This project produces annual fisheries assessments from the logbook data provided by DPIPWE for the Octopus pallidus fishery.
The Tasmanian commercial fishery primarily targets Octopus pallidus utilising unbaited pots in waters north of latitude 41° South, with lesser catches of Octopus tetricus and Octopus maorum.
Management of the fishery is made more complex due to the life history characteristics of Octopus pallidus. It has an average life expectancy of 12 – 18 months and a semelparous life history strategy, meaning it dies shortly after reproducing.
It is therefore likely that generations are non-overlapping, which reduces the stock's resilience to recruitment failure.
Octopus pallidus is also holobenthic, which means it has benthic hatchlings that adopt an adult lifestyle after hatching, reducing their dispersal capability.
Genetic studies to date have identified that the Octopus pallidus stock is highly structured, with discrete subpopulations (< 100 km apart) in Bass Strait, increasing the potential for localised depletion.
The stock status of the species is currently assessed using a combination of catch, effort and catch rate data from the logbook and a randomised 50-pot sample.
Project Publications
André, J., Grist, E.P.M., Semmens, J.M., Pecl, G.T. & Segawa, S. 2009, "Effects of temperature on energetics and the growth pattern of benthic octopuses", Marine Ecology Progress Series, vol. 374, pp. 167-179.
André, J., Pecl, G.T., Semmens, J.M. & Grist, E.P.M. 2008, "Early life-history processes in benthic octopus: Relationships between temperature, feeding, food conversion, and growth in juvenile Octopus pallidus", Journal of experimental marine biology and ecology, vol. 354, no. 1, pp. 81-92.
Doubleday, Z., Semmens, J.M., Pecl, G. & Jackson, G. 2006, "Assessing the validity of stylets as ageing tools in Octopus pallidus", Journal of experimental marine biology and ecology, vol. 338, no. 1, pp. 35-42.
Doubleday, Z.A., Pecl, G.T., Semmens, J.M. & Danyushevsky, L. 2008, "Stylet elemental signatures indicate population structure in a holobenthic octopus species, Octopus pallidus", Marine Ecology Progress Series, vol. 371, pp. 1-10.
Doubleday, Z.A. & Semmens, J.M. 2011, "Quantification of the age-pigment lipofuscin in known-age octopus (Octopus pallidus): A potential tool for age determination", Journal of experimental marine biology and ecology, vol. 397, no. 1, pp. 8-12.
Emery, T.J., Hartmann, K. & Gardner, C. 2016, "Management issues and options for small scale holobenthic octopus fisheries", Ocean and Coastal Management, vol. 120, pp. 180-188.
Higgins, K.L. & Burridge, C.P. 2012, "Development of eight polymorphic microsatellite loci in the cephalopod Octopus pallidus", Conservation Genetics Resources, vol. 4, no. 1, pp. 97-99.
Higgins, K.L., Semmens, J.M., Doubleday, Z.A. & Burridge, C.P. 2013, "Comparison of population structuring in sympatric octopus species with and without a pelagic larval stage", Marine Ecology Progress Series, vol. 486, pp. 203-212.
Leporati, S.C., Pecl, G.T. & Semmens, J.M. 2008, "Reproductive status of Octopus pallidus, and its relationship to age and size", Marine Biology, vol. 155, no. 4, pp. 375-385.
Leporati, S.C., Semmens, J.M. & Pecl, G.T. 2008, "Determining the age and growth of wild octopus using stylet increment analysis", Marine Ecology Progress Series, vol. 367, pp. 213-222.
Leporati, S.C., Ziegler, P.E., & Semmens, J.M. 2008, "Assessing the stock status of holobenthic octopus fisheries: is catch per unit effort sufficient", ICES Journal of Marine Science, vol. 66, no. 3, pp. 478-487.
Pecl, G.T., Doubleday, Z.A., Danyushevsky, L., Gilbert, S. & Moltschaniwskyj, N.A. 2010, "Transgenerational marking of cephalopods with an enriched barium isotope: A promising tool for empirically estimating post-hatching movement and population connectivity", ICES Journal of Marine Science, vol. 67, no. 7, pp. 1372-1380.
Semmens, J., Doubleday, Z., Hoyle, K. & Pecl, G. 2011, "A multilevel approach to examining cephalopod growth using Octopus pallidus as a model", Journal of Experimental Biology, vol. 214, no. 16, pp. 2799-2807.
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