Resources / Fishing

The wild-fishery KPIs that protect your quota and margin.

In a quota fishery you can't grow the catch: the ceiling is fixed and the stock is shared. Returns come from a different place: lifting the value of every kilo, working the season smartly, and fishing so the biomass keeps rebuilding. The right benchmarks are how you find that headroom.

FV Cape Pillar
FV Cape Pillar · 40 potsJasus edwardsii8.0 t ITQ quotaAreas 5 & 6 · south2025–26 quota year
01 / Catch & effort
Abundance 1.35 kg/potlift

Catch per unit effort

Kilograms of lobster landed per pot lift — the fishery's core index of abundance and the truest read on how the stock is fishing.

Industry target 1.2 1.35 0.9 Mar Aug Feb
kg/potlift by month · vs target
Output 100%

Quota utilisation

How much of your individual transferable quota you actually landed and sold — every uncaught kilo is margin left in the water.

Quota held · 8.0 t Landed · 8.0 t Sold live · 7.6 t 100% 95%
Tonnes · quota → landed → sold
Effort 5,925 potlifts

Fishing effort

Total pot lifts worked to take the quota — the input that, set against catch, tells you how hard the stock is being fished.

Peak season Summer lull Mar Aug Feb
Pot lifts by month · season shape
Grade 62% premium

Catch grade mix

The split of landed lobster across market grades — because in a live fishery the grade you land drives the price far more than the weight.

62% Premium live · 62% Standard live · 28% Local / cooked · 10%
Share of landed catch by grade
02 / Stock & sustainability
Stock Rebuilding

Legal-size biomass

The model's estimate of fishable lobster in your grounds — the abundance that CPUE stands proxy for, and the base your quota is carved from.

Regional abundance index 2021 2023 2026
Modelled biomass index · rebuilding
Spawning 38% unfished

Egg production

Spawning output as a share of the unfished stock — the fishery's hard sustainability limit, and the number that ultimately governs the quota.

Limit 30% 38% 0 100% unfished
% of unfished egg production
Selectivity 112 mm CL

Size at capture

The carapace-length spread of what you keep, against the legal minimum — where undersize animals are returned to spawn at least once first.

LML 110 returned 104 112 128 mm
Carapace length · kept vs returned
Sustainability 97% released

Undersize & berried release

The share of everything you handle that goes straight back — undersize, oversize and egg-bearing females — the daily practice that keeps the stock spawning.

97% released Undersize · 71% Berried females · 22% Retained · 3%
Share of all lobster handled
03 / Operations & efficiency
Efficiency 1.8 L/kg

Fuel per kilo

Litres of diesel burned per kilogram landed — the single biggest controllable cost on the boat, and it falls as the grounds fish well.

Fleet avg 2.3 2.5 2.1 1.9 1.8 2023 2024 2025 2026
Litres diesel / kg landed · 4 yrs
Inputs 0.9 kg/kg

Bait conversion

Kilograms of bait to land a kilogram of lobster — a direct running cost, and a lever you pull with bait type, pot soak and placement.

Fleet avg 1.2 0.9 1.2 Cape Pillar Fleet average
kg bait per kg lobster
Quality 98.5%

Handling survival

The share of your live catch that reaches the processor in prime condition — in a live-export fishery, condition is the whole product.

98.5% Target 97% To processor A1 · 98.5% Loss · 1.5%
Live catch reaching processor A1
Timing 95 days

Season timing

How your fishing days line up against the price curve — landing more of the quota when lobster is worth most is pure margin in a fixed-catch fishery.

Days fished Beach price Mar Feb
Effort vs price · through the year
04 / Financial
Market $68 / kg

Beach price

The average price your lobster earns at the wharf — swinging with the export market and the calendar, and the top line of every trip.

Breakeven $41 $92 Mar Aug peak Feb
Beach $/kg by month · $68 avg
Breakeven $41 / kg

Cost of production

Everything it costs to land a kilogram — with quota lease and fuel the heavyweights. Your breakeven, whatever the market does.

$41 / kg Quota lease $17 Fuel $9 Crew $6 Bait $4 Overheads $5
Operating cost per kg landed
Margin $27 / kg

Gross margin per kilo

What each kilogram clears after the direct costs of catching it — the number that turns a fixed quota into a living.

$68 −$41 $27 Beach price Costs Margin
$68 price − $41 cost per kg
Access $34 / kg

Quota lease cost

What it costs to hold or lease the right to fish a kilogram — the largest single cost in the fishery, and the one that decides who fishes.

Half of beach price $26 $30 $33 $34 2023 2024 2025 2026
Quota lease $/kg · 4 yrs
05 / Environment
Footprint 5.4 kgCO₂e

Emissions intensity

Kilograms of CO₂-equivalent burned per kilogram landed — almost all of it diesel, so it falls in step with fuel efficiency.

Fleet avg 6.9 7.5 5.4 2023 2024 2025 2026
kgCO₂e / kg landed · 4-yr trend
Ecosystem <0.1%

Bycatch & interactions

Protected-species interactions and non-target bycatch as a share of pot lifts — pot fishing is highly selective, and this proves it.

99.9% clean pot lifts Target lobster · 99.9% Bycatch / interaction · <0.1%
Share of pot lifts · non-target

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