ORANGE ROUGHY - DRESSED (ORH DRE)

Executive Summary

1. MFish proposes that consideration be given to decreasing the conversion factor (CF) for orange roughy (ORH) in the dressed state (DRE) from 2.10 to 2.05.
2. This recommendation is based on analysis of a large amount of sampling data which, although collected from only a single Quota Management Area (ORH 3B), is probably well representative of the fisheries from which dressed orange roughy is produced. There is an appropriate emphasis in the sampling on New Zealand vessels, and the small difference in the sample CFs by area is taken into account in the analysis. The data has also been weighted by month and the results are nearly identical. There can be a reasonable level of confidence associated with the estimate produced.

Background

3. This paper reviews the CF from greenweight to the ‘dressed’ state for ORH (Hoplostethus atlanticus). The current CF for this state is 2.10.
4. The state is defined in the Fisheries(Conversion Factors) Notice 2005 as the body of a fish from which the head and gut have been removed with:
   1. The anterior cut being a continuous straight line passing immediately behind the posterior insertions of both pectoral fins;
   2. The forward angle of the anterior cut not less than 90 degrees in relation to the longitudinal axis of the fish;
   3. No part of the tail cut shall be forward of the posterior base of either the hindmost dorsal fin or the hindmost anal fin, whichever is nearer the caudal fin; and
   4. The belly-flap either intact or divided along the ventral midline
      
5. The CF for ‘trunked or dressed’ ORH was first introduced on 1 October 1986, and was set at 2.20. The state was renamed ‘dressed’ and revised down to 2.00 on 1 October 1990. In 2005 the CF for ORH DRE was revised to 2.10.
6. The Observer Programme sampled 1.59 tonnes greenweight of this state inside the New Zealand EEZ in the 2003 calendar year, 7.48 tonnes in 2004, and 8.76 tonnes in 2005.

Rationale for Management Option

7. The DRE state accounts for nearly half of the total landings of orange roughy, and virtually all of the processed landings, and this level has remained constant over the years 2003–2005.
8. ORH DRE was landed almost entirely by New Zealand registered vessels in 2003 - 2005,with only a few percent attributed to vessels registered in other nations, mostly the Ukraine and Korea. The observer CF sampling was therefore appropriately distributed amongst vessel nationalities,with all sampling taking place on New Zealand vessels.
9. Landings of ORH DRE were made in most months of the years 2003–2005, but there was an emphasis on the May–August period in each year when 50–60% of the landings of this product took place. Sampling by observers was slightly less well spread over the year, especially in 2003, but in each of the three years both the winter spawning period and the non-spawning period were sampled, and sampling covered all months except August and September.
10. Samples of this state have been collected in every year since the state was renamed and revised in 1992, and the annual unweighted CFs have ranged from 1.91 to 2.26 (rounded) with an overall CF of 2.04. There is no indication of a trend in the CF over time, and the annual unweighted CFs for the last three years (those used in this analysis) either just above or below the official CF of 2.10.
11. The analysis is based on a large amount of sampling data which, although collected from only a single Quota Management Area (ORH 3B), is probably well representative of the fisheries from which dressed orange roughy is produced. There is an appropriate emphasis in the sampling on New Zealand vessels, and the small difference in the sample CFs by area is taken into account in the analysis. The weighting differs from that used in the analysis carried out in 2005, when a significant difference in CFs between months was detected. That was not the case this year, so the data has this year been weighted by area. The area weighted CF for ORH DRE is 2.064. The precedent followed in previous analyses is that CFs are rounded to the nearest 0.05. In this case, the CF would be 2.05.
12. For the purpose of comparison, the analysis was re-run on the present data using month as the weighting factor. The resulting CF was identical to the area-based value – to within 0.001. There can be a reasonable level of confidence associated with the estimate produced.
13. The CF for ORH DRE was amended last year on the basis of a weighted average of 2.090 for data collected by Scientific Observers during the years 2002 - 04. The CF therefore appears to be fluctuating around a narrow band. Given this, if any change to the CF were to proceed this year, MFish would not propose to review the CF again until at least a few years have elapsed.

Preliminary Recommendation

14. MFish recommends that the CF for the ‘dressed’ state of orange roughy should be decreased from 2.10 to 2.05.