Regrowth of pilchard ( Sardinops sagax ) stocks off southern WA following the mass mortality event of 1998 / 99 Final FRDC Report – Project 2000 / 135

Regrowth of pilchard (Sardinops sagax) stocks off southern WA following the mass mortality event of 1998/99 Final FRDC Report – Project 2000/135 may be reproduced by any process, electronic or otherwise, without the specific written permission of the copyright owners. Neither may information be stored electronically in any form whatsoever without such permission. The Fisheries Research and Development Corporation plans, invests in and manages fisheries research and development throughout Australia. It is a statutory authority within the portfolio of the federal Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, jointly funded by the Australian Government and the fishing industry. Figure 1. Extent of the 1995 and 1998/99 mass mortalities of Sardinops sagax around southern Australia from starting points along the central South Australian coast. Latitudes and longitudes are degrees south and east respectively. Figure 2. Purse seine management zones on the south (Zones 1–5) and lower west coasts (West Coast Purse Seine) of Western Australia. Zone 2 is a small inshore zone that covers King George Sound, the original location for purse seining at Albany. This zone was enacted in recognition of the need to ensure that the Albany purse seine fleet did not overexploit the inshore aggregations Figure 3. The extent of DEPM surveys carried out in purse seine management zone in south–western Australia from 2000–2006.. Figure 6a. Plankton survey area (grey) and pilchard spawning areas (hatched) for DEPM surveys at the Albany region of southwestern Australia in 2001, 2003 and 2005. The larger dots depict sampling stations at which Day 0 pilchard eggs 5 Figure 6b. Plankton survey area (grey) and pilchard spawning areas (hatched) for DEPM surveys at the Bremer Bay region of southwestern Australia in 2001, 2003 and 2005. The larger dots depict sampling stations at which Day 0 pilchard eggs were found.. Figure 6c. Plankton survey area (grey) and pilchard spawning areas (hatched) for DEPM surveys at the Esperance region of southwestern Australia in 2002 and 2004. The larger dots depict sampling stations at which Day 0 pilchard eggs Figure 6d. Plankton survey area (grey) and pilchard spawning areas (hatched) for DEPM surveys at the west coast region of southwestern Australia in 2000, 2002 and 2004. The larger dots depict sampling stations at which Day 0 pilchard eggs Figure 7. DEPM estimates of spawning biomass of pilchards for Albany, Bremer Bay, Esperance and west coast regions between 1991 to 2005. Results are only shown for those years …