The New Zealand Best Fish Guide - SEAFOOD Ecolabelling: Principles and Practice - page 381

management area, the declining state of the Western stock fishery, the lack of
a management plan and the need for the annual quota to be reduced to 100 000
tonnes in 2004.
The fishery assessment plenary report states: 'For the western stock, median
estimates of current biomass were 18 to 22% Bo. [Recent] poor recruitment from
1995 to 2001 but there is some evidence of improvement in the last 2 years. For
the Eastern stock, current biomass was estimated to be 35 and 42% Bo' (Sullivan
et al . 2005, p. 293).
Market: Most hoki is exported to the US, Europe - including the UK and
Belgium - Japan and Australia. Hoki exports were worth $174 million in 2005,
down from $346 million in 2001. The Fillet'o'Fish sold at McDonalds in New
Zealand is hoki.
Status and sustainable yield (ranking: E)
Status: Overfished.
Annual catch limit: Since 2001-2002 it has been reduced from 250 000 tonnes
to 100 000 tonnes for the 2004-2005 fishing year.
Recorded catch: Estimated catch of 132 000 tonnes in 2003-04.
Population size: New Zealand's largest fishery with a declining stock size com-
pounded by weak recruitment of juvenile fish to the adult population since the
mid-1990s, particularly West Coast.
Stock trends: Declining.
Fishing method (rank: D; Protected species bycatch: E)
Method: Bottom trawling targets non-spawning aggregations (Chatham Rise and
Sub-Antarctic Plateau) and mid-water trawling targets spawning aggregations
on West Coast and Cook Strait.
Bycatch: Hundreds of NZ fur seals, albatrosses and petrels are drowned in the
hoki fishery each year. The affected albatrosses and petrels include several glob-
ally threatened species such as black-browed and Buller's albatross and white-
chinned petrel. Non-target fish species bycatch is also a problem with hake,
ling and silver warehou being caught in West Coast hoki fisheries. Other by-
catch species are deepwater sharks including shovelnose dogfish, seal shark and
Baxter's dogfish. Threatened basking sharks are also caught.
Habitat damage: Bottom trawling bulldozes the sea floor, destroying soft corals,
sponges and long-lived bryozoans. The expanding use of double-linked nets
with a large heavy roller in between has increased the impact of this fishery on
fragile deepwater habitats.
Ecological effects: The dumping of offal and other fish waste during processing
at sea has an ecological effect together with the impact of bottom trawling.
Management (ranking: B; management unit: C)