Stock Status

Overview

Catch

Value

Sustainability

This page shows a summary of the status of all important Quota Management System (QMS) and non-QMS stocks: 361 fish stocks, comprising 347 QMS stocks and 14 non-QMS species, the latter of which are mostly Highly Migratory Species (HMS), and are treated as a single stock in New Zealand or Antarctic waters (non-QMS species are denoted by * in the first column of the summary table). QMS fishstocks not included in the Status of Stocks summary are those with nominal TACs or TACCs (generally less than 10-20 t) for which a development potential has not currently been demonstrated (a total of 283 stocks). These are listed in the document link here.

The information is sourced from the Ministry's Fishery Assessment Plenary Reports. A copy of the Plenary Report is available for each species on the appropriate species page sustainability tab therein. The information provided in this table is only intended to be a general summary. It is not intended to take the place of the Plenary Reports.

Species name: These are the names in common usage for each species throughout New Zealand. The corresponding Maori and scientific names can be found on the individual species pages.

Plenary stocks: Plenary stocks are those for which biology, fishery, stock assessment and stock status information has been included in either the main (May) Plenary report, or the mid-year (November) Plenary report. Plenary stock codes are the standard 3-letter species codes used by the Ministry, but with a Quota Management Area (QMA) area designation added. QMA numbers differ somewhat for each species; these are shown on the stock pages. In some cases the assessment unit is smaller than the QMA; thus the number of units for which stock status is assessed may not correspond exactly to QMA stocks.

Last assessment date: This is the date of the most recent quantitative stock assessment or evaluation.

Near or above target levels? The “near or above target levels” indicator describes the present status of the stock relative to its target (usually B_MSY, the average biomass associated with a maximum sustainable yield (MSY) strategy, or F_MSY, the associated fishing mortality, or appropriate surrogates or proxies for these metrics, or alternative reference points that will result in higher average biomass – see Maximum Sustainable Yield Harvest Strategies for definitions and explanations of these terms.

“Near” indicates that the stock is well within the range of natural fluctuations associated with the target.

If a stock is below the target, then under the Fisheries Act of 1996, the Minister must take corrective action to rebuild the stock to or above B_MSY (or a related target level).

Depleted? Collapsed? Overfishing? In 2009, for the first time, three additional indicators of stock and fishery status have been analysed. The three new indicators are defined in paragraph 28 of the Harvest Strategy Standard for New Zealand Fisheries approved by the Minister of Fisheries on 24 October 2008:

“The status of fisheries and stocks will be characterised in the following way:

If the MSY-compatible fishing mortality rate, F_MSY, or an appropriate proxy is exceeded on average, overfishing will be deemed to have been occurring, because stocks fished at rates exceeding F_MSY will ultimately be depleted below B_MSY.
A stock that is determined to be below the soft limit [default: ¹/₂ B_MSY or 20% of the unfished level, whichever is higher] will be designated as depleted [or overfished] and in need of rebuilding.
A stock that is determined to be below the hard limit [default: ¹/₄ B_MSY or 10% of the unfished level, whichever is higher] will be designated as collapsed.”

In April 2009, the Ministry of Fisheries’ Stock Assessment Methods Working Group adopted a probabilistic scale for categorising the “Near or above target levels”, depleted, collapsed and overfishing indicators (based on the scale developed by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in 2007). While these probability categories are best applied in situations where models give appropriate quantitative outputs, they can also be used subjectively, based on expert opinion, when such model outputs are not available, or are highly uncertain.

Key

The stock status table uses the IPCC criteria, coded according to the following key:

Near or above target levels?	Probability	Description	Depleted? Collapsed? Overfishing?
●●●●	> 99 %	Virtually Certain	■■■■
●●●	> 90 %	Very Likely	■■■
●●	> 60 %	Likely	■■
●	40 - 60 %	About as Likely as Not	■
■■	< 40 %	Unlikely	●●
■■■	< 10 %	Very Unlikely	●●●
■■■■	< 1 %	Exceptionally Unlikely	●●●●

Note that green circles indicate a favourable status, while orange squares indicate an unfavourable status, with the number of circles or squares indicating the degree to which the status is favourable or unfavourable.

