Catch sampling for age was undertaken in three GUR 1 substocks (west coast North Island; East Northland/Hauraki Gulf; Bay of Plenty) during the 2009–10 fishing year. Sampling achieved good spatial and temporal coverage of the bottom trawl fishery in all three GUR 1 substocks. Comparison of the results from this study with those from the early 2000s showed similar age compositions, suggesting that there has been little change in total mortality on either coast of GUR 1 during the last decade.