East Torres Strait Sea Cucumber Survey 2005

The reefs of east Torres Strait were surveyed in in January 2005, visiting 123 sites from the previous survey in 2002; density estimates for each species in the fishery were compared to previous surveys to calculate density trends. These surveys were designed to provide information on the stock status of fished species and recovery of depleted species. The results of the surveys showed that the three closed species, sandfish, black teatfish and surf redfish, had not recovered from their low densities observed in previous surveys. Sandfish density actually decreased to similar levels as in 1998, when the fishery was closed. While most of the decrease occurred in the juvenile sandfish population, the adult sandfish population had also declined since the previous survey in 2002. This result was quite unexpected given the relatively strong breeding cohort evident in 2002.