Whether or not a stock is likely to be near or above the target level, or to be depleted or overfished, or collapsed, or subject to overfishing, is based on the most recent stock assessment summarised in the Ministry’s Fishery Assessment Plenary Report. The current (2009) stock status may be better or worse than that indicated by the most recent stock assessment. Where several alternative assessment runs are reported (as is frequently the case), or if the assessment results are contentions, the result reported represents the best judgement on the part of the Chair of the appropriate Fishery Assessment Working Group, and the Ministry’s Chief Scientist.

Corrective management action: This column describes corrective management action underway for those stocks believed to be below the target level, or subject to overfishing.

Grey shading indicates that stock status is unknown, because an appropriate quantitative analysis to ascertain stock status relative to a target or limit has not been undertaken, or because such an analysis was not definitive, generally because of insufficient or inadequate data.

Light green shading indicates stocks that have been lightly exploited and are known to have development potential due to previous abundance surveys indicating an appreciable biomass.

Stock Status Table

Species name	Plenary stocks	Last assessment date	Near or above target levels?	Depleted?	Collapsed?	Overfishing?	Corrective management action
Albacore tuna*	South Pacific albacore ALB1	2009	●●	●●	●●●	●●	-
Alfonsino	BYX1	2008	●●●	●●●	●●●	●●●	-
Alfonsino	BYX2, BYX3, BYX7	-					-
Anchovy	ANC1, ANC8	-	●●●	●●●	●●●	●●●	-
Arrow squid	SQU1J, SQU1T, SQU6T	-			●●		-
Barracouta	BAR1, BAR4, BAR5, BAR7	-					-
Bigeye tuna*	Western & Central Pacific Ocean BIG1	2009	■■■	■■	●●	■■■	Conservation and management measures adopted at WCPFC 5
Black cardinalfish	CDL1, CDL5, CDL7	-					-
Black cardinalfish	CDL2, CDL3, CDL4	-	■■	■■	■	■■	Staged TACC reductions proposed for 2009-11
Blue cod	BCO1, BCO2, BCO3, BCO4, BCO5, BCO8	-	●	●●	●●		-
Blue cod	BCO7	-	●	●●	●●		Recreational take of BCO in the Marlborough Sounds (and Tory Channel) is now prohibited due to severe local depletion of this sub-area of BCO7.
Blue mackerel	EMA1	2006		●●	●●		-
Blue mackerel	EMA2, EMA3, EMA7	-					-
Blue moki	MOK1, MOK3, MOK4, MOK5	-	●	●●	●●	●●	-
Blue shark*	BWS1	-					-
Blue warehou	WAR1, WAR2, WAR3, WAR7, WAR8	1998					-
