| Summary | The Nototodarus gouldi (Gould’s Flying Squid) and Nototodarus sloanii (Wellington Flying Squid) species of arrow squid are very similar biologically, and are managed as one species. |
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| Project | SESMAD |
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| Subtype | Natural Resource Unit |
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| Sector | Fisheries (Stock-specific) |
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| Biotic | Yes |
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| Explanation | |
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| Commons Aggregation | Population |
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| Explanation | |
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| Commons Boundaries | Somewhat unclear boundaries (2) |
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| Explanation | Both species are found over the continental shelf in water up to 500 m depth, though they are most prevalent in water less than 300 m depth. N. sloanii is found off the south-east coast of the North Island, off the west coast of the South Island and as far north as Cape Egmont on the west coast of the North Island (where it forms less than 10% of the arrow squid catch), off the east coast of the South Island, on the Chatham Rise and off the Snares and Auckland Islands (Smith et al. 1987). N. gouldi Distribution: Around New Zealand the species is found off the east and west coasts of the North Island, and the central, north-west, and north-east coasts of the South Island as far south as Banks Peninsula: Fig. 5 (Smith 1985). It is most frequently caught between 50- 300 m and juveniles are most abundant at about 100 m (Mattlin et al. 1985) (Smith et al. 1987). When found, are patchy. More unclear than clear. |
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| Commons Indicator | [""] |
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| Explanation | No. Can't be. Not enough information known about the species.
Considered keystone species in ecosystem, but cannot be used to indicate. |
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| Commons Unit Size | Small (2) |
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| Explanation | Max 42 cm mantle length and 1400 g (Smith et al. 1987) |
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| Environmental Medium | Oceanic |
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| Explanation | |
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| Inter Annual Predictability | Low (1) |
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| Explanation | It is not practical to predict future stock size in advance of the fishing season (MF 2009). There are no estimates of current or reference biomass available and there is no reliable method to estimate yields from the squid fishery before the fishing season begins. This is partly because squid are assumed to live for approximately one year and partly because there are no surveys of squid abundance. |
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| Intra Annual Predictability | Low (1) |
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| Explanation | Weak assessment, but generally can tell early on if going to be a good year. There are models for such prediction, but they are fairly new and have not been proven successful. |
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| Commons Renewability | Renewable (1) |
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| Explanation | Reproduces quickly. |
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| Productivity | Very productive (3) |
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| Explanation | Important distributor of energy throughout system. Reproduces quickly and in large numbers. New Zealand arrow squid one of few species in New Zealand that is considered very high productivity (Operational Guidelines). |
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| Commons Accessibility | Somewhat accessible (2) |
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| Explanation | Somewhat accessible being that the vessels are equipped to handle the tough conditions. But some years are more accessible than other years, for whatever reason (climate, ocean fronts). In southern waters. very tough fishing conditions. Factory trawlers are set up to withstand. Small vessels and jigging vessels could not. |
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| Commons Heterogeneity | High (3) |
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| Explanation | Quite patchy – Smith et al 1987 – different subpopulations – Fig 5 shows just how patchy. |
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| Commons Mobility | Medium (2) |
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| Explanation | Tagging experiments indicate that arrow squid can travel on average about 1.1 km per day with a range of 0.14–5.6 km per day (MF 2009). Both species in New Zealand are thought to migrate to shallower water to spawn. N gouldi is capable of prolonged and extensive swimming. They have been recorded travelling 193km in four days during a mark-recapture experiment (Sato & Hatanaka, 1983). However, they do not seem to undertake any lengthy migrations. It is possible that they migrate on and off the continental shelf. This has been shown for other ommastrephid squid species (Hatfield & Rodhouse, 1994). No mark–recapture experiments have been run using N. sloanii, however as the congeners are similar in morphology it is assumed that N. sloanii has a similar mobility to N. gouldi (McKinnon 2007). Forages in mesopelagic waters (Dunn 2009). Juveniles found near surface to <200 m depth. |
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| Commons Spatial Extent | 4249084 |
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| Explanation | AREA: 4,517,105 km2 – LAND (268,021km2) = 4,249,084 km2
Nabis Map (MPI 2016) |
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| Technical Substitute | No |
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| Explanation | No technical substitute |
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