Moves by the Government to close the Challenger Plateau orange roughy fishery will be the first time a deep-water fishery has been shut down because of depleted resources.
Inadequate investment in research and the rapid "fishing down" of stocks are being blamed.
The plateau in the Tasman Sea west of the lower North Island has had its quota cut from 1425 tonnes to one tonne.
Fisheries Minister Pete Hodgson says the stocks in the area are now at only 3 per cent of their original size.
It is one of three orange roughy fisheries affected by cuts as the Government tries to improve protection of the fish stock.
The other two are the East Cape, where the quota is cut from 2500 tonnes to 200 tonnes, and the mid-east coast, down from 2100 tonnes to 1500 tonnes, and reducing to 800 tonnes the following year.
The East Cape fishery is now believed to be only 14 per cent of its original size, and the mid-east coast fishery only 10 per cent.
Mr Hodgson says he is particularly worried about Challenger's 3 per cent.
"Fish stocks should be maintained at 30 per cent or more of their original biomass and are considered at risk when they fall between 20 per cent," he says.
The cuts take effect from the beginning of the new fishing year on October 1.
Mr Hodgson blames the collapse in stocks on the previous Government, saying it cut fisheries research. But he acknowledges that orange roughy stocks are difficult to manage.
"We are better at catching the fish than measuring its abundance. As our research ability has improved, it has become progressively obvious that previous estimates have been optimistic, or very optimistic," he says.
"The primary underlying reason for this stock collapse is therefore inadequate research investment and techniques.
"But there are other contributing factors. The industry has often advanced the view that stocks should be fished down rapidly rather than cautiously. With the benefit of hindsight, this so-called hard-landing approach appears to have been a mistake."
The minister says Crown-purchased fisheries research was reduced from $17 million to $14 million a year over the past five years.
The previous minister had declined to reduce catch limits pending industry-purchased results which did not arrive.
Mr Hodgson says the Ministry of Fisheries was also tied up with policy development on the devolution of services to the point where last year there was virtually no stock assessment done on fish stocks that "were clearly in desperate need of it, including orange roughy."
Tom Birdsall, chairman of the Orange Roughy Management Company, which represents the owners of deepwater quota, says he acknowledges the minister's decision to revise orange roughy catches as proof that the quota management system is working to manage New Zealand's fisheries sustainably.
The Waitangi Fisheries Commission says it accepts Mr Hodgson's need for caution. But it criticises another decision announced last week to ban bottom-trawl fishing from 19 undersea mountains.
Mr Hodgson says the ban is necessary to protect sea life, but the commission says it is premature.
The Royal Forest and Bird Protection Society welcomes the undersea mountains and orange roughy decisions.
Society spokesman Barry Weeber says the protective measures are important steps in conserving New Zealand's deepwater marine biodiversity.
Quota slashing reflects depletion of fisheries
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