Yellow-eyed mullet
Introduction
Yellow-eyed mullet is a schooling finfish species that occurs commonly in shallow coastal waters, estuaries and lower river systems of New Zealand, Norfolk Island and south and west Australia.
In New Zealand yellow-eyed mullet are found from North Cape to Stewart Island, most commonly in sheltered harbours and estuarine ecosystems. Some of these habitats are known to have suffered environmental degradation. This has had an unknown effect on yellow-eyed mullet.
Biology
Yellow-eyed mullet are a fast growing, short lived species. Research indicates the age at first spawning is approximately 3 years and the maximum age is likely to be 7 years.
The stock structure of yellow-eyed mullet in New Zealand waters is unknown. Yellow-eyed mullet appear to leave their estuarine habitat to spawn in coastal waters over the summer, from late December to mid-March. There is no information available on the age of recruitment into the estuarine systems of New Zealand waters.
Within estuaries and river systems, yellow-eyed mullet are separated to some extent by age, with older fish preferring more saline water and juveniles sometimes found in freshwater.
Catches
Most of the commercial catch of yellow-eyed mullet in recent years has been taken from YEM 1 and YEM 9, around the top half of the North Island east and west coasts.
Yellow-eyed mullet are targeted using fine (55-65mm) mesh set nets and ring nets in shallow coastal waters. In YEM 9 most of the catch is taken from the Manukau Harbour.
Table 1: Total Allowable Catches (TACs), Total Allowable Commercial Catches (TACCs) and allowances for yellow-eyed mullet, in tonnes (t).
| Fishstock | Recreational allowance | Māori customary allowance | Other mortality | TACC | TAC |
| YEM 1 | 15 | 15 | 0 | 20 | 50 |
| YEM 2 | 8 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 14 |
| YEM 3 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 8 | 14 |
| YEM 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| YEM 5 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| YEM 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| YEM 7 | 10 | 5 | 0 | 5 | 20 |
| YEM 8 | 10 | 5 | 0 | 3 | 18 |
| YEM 9 | 4 | 4 | 1 | 17 | 26 |
| TOTAL | 52 | 36 | 1 | 55 | 144 |
Stock status
There is no information available to determine the stock structure of yellow-eyed mullet in New Zealand waters. No estimates of stock abundance are available for yellow-eyed mullet. No biomass estimates are available for any yellow-eyed mullet stocks. It is not known if recent catch levels are sustainable.