Relationship To Humans
Stout whiting, like most of the smelt-whitings are considered to be good quality table fish, although have soft flesh which results in a tendency to bruise easily. Due to their mostly offshore nature and small size, they are rarely targeted or caught by recreational fishermen, who take an estimated 1 tonne per year. They are however are a major target for commercial operators, especially in southern Queensland. The Queensland fishery originated in 1981, after a single operator began targeting eastern school whiting, S. flindersi. It was soon discovered that stout whiting were highly abundant in the surrounding region and the fishery began to shift towards the species. The original operator who realised the potential of the fishery continued after the market took a downfall, upgrading equipment with a new snap freezing facility, which became essential for exporting the fish. There was a rapid expansion in the fishery between 1989 and 1990, with 10 operators recording a 1789 tonne haul in 1990. In 1991 the market once again took a downfall due to low demand, and the fishery is now closely monitored by fishery authorities, with a 1000 tonne limit on the total yearly catch in place since 2000. This limit includes the fish taken as bycatch in other fisheries such as prawn trawling, which means often a sizable amount must be discarded.
In New South Wales, stout whiting were mostly discarded by trawlers until an export market developed in the 1970s. Substantial amounts are taken and mostly discarded by prawn trawlers, and the catch has been stable at around 300-500 tonnes per year since 2000. The western population is not highly exploited.
The fishery is worth a reported 3 million Australian dollars annually (around $2.80 per kg in 1999), with the fish exported to Thailand, China, Vietnam, Japan and Taiwan. These exported fish compete with local Asian sillaginids, especially northern whiting and Japanese whiting, resulting in substantial price fluctuations. Few fish make their way to local markets where they are sold as butterfly fillets.
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