The article 'Fishing around in the dark' (25 February) highlighted the fishery potential or orange roughy (Hoplostethus atlanticus) in the box item, 'A deep-sea fishery with rosy future'. The information given was accurate, as far as it went. Since 1985 in Australia and New Zealand, considerable developments have occurred in the fisheries for and scientific research on orange roughy.
The New Zealand fishery reached close to 60,000 tonnes in 1987 due to expansions in areas fished. A contraction is underway, however, as scientific evidence suggests that rapid declines in biomass have occurred in the major management areas.
The Australian fishery developed much later than that in New Zealand, remaining at less than 2000 tonnes annually until 1986. In late 1986, an aggregation was found off the west coast of Tasmania and fished for several months. Subsequently, several similar, non-spawning aggregations were fished from South Australia round to the north-east coast ...
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