Future quality and sustainability of NZ snapper investigated

Future quality and sustainability of NZ snapper being investigated

Improvements in the quality and sustainability of snapper, one of New Zealand’s most popular fish, are being investigated by University of Canterbury scientists.

The research by biological sciences researcher Dr Sarah Coxon will have implications for better commercial harvesting of New Zealand snapper.

During the trawling for snapper, the exercise physiology of fish, in particular their maximum sustainable swimming speed, helps determine whether they are caught within the nets, as well as their physical condition when landed on the fishing vessel. This in turn has significant implications for both the quality of fish as a food product, and for survival of juvenile fish that are discarded as bycatch.

Dr Coxon has been studying snapper swimming in a laboratory swimming flume to gauge the maximum swimming speed a fish could sustain, much like a “beep test” for fish. This information is important as it indicates how fish may react when caught in a trawl net. The study also explored how swimming capacity could change between fish of different size, or with changes in water temperature or oxygen content.

Dr Coxon says her research, supervised by Professor Bill Davison, is aimed at promoting improvements in the quality and sustainability of New Zealand’s snapper fishery. Snapper is highly regarded as an export-quality fish.

“Global fish stocks are becoming increasingly vulnerable to the effects of overfishing. The Food and Agricultural Organisation of the United Nations considers some 80 percent of the world’s fish stocks to be maximally- or over-exploited.

“In New Zealand, fisheries are one of our largest export earners and were valued at $1.26 billion in the 2010-2011 season. Expansion of the fisheries sector has the potential to be of significant benefit to the New Zealand economy; however, industry growth is constrained by an inability to continually increase catch size and alternative ways to add value to the existing catch must be found.

“This can be achieved by improving the quality of the existing catch, allowing it to command a higher price, reducing waste during processing, extending shelf-life and allowing the development of premium products. Improvements in sustainability may also add value by reducing the effective footprint of fishing activity and possibly permitting an increase in catch limits in the future.

“Plant and Food Research, in collaboration with the University of Canterbury, is investigating ways in which commercial fishing can be refined to yield a better quality catch and improved sustainability. My research contributes to that by looking at the physiological capacities of fish and the consequences of capture which are essential to make meaningful refinements of harvesting technologies,” Dr Coxon says.

ENDS

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