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Warnings resurface over iconic fish
Orange Roughy
Photo:
Mountains to Sea
The country's deep-sea darling - the orange roughy - is once again at the centre of controversy.
Once hailed as the "white gold" of our oceans, this elusive, slow-growing fish is fast becoming a symbol of what happens when demand outweighs caution.
It has led to our largest orange roughy fishery, accounting for half of the country's total catch, being on the brink of collapse. The Ministry of Primary Industries (MPI) says it will not rule out closing it.
Conservationists say the fishery, known as East and South Chatham Rise (ESCR), is in a dire state, with more than 80 percent of the original orange roughy population wiped out.
The stock assessment, which is basically the science on how many fish are in the area, puts the population at between eight and 18 percent of its original size - 10 percent is considered the collapse of a fishery.
"We are either at the collapse point or, no matter how you look at it, we are on the brink of it. It's pretty serious in that area," says business journalist Andrew Bevin, who has covered this story extensively for Newsroom.
"It looks like the New Zealand government has let orange roughy [get] to the brink of extinction, once again, and that's insane because we have been through this before.
"There's been no shortage of warnings over the last, let's call it 40 years of orange roughy fisheries. You know, there was a gold rush in the late 80s, early 90s, and then they realised things aren't going well."
That led to some fisheries shutting down back then. The fish could not keep up with the nets. Fisheries New Zealand promised lessons had been learned, quotas were tightened, and the fish were left to recover.
And to be fair, some have. But not all.
That has prompted the MPI to begin consultation on this year's orange roughy catch limit, which includes the option to close ESCR.
The other options include reducing the catch limit by 23 percent, 42 percent or 60 percent.
Environment and Conservation Organisations of Aotearoa co-chair Barry Weeber tells The Detail that "the jury's still out as to whether it's possible to sustainably fish orange roughy".
"It keeps getting worse over the years, and every time the projections are that the fishery might be recovering, it always gets worse.
"I think the history of fisheries in New Zealand has been that the orange roughy fishery hasn't been managed well, it hasn't been managed carefully."
The fishery lost its Marine Stewardship Council's 'sustainable' tick in 2023 after a stock survey revealed declining catch rates instead of the projected stock recovery.
And this month, the Environmental Law Initiative took the former Minister for Oceans and Fisheries, Rachel Brooking, to court over the mismanagement of the wider Chatham Rise orange roughy fishery. The case was heard in the High Court in Wellington last week.
"The industry has brought it onto themselves with the situation they have got now because of the things they have done in the past," Weeber says.
The final decision on MPI's options, which are open for public feedback until the end of this month, comes down to Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones.
"He hasn't shown himself to be a great supporter of sustainability in his rhetoric," Weeber says. "He's been involved in fishing and sustainability for over 40 years, and he should actually be more aware of the issues and impacts."
Weeber also questions the role of bottom trawling for the species.
"With bottom trawling, it's basically like you are running a bulldozer along the bottom [of the ocean floor].
"New Zealand is the only country that's still fishing via bottom trawling in the South Pacific... we could stop bottom trawling.
"We need to be smarter about the way we fish."
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