An orange roughy fishery south of New Zealand’s Stewart Island has been given the green light to reopen after 19 years.
In 1998, the seafood industry agreed to cease fishing in the ORH3B Puysegur area to rest the fishery to allow stocks to rebuild. Over the subsequent 19 years, the industry contracted a number of research surveys from New Zealand’s National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA) and Australia’s Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) to monitor the rebuild and to inform a new stock assessment in 2017.
George Clement, chief executive of the Deepwater Group, a nonprofit representing New Zealand’s deepwater fisheries, said the stock had now rebuilt to almost 50 percent of the original biomass. Consequently, the Minister of Primary Industries has approved an increase in the catch limit from 1 October.
“The commercial catch limit here has been increased to 347 metric tons (MT), allowing a very conservative harvest rate of only four orange roughy out of every 100 in the population,” said Clement.
“This is yet another example of world-class fisheries management. Where industry, government and scientists collaborate in the best long-term interests of the fishery,” he said.
Late last year, three other orange roughy stocks achieved Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) certification.
Deepwater Group has also supported the Ministry for Primary Industries’ proposal to reduce the catch from the hake fishery HAK7 for the next two years while uncertainties in the 2017 stock assessments are addressed. The minister has approved this approach and has reduced the commercial quota from 7,700 MT to 5,064 MT.
“This is the quota management system (QMS) working at its best. It is a science-based tool to objectively assess stocks and to adjust catches to ensure the harvest levels are sustainable. It is not surprising that New Zealand’s QMS is held up as an example to the rest of the world,” said Clement.
