by Gareth Hughes
Orange Roughy must be one of my favourite fish, but now it’s not so popular for international retailers.
Roughy, lives deep down in the cold ocean depths where there is no sunlight and the pressure would crush a person. Orange Roughy is caught by destructive bottom trawling, which involves dragging large nets across the ocean floor and up and down sea mounts.
I sailed the Tasman Sea in 2004 on the Rainbow Warrior doing what Government’s wouldn’t do, that was stopping the bottom trawlers from wreaking their havoc on the ocean floor. One sight I’ll never forget is the Kiwi fisherman throwing overboard a man-sized, 500 year old piece of coral they’d ripped off. Pictured.
I believe there should be a moratorium on bottom trawling and now two more major international retailers have stopped selling the fish due to sustainability concerns.
Greenpeace in their press release writes:
Last week Trader Joes, a USA chain with over 300 supermarkets, confirmed it had discontinued sales of orange roughy “based on customer feedback and in support of work to source sustainable seafood.” Last month Canada’s largest retail chain, Loblaw, confirmed it had stopped stocking orange roughy and Patagonian toothfish for similar reasons. Since the start of 2009 four Canadian supermarket chains have stopped selling orange roughy and one has removed hoki from sale. Hoki is also caught by destructive bottom trawling. Last year Waitrose, the UK supermarket chain used by the royal family, announced it no longer stocked New Zealand caught hoki as it failed to meet the store’s sustainability policy prompting headlines reading “No hoki for Queen”.(3)
The NZ Ministry of Fisheries as a counterpoint to the retailer’s moves says our stocks are ‘well managed’ pointing to catch reductions they’ve made, fishery closures and our Quota Management System.
Our 100% Pure, clean and green brand is getting a real hammering at the moment: what with mining Schedule 4, our terrible climate change stance, motorway building madness. This fishery is contributing to this very fast brand erosion.
Why don’t you ask Kiwi supermarkets if they will follow the examples of these international retailers and refuse to stock Orange Roughy.
Published in Environment & Resource Management by Gareth Hughes on Wed, March 31st, 2010
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on the trolls and those who are unable to keep on topic
IS BOTTOM NET TRAWLING ILLEGAL IN NEW NAZILAND WATERS?
That red coral above I think is called Lanseaerran (spelling?) coral it is quite rare and it is one of the few species that grow in temperate waters.
It even grows in the Milford Sounds.
This is an issue that really gets my blood boiling!!!!!!Is bottom net trawling illegal in New Naziland waters? and if not why not?
I hope one day you will forcefully field the above questions to the minister of fisheries and/or conservation.
I liken the above activity to an automated mass production of desserts.
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Frog; I logged in and my code didn’t work and I did it correctly anumber of times
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Deserts Drak, but despite the extra ‘s’, you are correct.
It’s a sick practice.
Orange roughy remind me of coelacanth. I’m sure we are commiting a species-crime here.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/18800917#18800917
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a picture of orange roughy please, not the red coral
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“Orange Roughy must be one of my favourite fish”,
You are joking?
One of the most expensive and rather bland fish on the market.
I haven’t had OR in 20 years, stopped eating it when it became clear that
this deep water species can’t be sustainably fished.
And it isn’t very tasty either.
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