Bluenose	BNS1, BNS2, BNS3, BNS7, BNS8	2008	■■			■■■	TAC and TACC reductions in 2008
Butterfish	BUT2, BUT5, BUT7	-					-
Cockle	COC1A	2008	●	●●	●●	●●	-
	COC3A	2007	●●	●●	●●●		-
	COC7A	2008	● - localised depletion in some bays	●●	●●●		-
Dark ghost shark	GSH1, GSH2, GSH5, GSH6, GSH7, GSH8, GSH9	-					-
Dark ghost shark	GSH3, GSH4	-				●●
Deepwater (King) clam	PLZ7	-					-
Deepwater Tuatua	PDO3, PDO7	-	●●●	●●	●●	●●	-
Dredge oyster (Foveaux Strait)	OYU5	2009	■■	■	●●		-
Dredge oyster (Nelson/ Marlborough)	OYS7	2009	■■				-
Dredge oyster (Other)	OYS7C	2009	●●●	●●●●	●●●●	●●●●
Elephant fish	ELE2, ELE7	-					-
	ELE3	2009	- recovering from low biomass levels in mid-1980's		●●		-
	ELE5	2009	- recovering from low biomass levels in mid-1980's		●●		-
Flatfish	FLA1	-			●●		-
Flatfish	FLA2, FLA3, FLA7	-					TACC for FLA3 reduced in 2007. TAC for FLA3 set in 2007.
Freshwater eels	ANG11, ANG12, ANG13, ANG14, ANG15, ANG16	-					-
	SFE20, SFE21, SFE22, SFE23	-					TAC and TACC reduced in 2007
	LFE20, LFE21, LFE22, LFE23	-	■■■				TAC and TACC reduced substantially in 2007; 3 areas closed to commercial fishing
Frostfish	FRO1, FRO2, FRO3, FRO4, FRO5, FRO7, FRO8, FRO9	-					-
Garfish	GAR1	-			●●		-
Gemfish	SKI1, SKI2	2008	■■				-
Gemfish	SKI3, SKI7	1997	■■				TACCs reduced substantially in 1997, 1998 and 2001
Giant Spider Crab	GSC3, GSC5, GSC6A, GSC6B	-					-
Green-lipped mussel	GLM1, GLM7A, GLM9	-					-
Grey mullet	GMU1	2007			●●		-
Groper	HPB3	-	●	●●	●●		-
Groper	HPB1, HPB2, HPB4, HPB5, HPB7, HPB8	-					-
Hake	HAK1 (Excl. Chatham rise)	2007	●	●●	●●		-
	HAK4 (& west Chatham rise HAK1)	2006					-
	HAK7	2004	●	●●	●●●	●●	-
Hoki	HOK1 East	2008	●●●	●●●●	●●●●	●●	-
Hoki	HOK1 West	2008	●	●●●	●●●	●●	-
Horse Mussel	HOR7	-					-
Jack mackerel	JMA1, JMA3	1991					-
Jack mackerel	JMA7	2007	●	●●	●●		-
John dory	JDO1, JDO2, JDO3	1997					-
John dory	JDO7	2009	●	●●	●●	●●	-
Kahawai	KAH1	2007	●●	●●	●●	●●	-
Kahawai	KAH2, KAH3, KAH4, KAH8	-					-
Kina	SUR1A, SUR1B, SUR2A, SUR2B, SUR3, SUR4, SUR5, SUR7A, SUR7B	-					-
King Crab	KIC4	-					-
Kingfish	KIN1, KIN2, KIN7, KIN8	-					-
Knobbed Whelk	KWH7A	-					-
Large Trough Shell	MMI3, MMI8	-	●●●	●●●	●●●	●●●	-
Large Trough Shell	MMI7	-					-
Leatherjacket	LEA1, LEA2, LEA3	-					-
Ling	LIN1	2009					-
	LIN2	2007	●●	●●	●●		-
	LIN3, LIN4	2007	●●●	●●	●●●	●●	-
	LIN5, LIN6	2007	●●●	●●	●●●	●●	-
	LIN6B	2006	●●	●●	●●	●●	-
	LIN7WC	2008	●●	●●	●●●
Lookdown dory	LDO1, LDO3	-					-
Mako shark*	MAK1	-					-
Moonfish*	MOO1	-					-
