Seafood New Zealand self-suspends MSC certification of orange roughy fishery

The east and south Chatham Rise stocks, which account for approximately 80 percent of New Zealand’s orange roughy catch, have lost their Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) certification. Losing the certification and its accompanying label is problematic for the fishery, which sends more than half its catch to the U.S. Last year, the MSC recertified the fishery, despite concern around the stock assessment the certification was based on, which used assumptions in its development that orange roughy reach full maturity at 30 years. In May 2022, new scientific evidence put the age of maturity and spawning at around 80 years, with only skipped spawning from 35 to 80 years of age, according to Fisheries New Zealand.“Without an assessment, caution is always best,” Seafood New Zealand said. “We are committed to ensuring healthy, abundant fisheries are here to stay, and we need the best available science to inform fisheries management decisions. This week, we have gone a step further and ...