Species Collapse, Orange Roughy

2012 • Eastern and Western Pacific Ocean, Eastern Atlantic Ocean, and the Indo-Pacific

"Analysis of Orange Roughy fisheries worldwide indicates that management has generally failed to ensure their sustainability. Of the 30 Orange Roughy fisheries identified in this report, nearly half have been fished to below 30% of the pre-fishing biomass. Only one is known to be above this level and the full impact of fishing on stocks in that fishery is yet to be felt. The status of half of the stocks is unknown, either because stock assessments are not carried out or because the uncertainties are so great that the assessments are inconclusive."

M. lack, K. Short, A. Wilcock, “managing Rish and uncertainty in deep-sea fisheries: Lessons from orange roughy”, published by wwf and traffic, 2003