Environmental group hails court decision on orange roughy catch-limit

An environmental group is hailing a High Court decision on an orange roughy fishery as a significant victory.

The court found a minister's decision in 2023 on the catch-limit for the long-lived, deepsea fish was unlawful.

The judgment - released this week - related to the former minister for Oceans and Fisheries Rachel Brooking's decision on how much orange roughy should be fished - the total allowable catch.

Justice Cheryl Gwyn found the former minister failed to consider protection for important environments, such as spawning grounds, when deciding on the catch limit.

The Environmental Law Initiative [ELI], which brought the case against the minister, said the decision was significant and would affect how future decisions on catch limits were made.

Seafood NZ said it was still working through the findings, which had no bearing on current catch settings or operations.

Fisheries Minister Shane Jones said the judge recognised a number of further management actions he'd taken since the decision and noted he was not directed to remake it.

ELI celebrates decision

Despite Justice Gwyn agreeing with only one of ELI's four arguments, the charity's director of research and legal, Matt Hall, told RNZ it was still a big win.

"We're very pleased with the judgment, obviously not everything's gone our way but it never really does with litigation.

"We've ultimately been successful with the judicial review but perhaps more importantly clarified and advanced the law on some really important parts of the Fisheries Act that are meant to protect our environment," he said.

In 2023, Brooking reduced the total allowable catch for orange roughy in the Chatham Rise [known as ORH 3B] by 40 percent.

But ELI argued that the reduction did not remove the former minister's obligation to consider key environmental safeguards, including protection for important habitats.

Justice Gwyn found that having classified orange roughy spawning grounds as a potential 'habitat of particular significance for fisheries management' Fisheries NZ should've advised Brooking on whether to protect them - but didn't.

"At a broader level, it is relevant that the Minister [Brooking] was making a TAC [total allowable catch] decision in respect of a slow-growing, long-lived fish species, with relatively low reproductivity, and particularly prone to hyperstability [when a fishery appears healthy but isn't]," she said.

Justice Gwyn declared: "The Minister's decision was unlawful."

She did not direct the decision to be remade but said future catch limit decisions must take the court's findings into account.

Hall said the court's judgment provided important clarification about the law and how the minister must give effect to it to protect the marine environment when deciding catch limits for all fish stocks, not just orange roughy.

"This is the first time the court's really provided an opinion on some of these key parts of fisheries law. Our view really, is that it will affect both the advice that's given to ministers and the actions that ministers take."

In her judgment, Justice Gwyn said taken as a whole, ELI's claim was "a challenge to the use of bottom trawling as a means of commercial fishing" - the method used to catch orange roughy.

She did not agree with ELI which argued the former minister failed to consider how or whether the adverse effects of bottom trawling might be avoided.

However, she said there was "overwhelming credible and cogent evidence that bottom trawling does have an adverse effect on the aquatic environment and biodiversity generally", and rejected Seafood NZ's "different view".

Hall said the seafood industry had marketed many of its orange roughy products as sustainably caught.

"This judgment calls that into question. As the science shows, it will take decades to rebuild key orange roughy populations.

"We must also learn the lesson: bottom trawling has adverse effects on the marine environment," he said.

Officials to provide advice

The current fisheries minister said further management action had been taken since the 2023 decision in response to sustainability concerns.

"In 2025, I further reduced the catch limit for orange roughy on the Chatham Rise from 4995 to 2349 tonnes for 2025/26," Jones said.

"In June this year I announced my decision to implement an annual closure of spawning areas within the East and South Chatham Rise to orange roughy fishing over the spawning period."

Jones said continued monitoring to track the rebuild of orange roughy stock was planned.

"Maintaining the sustainability of New Zealand's orange roughy stocks has been a key focus over a long period."

He said officials would review the court's decision and provide advice.

Seafood NZ said it was still working through the judgment, but noted ELI was unsuccessful in three out of four areas of grounds of legal action.

"The Court found the Minister's decision remains in full effect and there is no impact on current catch settings or operations," a spokesperson said.