The New Zealand Best Fish Guide - SEAFOOD Ecolabelling: Principles and Practice - page 382

Stock assessment: Quantitative stock assessment for East and West stocks in
2005
Management plan: No
Quota Management Species: Yes, since 1986
Biology (ranking: C)
Distribution: The main areas where hoki are caught are off the West Coast of the
South Island, the Cook Strait and Chatham Rise to the east of the South Island,
and Sub-Antarctic waters at depths of 400-800 m.
Maximum age (years): 20-25.
Age at sexual maturity: 4.
Growth rate: Relatively fast.
Reproductive output: Medium to high.
Age exploited: 2.
References: Seafood magazine 2004; Sullivan et al. 2005; NZ Fishing Industry
Board 1990; MFish Starfish web pages: www.starfish.govt.nz, 2004; SeaFIC
website: www.seafood.co.nz, 2004.

18.4 Expectations for outcomes

The Best Fish Guide was designed to provide a vehicle for addressing and influ-
encing people as consumers and as citizens. The immediate function of the guide
is clearly to provide information to consumers who do not have the information
or resources to inform themselves in their purchasing decisions. The intermediate
outcome sought is to lessen the information asymmetry between fishing companies
and their ultimate consumers and to educate intermediaries such as supermarket
stockists, restaurants and hoteliers. The ultimate goal is to reduce the demand for
the fish stocks that are under the greatest stress, to reduce pressure on their host
environment, including seabirds and marine mammals, to allow fish stock recovery
and to pave the way for more environmental protection.
To emphasise that Forest and Bird was not against people eating fish, when the
Best Fish Guide was launched it was accompanied by media using well-known New
Zealand chefs who provided recipes for the top 12 fish in the amber categories, in
order to help people to shift to fish from less damaging fisheries (Daish 2004).
The recipes were placed on the Forest and Bird website (http://www.forestandbird.
org.nz/bestfishguide/recipe/index.asp).
The campaign and dialogue focusing around the launch and distribution of the
guide was designed to influence people to become aware of the impacts of different
fishing methods, the ecological effects of fishing, the status of fish stocks and to
carry this awareness into the realm of citizens who will demand change. Such