A decision to dramatically reduce catch limits in the world’s largest orange roughy fishery is being welcomed by environmental groups, while they assert further protection is needed to prevent habitat and population collapse. In the 1980s the Chatham Rise fishery saw catch numbers of approximately 28,000 – 33,000 tonnes annually. In one fishing ground known as the East and South Chatham Rise, the orange roughy population has crashed to around 10% of its original size. “New Zealand’s management of orange roughy bottom trawl fisheries over the past 30 years has been like watching a slow-motion train wreck. They’ve collapsed orange roughy before, and now it looks like they’ve done it again.”All of New Zealand’s orange roughy fisheries were red listed by Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Seafood Watch programme earlier this month.