Environmentalists say today’s decision to reduce an orange roughy catch limit is simply the ‘bare minimum’ for the troubled fishery and are calling on the government to ban bottom trawling on seamounts so that populations of the deep sea fish can rebuild.
Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones has decided to cut the total catch limit for a declining orange roughy stock in the Tasman Sea by 1,221 tonnes (57%). But the Deep Sea Conservation Coalition (DSCC), points out the modelling used to inform the Minister’s decision shows the stock is already below the level we’ve agreed to internationally (1) and none of the options put to the Minister by his officials would see any recovery in the next five years (2).
DSCC spokesperson and Oceans Advisor for Tāngaro Tuia te Ora, Karli Thomas says the cut is only just enough to stop the decline of a fishery that’s already in a dire state and does nothing to protect the seamounts that orange roughy – and other deep sea creatures like corals and sponges – rely on.
“The orange roughy fishery is one of the worst in Aotearoa, responsible for more than half the destruction of protected deep-sea corals. The government’s decision today leaves the fish itself – which can live for over 200 years – in serious trouble,” says Thomas.
“The Minister has chosen to do the bare minimum: just enough to stop the decline, not enough to allow the stock to recover, and nothing at all to address the huge damage caused by bottom trawling on seamounts.”
The stock assessment is based on survey data more than a decade old (2013) despite more recent stock surveys being carried out in 2018 and 2023. If the recent data is included, the stock could already be as low as 16% of its original population size.
Greenpeace oceans campaigner Juan Parada says:
“If the New Zealand fishing industry had stopped bottom trawling seamounts decades ago, the orange roughy fishery would not be in the diminished state it is today. Trawling the very seamounts where orange roughy go to breed and rebuild their numbers is a reckless way to run a fishery.“New Zealand is the only country still bottom trawling in the South Pacific high seas, and that’s embarrassing. New Zealand should be moving away from this kind of archaic practice that does so much damage to ocean life,” says Parada.
This fishery is under shared management with the South Pacific Regional Fisheries Management Organisation (SPRFMO), which has a management target of keeping this orange roughy population at or above 40% of its original level over the next five years. It’s already below that level, and Minister Jones is allowing catches that will prevent any recovery in that timeframe.
SPRFMO starts its annual scientific committee meeting today in Lima, Peru. New Zealand’s orange roughy stock assessment is on the agenda, and the committee will advise on how much, if any, orange roughy can be taken from the part of this population in international waters. That will ultimately be decided at the SPRFMO annual meeting in February 2025. New Zealand is the only country still bottom trawling in the SPRFMO area.
“Eyes at this international meeting are going to be on New Zealand, which is not only trying to walk back on science – discussed and agreed last year – that would have seen additional areas closed to bottom trawling to protect deep-sea life, it’s also going to have to explain a fishery in decline and a catch limit too high for it to recover,” concluded Thomas, from the DSCC.
Notes
(1) Under the South Pacific Regional Fisheries Management Organisation (SPRFMO) Conservation and Management Measure CMM 03a-2023, which specifies that this Tasman Sea stock will be managed at or above 40% of its original biomass for the next five years.
(2) Table 1 of the MPI discussion document on ORH 7A set out the modelled population level under the four options under consideration. Only one option was predicted to halt the decline in the stock, none of the options were predicted to allow any stock recovery in the next five years.
(3) Tāngaro Tuia te Ora, the Endangered Species Foundation is a member of the Deep Sea Conservation Coalition and collaborates with other New Zealand-based eNGO's (WWFNZ, Greenpeace, Save Our Seas, ECO, Forest and Bird, LegaSea) to protect the precious and endangered life that rely on seamounts to survive. Karli Thomas is an Oceans Advisor for Tāngaro Tuia te Ora in a voluntary capacity. Ngā mihi nui Karli mō tō tautoko.