Orange roughy	ORH1 Northern North Island	2007					-
	ORH1 Mercury-Colville	2001	■■	■■	■■		Restricted to bycatch limit of 30 t in 2001
	ORH2A north - East Cape	2003	■■				Catch level reduced in 2000
	ORH2A south, ORH2B, ORH3A - Mid East Coast	2004	■■	■			-
	ORH3B Northwest Chatham Rise	2006	■■■	■■		■■	TAC and TACC reduced in 2007
	ORH3B East and South Chatham Rise	2009	■■	■		■■	Staged TACC reductions in 2008-10
	ORH3B Puysegur	1998	■■	■■	■■	●●● - closed	Closed in 1997
	ORH3B Other	-					-
	ORH7A Challenger Plateau	2000	■■■	■■■	■■	●●● - closed	Effectively closed in 2000
	ORH7B West Coast South Island	2004	■■■	■■		●●● - closed	Effectively closed from 1 October 2007
Oreos	OEO 1/OEO3A Southland Smooth Oreo	2004	■■			■■	TAC and TACC for OEO1 reduced in 2007
	OEO3A Black	2004	●●	●●	●●		-
	OEO3A Smooth	2009	●●	●●	●●		-
	OEO4 Black	2009					-
	OEO4 Smooth	2007	●●	●●	●●		-
	OEO6 - Pukaki smooth oreo	2009	●	●●	●●		-
Pacific bluefin tuna*	TOR1	2008	●			■	-
Paddle crab	PAD1, PAD2, PAD3, PAD4, PAD5, PAD7, PAD8, PAD9	-					-
Pale ghost shark	GSP1, GSP5	-			●●	●●	-
Pale ghost shark	GSP7	-
Parore	PAR1, PAR9	-					-
Paua	PAU2, PAU3	-			●●		-
	PAU4	2004	●	●●	●●		-
	PAU5A	2006	■■
	PAU5B	2007	■■				TACC reduced and TAC set in 2002
	PAU5D	2006					TAC reduced in 2003
	PAU7	2008	■■	■■			-
Pilchard	PIL1, PIL7, PIL8	-			●●	●●	-
Pipi	PPI1A - Mair Bank, Whangarei harbour	2005	●●	●●●	●●●	●●●	-
Pipi	PPI1B, PPI1C, PPI3	-					-
Porae	POR1	-					-
Porbeagle shark*	POS1	-				■■	-
Prawn Killer	PRK1	-
Queen scallop	QSC3	2004					-
Ray's bream*	RBM1	-					-
Red cod	RCO1, RCO2	-					-
	RCO3	2009					TAC set and TACC reduced in 2007
	RCO7	2009			●●		-
Red gurnard	GUR1	2006	●●	●●	●●		-
	GUR2	2006			●●		-
	GUR3	2009	●●	●●	●●	●●	-
	GUR7	2009	●	●●	●●	●●	-
	GUR8	-					-
Red snapper	RSN1, RSN2	-					-
Ribaldo	RIB1, RIB2, RIB3, RIB4, RIB5, RIB6, RIB7	-					-
Rig	SPO1						-
	SPO2	2009					-
	SPO3	-					-
	SPO7	2006	■■	■■			TAC reduced in 2006
	SPO8	-					-
Ringed Dosinia	DAN2, DAN7	-	●●●	●●●	●●●	●●●	-
Rock lobster	CRA1 Northland	2002	●●	●●	●●●		-
	CRA2 Bay of Plenty	2002	●	●●	●●●		-
	CRA3 Gisborne	2008	■■	■			TACC reduced in 2009
	CRA4 Hawke's Bay-Wairarapa	2005	■■		●●		TACC reduced in 2009
	CRA5 Marlborough-Canterbury	2003	●●		●●		-
	CRA6 Chatham Islands	1996					-
	CRA7 Otago	2008	●●●	●●●	●●●		-
	CRA8 Southern	2008	●●●	●●●	●●●		-
	CRA9 Westland-Taranaki	-					-
Rock lobster	PHC - All QMAs	-					-
Rough skate	RSK1, RSK3, RSK7, RSK8	2007					-
