This record provides an overview of the NESP Marine and Coastal Hub Research Plan 2023 project "Assessing changes in black rockcod abundance and size". For specific data outputs from this project, please see child records associated with this metadata.

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The black rockcod (Epinephelus daemelii) is a long-lived, reef-dwelling species listed as Vulnerable under Commonwealth and NSW legislation. In Australia it occurs along the coast of New South Wales, including at Lord Howe Island. Although protected from fishing in NSW since 1983, the species is vulnerable to illegal take, incidental capture, barotrauma-related mortality, and degradation of nursery habitats. Long-term monitoring is a high priority for assessing whether recovery actions and spatial protections are improving population status.

This project repeated the broadscale baseline survey of black rockcod across northern NSW and Lord Howe Island, extending a monitoring program that began in 2009–2011 and included smaller key-site surveys every four to five years. Divers surveyed reef sites, photographed and filmed individual fish, recorded habitat and depth, and estimated fish lengths, including with stereo-video where possible. Additional local field capability was built through Indigenous engagement and community-based monitoring activities.

These survey outputs contributed to a 15-year time series (2009-2024) on abundance, occupancy, size structure, habitat associations, and spatial distribution of black rockcod. The results indicated continued low abundance across the species’ surveyed range, while also identifying larger mature individuals and higher abundances in some no-take sanctuary zones. The long-term dataset provided evidence for assessing recovery actions and sanctuary zone effectiveness, informs future monitoring priorities, and supports potential reassessment of the species’ threatened status.

Outputs

• Black rockcod underwater visual census (UVC) data [dataset]

• Final project report [written]