Salilota australis

Abstract

This widely distributed, demersal species has an estimated generation length of 10 years. It is a valued bycatch species retained in bottom trawl fisheries throughout its range. Exploitation of spawning aggregations increases the susceptibility of this species to declines. On the Pacific coast, catch has declined, however, this is reflective of declines in effort caused by fishery regulations that reduced the number of fishing vessels. On the Atlantic coast, it is not currently considered overfished, and catches in recent years have been low. Due to the lack of fishery independent survey data, biomass estimates are conducted under data-poor conditions, which causes high uncertainty. The currently available biomass estimates show it has declined or fluctuated widely over much of the past three generation lengths with a slightly increasing trend in recent years. It is not completely understood whether fishing effort will remain the same or decline, but some regulations have been implemented to reduce fishing effort on the spawning grounds. Due to the potential major threat from fishing, and that there has been some poorly understood level of global population decline since the 1990s, it is listed as Data Deficient. Fishery independent surveys are needed as well as research on population structure.