Rubyfish	RBY1	2007					-
Rubyfish	RBY2, RBY4, RBY7, RBY9	-					-
Scallop	SCA1, Northland	2007	●	●●	●●		-
	SCA7 Golden Bay	2009	■■				-
	SCA7 Tasman Bay	2009	■■■	■■	■■		Fishery closed to commercial fishing since 2006
	SCA7 Marlborough Sounds	2009	●	●●	●●		-
Scallop (Coromandel)	SCACS, Coromandel	2008	●●●	●●	●●		-
Scampi	SCI1, SCI3, SCI4A, SCI5, SCI6A, SCI6B, SCI7, SCI9	-			●●		-
Scampi	SCI2	-					-
School shark	SCH1, SCH2	2008					-
School shark	SCH3, SCH4, SCH5, SCH7, SCH8	2007			●●		-
Sea Cucumber	SCC1B,SCC3, SCC4, SCC7A, SCC7B	-					-
Sea perch	SPE1, SPE2, SPE5, SPE6, SPE7, SPE8	-					-
	SPE3	2008			●●		-
	SPE4	2009			●●		-
Silver warehou	SWA1	2009	●●	●●	●●	●●	-
Silver warehou	SWA3, SWA4	-					-
Skipjack tuna*	SKJ1	2008	●●●	●●●	●●●	●●●	-
Smooth skate	SSK1, SSK3, SSK7, SSK8	2007					-
Snapper	SNA1	2000	●	●●	●●		TAC reduced in 1997
	SNA2	2002	●	●●	●●		-
	SNA7	2002					-
	SNA8	2005	■■■	■■■			TAC reduced in 2005
Southern blue whiting	SBW6I	2007	●●	●●	●●●	●●	-
	SBW6B	2009	●●●	●●●	●●●	●●●	-
	SBW6R	2002	●●	●●	●●	●●	-
	SBW6A	-	●●	●●	●●	●●	-
Southern bluefin tuna*	STN1 / Southern Hemisphere Stock	2008	■■■	■■■	■		Overall TAC reduced in 2006
Spiny dogfish	SPD1, SPD5, SPD8	-					-
Spiny dogfish	SPD3, SPD4, SDP7	2009			●●		-
Sprat	SPR1, SPR3, SPR7	-					-
Stargazer	STA1, STA2, STA8	-					-
	STA3	2008			●●
	STA4	2007	●●	●●	●●	●●	-
	STA5	2006	●	●●	●●	●●	-
	STA7	2009	●●	●●	●●	●●	-
Striped marlin*	STM1	2006	●			■	-
Swordfish*	SWO1	2008	●●●	●●●	●●●	●●●	Conservation and management measures adopted at WCPFC 5
Tarakihi	TAR1 east, TAR2, TAR3 north	2009			●●	■	-
	TAR1 west, TAR3 south, TAR4, TAR5, TAR8	-					-
	TAR7	2009	●●	●●	●●	●●	-
Toothfish*	CCAMLR Areas 88.1 and 88.2 ATOET	2007	●●●	●●●	●●●●	●●●	-
Trevally	TRE1	2006				■	-
	TRE2						-
	TRE7	2009	●●●	●●●	●●●	●●●	-
Triangle Shell	SAE3, SAE7	-	●●●	●●●	●●●	●●	-
Trough Shell	MDI5, MDI7	-	●●●	●●●	●●●	●●	-
Trumpeter	TRU2, TRU3, TRU4, TRU5	-			●●		-
Tuatua	TUA9	-					-
White warehou	WWA2, WWA3, WWA4, WWA5B, WWA7	-					-
Yellow-eyed mullet	YEM1, YEM9	-					-
Yellowfin tuna*	Western & Central Pacific Ocean YFN1	2009	●●	●●	●●	●●	Conservation and management measures adopted at WCPFC 5

Summary of Stock Status

	Near or above target levels?	Depleted?	Collapsed?	Overfishing?
Favourable	79	77	124	57
Unfavourable	38	18	8	19
Total stocks evaluated	117	95	132	76
Favourable/Total stocks evaluated	67.5%	81.1%	93.9%	75.0%
Unfavourable/Total stocks evaluated	32.5%	18.9%	6.1%	25.0%