Ensuring the Sustainability of Orange Roughy: A Collaborative Effort
From the MSC Media Team
Orange roughy are a long-lived deepwater species that mature later in their lives. Consequently, ensuring the stock’s sustainability requires comprehensive Harvest Control Rules (measures that require catch to be adjusted in response to stock changes). These rules are based on models that identify the age at which the fish reach sexual maturity and can replenish the population.
The New Zealand 3B East & South Chatham Rise orange roughy fishery has been making improvements, verified by the In-Transition to MSC Program, since 2023. The fishing operation is guided by scientists, policymakers and industry interests in the Deepwater Council, who had concerns around the limited number of age groups represented in previous stock assessment samples. To make more accurate models of abundance and inform total allowable catch levels further data on the size and maturity of the fish was needed.
The Transition Assistance Fund grant will enable the project to collate data on the age and size composition of the orange roughy stock from a wide time series: 1990s, 2000s, and 2010s.
The project will last two years, and the fishery expects to enter assessment towards certification to the MSC Fisheries Standard by late October 2028.
Stay tuned for more updates on this exciting journey towards sustainable fishing practices!