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Bleak Times For The Orange Roughy

June 10, 2004

A committee of high-level marine scientists are calling for an immediate drop in fishing effort on deep sea stocks such as the orange roughy. According to a report which is released by ICES today (11 June), most deep sea fish stocks are being overfished.

Scientists are recommending that not only should existing fishing pressure be reduced but also that the brake should be put on any further expansion of deep sea fisheries until more basic data on these stocks are made available.
Fisheries for deep sea fish began in the Northeast Atlantic in the 1980s as fish stocks in traditional areas such as the North Sea declined.

Since then, deep sea fisheries have continued to expand despite the fact that scientists have access only to limited data on the size of the stocks and poor understanding of how much fishing pressure they can sustain.

What scientists do know is that most deep sea fish grow slowly, live long lives and mature late in life - orange roughy for example live to be more than 100 years old and only mature when they have reached an age of more than 25 years. This means that deep sea stocks are only able to cope with very low fishing pressure.

David Griffith, General Secretary of ICES said today:
"We are particularly concerned about deep sea fish stocks because they are so vulnerable to overfishing. ICES has been advising reductions in fishing effort as a precaution for many years now, but deep sea fisheries have continued to grow. We hope that this year our advice will be listened to so that these fisheries can be put on a more sustainable level".

As well as advising a general reduction in fishing effort on deep sea stocks - unless fisheries can be shown to be sustainable - ICES is specifically advising that fisheries for ling and tusk should be reduced by 30% in 2005, compared to the 1998 effort level. They will also advise that directed fisheries for blue ling should stop to allow stocks time to recover.

Another issue is that because many deep sea stocks tend to congregate in shoals over certain areas such as seamounts, once they are found they can be rapidly depleted before trawlers move on to other areas. Scientists are concerned that as these shoals may be distinct sub-populations, if they are depleted - as many are known to have been - it may be many years before fish return.

Henrik Sparholt, ICES Fisheries Assessment Scientist said today:
"Our biggest problem as scientists is that we are not receiving enough data to be able to properly assess these stocks so we are still very much in the dark about their current status.

The urgent priority is more detailed information on exactly how many, and where, deep sea fish are being caught. As important will be data on the amount of fish that are discarded as we know that a significant part of the catch is thrown back into the sea and not recorded."

ICES is the organisation that advises the European Commission, the North-East Atlantic Fisheries Commission and national governments on the state of fish stocks. The advice is produced through the Advisory Committee on Fishery Management that meets twice a year to assess the status of Northeast Atlantic fish stocks.

International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES)