Hon Jim Anderton

Minister of Agriculture, Minister for Biosecurity, Minister of Fisheries, Minister of Forestry
Associate Minister of Health,
Associate Minister for Tertiary Education,
Minister Responsible for Public Trust

Progressive Leader

19th September 2006 Press release

Minister announces reduction in orange roughy catch

Fisheries Minister Jim Anderton today announced reductions in commercial catch limits for orange roughy, from the start of the new fishing year on 1 October 2006.

The commercial catch limits for orange roughy in the northern North Island (ORH1) will be reduced by 43% to 800 tonnes per year, and the commercial limits for the Chatham Rise and southern New Zealand fishery (ORH3B) will be reduced by almost 10% to 11,500 tonnes.

The Minister said he is aware of the ongoing difficulties of managing the orange roughy fisheries and he’ll be monitoring the fishery to ensure catch limits are set at a sustainable level.

The orange roughy decisions are part of the Minister’s annual decisions on catch limits for species in the quota management system. The system provides a straight-forward way to adjust annual catch limits so that fisheries are sustainable in the long term.

There have been a number of other catch limit changes for low knowledge fish stocks and for rig in the top of the South Island which will also come into effect on 1 October 2006.

Full details of the new catch limits are available on the Ministry of Fisheries’ website at www.fish.govt.nz.

ENDS

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