NZ sea lions are occasionally caught as well as observed captures of globally threatened black-browed, Salvin's and white-capped (shy) albatrosses and sooty and flesh-footed shearwaters.
Ecological effects: Reduces deepwater biodiversity and may modify the structure of the deepwater marine community.

Management
Stock assessment: No completed quantitative assessment.
Management plan: No.
Quota Management Species: Introduced on 1 October in 2004.

Biology
Distribution: Widely distributed around New Zealand at depths of 200-750m on the continental slope.
Maximum age (years): 15 (approx.)
Age at sexual maturity: 3-4
Growth rate: Moderate.
Reproductive output: Low to moderate (females carry only a few tens to a very few hundred eggs).
Age exploited: 3-4

This page was updated on 9 November, 2007