31 July 2025
The blue grenadier (hoki) winter spawn fishery in Australia is thriving after successful management methods have allowed the population to rebuild.
Sealord and Talley’s fish for the species off the west coast of Tasmania using low-impact mid-water trawling during peak season, balancing the lack of Australian fleet capacity with an opportunity to fish hoki in Australia when New Zealand’s own fishery is quieter, says Rui Ventura, GM Operations for Sealord.
The catch limit is set at about 10 per cent of the spawning biomass, though Sealord and Talley’s typically harvest much less of the blue grenadier during the winter spawning season. “The winter spawning aggregation allows for targeted fishing. We can take ‘the top off’ the population, knowing it is replenished by young fish, meaning minimal impact on overall numbers,” Rui says.
New Zealand vessels stopped making the trip over to Tasmania in 2012 when hoki catches started to ramp back up in New Zealand; the total allowable catch (TAC) was increasing after a period of rebuilding the hoki population. More of a focus to fish for New Zealand hoki then allowed the Tasmanian blue grenadier population to grow.
Since then, the Tasmanian blue grenadier population has been rebuilt through regular adjustments to catch limits and spatial closures – similar to how New Zealand manages its own fisheries.
“There are actually more fish there now than before the fishery started. The most recent estimate of the spawning female fish population, in 2023, shows that it is about 124% of the original, unfished level,” Rui says.
“This is an example of sustainable fisheries management in action – the population is not only replenishing itself, but also growing, while we are fishing our quota.”
The thriving fishery is also due to good environmental conditions for spawning and recruitment – when baby fish grow to reproductive age.
“Good recruitment happens when everything lines up – spawn fertilisation, water temperature, currents, wind, and available food,” Rui explains.
Information about the status of the blue grenadier fishery is available at: https://www.fish.gov.au/2014-Reports/Blue_Grenadier