Orange roughy (Hoplostethus atlanticus)

The available information is inadequate to evaluate spawning stock or fishing mortality relative to risk, so the state of the stock is unknown.

It is not known if individual aggregations within these areas are reproductively distinct. The state of the populations varies between ICES areas. Overall catches have fluctuated because of shifts in fishing effort between fishing grounds. Orange roughy in Subarea VI was heavily exploited on the Hebridean Terrace Seamount in the early 1990s. The catch developed in 1991 to 3500 t within one year and since 1992 the catch has dropped to about a twentieth of this. Orange roughy fisheries in Subarea VII may be exhibiting a similar pattern to that in VI. High catches have not been sustained by individual fleets, suggesting sequential depletion. Given the well documented boom and bust cycle in these fisheries worldwide it is likely that the recent high catch rates will not be sustained unless further aggregations are located. It is not clear that there are unfished aggregations remaining in Subarea VII. There is evidence of declining CPUE in this Subarea from all fleets. There is no information on CPUE from other Subareas.